In what is rather shocking news this morning, Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker has been ruled out for a whole 5 months following on from his recent knee injury! Injuries just don’t come lightly at Arsenal football club.
Mertesacker was confirmed as an absentee from Arsenal’s pre-season squad that has flown to the States, due to the injury picked up after Arsenal’s opening friendly against Lens. At the time Mertesacker was awaiting the results of his scan which would show the extent of his injury. Mertesacker results clearly came back as being a serious problem that could mean surgery is needed on the German defender.
It now means that currently Arsenal’s only two fit centre back are Calum Chambers and new signing Rob Holding. With Gabriel out with tonsillitis and Koscielny yet to return to training, Arsenal now face the task of possibly only having the young English pair as our only fit first team centre backs going into the opening Premier League clash against Liverpool.
If Wenger hadn’t thought about dipping into the market for an experienced top class centre back before Mertesacker’s injury, then Le Prof should certainly think about looking into it now. Koscielny will not be fully fit for the opening clash, whilst there’s an uncertainty around Gabriel. Another defender is needed in my opinion.
Mertesacker was not anticipated to play a major role on the pitch this season anyway as his physical fitness dips further in the latter stages of his career. But the BFG was rumoured to be the favoured candidate to be named the next Arsenal captain, a role that could now be out of his hands given he will almost miss half the season.
Should Wenger be looking into the market whilst he still can, or does he already have enough options at his disposal?
By AH
No his injury does not mean we need a new defender.
We already did
boom
For us to even make top 4 this season we need 3 more players namely, we need another Winger. One that actually score goals. Secondly, we need a Center Forward and thirdly we need another proven center back.
Why the hell do you think Wenger added Rob Holding to Chambers and Gabriel? Don’t you get it? With Coquelin, Xhaka and Elneny, now our midfield is not as porous as it used to be before!!!!
Hence our defense wouldn’t be as exposed as it was when we only had Flamini and Arteta!
Our defense isn’t that big an issue as people are making it out to seem. The bigger issue here is that Arsenal officially thinks that it needs a striker (in this case -Lacazette.. not Higuain, Aubameyang, Lewandowski or any other fairy tale fantasy target) but they are under-bidding for him.
Realistically, the most practical question we should be asking is:
Is Arsenal going to table a bid sufficient enough to get the player Wenger himself thinks the club needs this summer? Or are they going to apply the handbrakes again?
1. Arteta and Flamini did not see much pitch time to begin with.
2. Yes our midfield is stronger, but was already the teams strength.
3. Our defense was and is a problem. We needed another CB before, and now even more so. BFG isn’t quality enough at this stage to be a full time starter, Gab and Chambers aren’t there yet, haven’t seen Holding enough but would think he needs time as he is young.
So, sorry chief…gotta disagree with ya on most the points made. But we’ll see right, I could yet be proven wrong.
“1. Arteta and Flamini did not see much pitch time to begin with.”
Post-Elneny/Coquelin? Yes. Pre-Elneny/Coquelin? BIG FAT NO! And our defense suffered/got exposed most when we had only those two (Flamini/Arteta).
“BFG isn’t quality enough at this stage to be a full time starter”
Yeah, maybe.. so ain’t he good enough to be backup to Gabriel then? Oh, Gabriel isn’t good enough to start too? Who do you want to start in Arsenal’s defense then? Bonnucci? C’mon let’s be realistic!
Look, I am not against the club getting a defender (CB/fullback), but not at the expense of bringing in another goal-scoring attacker or two. Our system is setup to outscore opponents, don’t you know?
We needed 1 more CB regardless. Both him and Koscielny are aging whether we like it or not and as it stands Gabriel is the only guaranteed starter. We shouldn’t be rushing Koscielny back early nor throw Holding right in the fire. Great chance now for Chambers though but like I said we needed another regardless.
i was thinking back to last few seasons an how unmotivated we looked as a team, first halves we were especially poor….how about some music in the changing room…
John Cafferty – Hearts On Fire (Rocky IV)
chase and status take me away
prodigy outta space..
watch sanchez walk on to the pitch like ivan drago an coquelin might remove someones legs
with his first tackle
COYFG
We need an experienced and very good central defender but we will not buy any.
I personally don’t care if we don’t get one, what we desperately need is a GOAL SCORER. Someone who can score goals in important games will ALWAYS motivate the team against difficult opponents. Motivation against difficult opponents is what we’ve lacked most because apart from Alexis we haven’t had someone who can create magic out of nothing and provide the confidence to win the game against all odds.
Smile,that is our captain to be!well,the truth is we seriously need an experienced CB,considering the fact that kos is getting old,and we all no that BFG is just too old,but CF first before anything else!
well i know its an unpopular opinion but IMO we dont need another defender we have kos gab chambo and holding so either kos and gab or kos and chambo and in the time kos isnt here gab and chambo, we need a striker and a top right-wing
Yeah, I think the defender should be 3rd on our priority list after those positions you mentioned..
And Gabriel is ill supposedly…..unless he recovers before the season starts.
We might see Koscieny – chambers/holding pair against Liverpool and Leicester.
I just pray our season won’t be over before December.. ..
OT.. I think clubs of Europe should boycott doing any dealings with mino raiola and put pressure on their players to do the same.. this man is nothing but poison to the beautiful game, and if allowed unchecked will only corrupt the game more all because of greed.
This pogba tranfer saga is a perfect example of what this greedy individual is all about, and I hope juventus stood their ground and don’t pay him one penny.
totally agree raiola is a fat greedy pig
to be honest agents are usually the same. but he epitomises it , he an that mendes
ironic that fergie hated mina, yet jose is buying all his players
If that’s the case, then maybe Jose is the modern day George Graham? ? Bung Bung Bung!!
* Morden ?
it means wenger will offer about 5 mil for koulibaly and 2 mil for varene and start the season with gabriel and chambers
Of course we do. In the meantime I plan on enjoying watching Chambers, Holding and Bielek in the US and hope at least one of them starts showing something to suggest they can play some kind of role with the big boys this year. Great opportunity for them.
Simply because I like his calmness on the ball and distribution from out the back, I’m kinda hoping Bielik emerges as a strong prospect for CB. He isn’t a natural CB but he is still young enough to transform into a damn good one or atleast he can do a Mascherano for us. He’s got intelligence, positional sense and awareness and the height too.
The few times he’s played for the senior team, he somehow made us play better with his ability to recycle the ball effectively.
We needed another one regardless of Mert’s injury. As much as I appreciate his leadership and understanding of the game, his prime days are over. He’s getting slower by the day, and simply doesn’t cut it against faster/hungrier opponents. Gabriel, let’s be honest here, simply sucks. He’s a type of defender we can use sparingly here and there for a few meaningless games, but no more than that. So that leaves us with Koz, Chambers (he’s got potential, but needs some work), and our new signing, Holding. I’d say that’s nearly not enough. At least one more senior defender is a MUST.
we can debate whether we need one or not all we want, we’re not getting one. Remember that season we started the league with only 2 CB’s, and Monreal became our backup? So yeah, that settles that.
Damn!!! I just wanna switch off from all this stuff and come back at the end of transfer window when we’ve signed Lacazette or any other quality goal-scorer to begin the season with.
We needed one before he got injured
Does this mean Koscielny will be called back early?
We will be playing Liverpool home, Leicester away, Watford away
We need a strong enough defense
The jinx on our captain has moved up a notch from
Leaving or getting injured then leaving to
Getting injured before they are appointed as captain.
I watched Mahrez’s goal against Celtic more than once – Thumbs up
I haven’t seen the Mahrez goal or I watched only once – Thumbs down