I wrote an article the other day with the suggestion that the transfer of Petr Cech to Arsenal will bring us a lot more than just ability and experience to our last line of defence. My theory was that Cech’s experience of winning the Premier League title with Chelsea, especially that first time after a wait of around half a century, could be of great value to the Arsenal dressing room.
His transfer could have another effect as well, in that it could make our need for another centre back unnecessary. I know that our defenders have taken some stick in recent years but over the last couple of seasons our stats have been right up there, especially when there have been no injury problems weakening the back four.
Remember the reports showing that Arsenal had not lost a game for ages when Koscielny and Mertesacker started and finished together? And that was with an error prone keeper behind them. And now we are stronger in both full back positions as well and we have Gabriel and Calum Chambers to step into central defence when needed. Chambers’ age and Gabriel’s lack of BPL experience may have been a concern before but with the calming presence of Cech behind them, do Arsenal really need another defender this summer?
And if not, could Wenger make better use of his transfer kitty in other areas of the pitch?
Cech or no cech we dont need another CB. 4 is plenty. Remember Arsene is a man that let us go a whole season with just 3 CBs not too long ago.
I think our back4 is pretty good in terms of depth and quality, you look at just our right back position we have Debuchy who is France’s best current right back and he might not even get picked and Jenko is on loan. Koscielny is one of the best centerbacks in the league and Monreal has improved so much. That leaves Per who is weak 1-on-1 but very experienced, however with a full preseason to get Chambers and Gabriel ready then we’d have one of the strongest back4s we have had since 04/05.
Interesting fact is since early Feb, in the league, the most we conceded in a game was only 1 goal and that is without Ospina doing much work.
We just need to strengthen our weak spots like upfront and DMF.
Does this mean Cech will play at C.B?…….. L()L
Good question @SoOpa
That’s the impression the title gives.
We dont need another CB as we already have three quality CBs and a very promising CB in Chambers. We should get a striker like Benzema and a player like Gary Medel. He plays CB for Chile but DM for Inter Milan. He works hard and is a reliable back up for Coquelin. He was impressive in WC 2014 and Copa America 2015(just ask Argentina).We dont need a big name DM who would be demanding game time week in week out.
In arsenal under wenger we have excuses for everything:excuses for-playing players out of position,for trusting stubborn manager,benching fit walcott,trophy drought,highest ticket prices,losing to mourihno,excuses for players burnout.If sanchez gets long term injury by Any chance forget even that fourth trophy.I stand by what henry said 4 more players
Who has more football experience than you
Another CB?
Wenger extended Mertesacker contract for 2 more years (why? He is already finished or close to be as s player)… Again, koscielny of Gabriel will have to work their socks off in order to cover the spaces…
This is what is funny and sometimes disturbing about some Arsenal fans (well the majority)… They have high expectations (especially during the transfer window), but they clearly know the “usual” outcome… Which is not much…
We are not Barca or Bayern M, we should know our place on the European stage…
As for Welbeck, what a signing… 4 goals and £16 millions spent for someone who wants to be (or supposed to be a striker)…
Another one, Chambers who went from Southampton bench to a first team spit at Arsenal (Well before the “genius one” realised that may be he was not “that” good)…
Wilshere, lol, we got him as our first choice number 10 for the first 15 games (5 wins only and some abysmal performances… That’s where we lost the EPL if we were supposed to win it). Left his previous one with 2 kids to kick it with his barber’s daughter. That’s his private life, but shows you the character of the guy… Good luck with that!
As for replacing Wenger, if it was up to the Arsenal fans (some of them), they would roll him to the touch line on a wheel chair until his last “soupire”, because they truly believe he is it…!!
Anyway, we got Cech, but should have also kept Ospina (that is what top club do)… If Cech gets injured, we are back in the sh*t with the Polish nightmare…
Can we cope without Sanchez? No we cannot!
He is the only “thing” world class (with Koscielny) in this squad.
On another note, I know Wenger is the massive signing type and he likes his “value for money” (in current modern football!! That is pure hypocrisiee based on his own wages and the over valued British players!!), but Brendan Rodgers is doing a Harry Redknapp at Liverpool… What the f*ck is going on??
Still early, so hoping for more serious business from Wenger. If would have been nice to get most of our recruits before the Asian tour, but that’s not going to happen.
Ciao Diaby, this is one who will be grateful to Wenger forever…!
With how critical you are and having no upside im guessing it must be a nightmare to face the mirror.
I agree with you on Ospina. Danny, im not so narrow minded to write a player off after one season especially when remembering Ramsey backlash and i would also keep Jack in mind for remembering Ramsey out out cries.
You are a fan who is always going to be disgruntled up until the moment we lift a cup but then again disgruntled straight after as the further down you go with every squad the quality levels do lessen.
We should not be always in the status that we are a few players away from major trophies. This is not an excuse.
And Cech is no Neuer like. He is not supposed to be replacing a CB job.
If you play no.10 chances are you are likely to complete a pass that will result to a goal hence an assist.My point is Ozil does not justify his price tag 40m could have charged us to the title if it was spend on the right player,we had Santi who was doing a fantastic job there
Maybe Wenger was thinking yeah he is a little like Bergkamp and after i get done with him he will be allot like him and id pay 50m to 60m for Bergkamp.
We need Gabriel to learn English over the summer and overtake Mert as the starter. We don’t need to sign a new CB and Wenger stated the same in an interview near the end of the season.
No we don’t “need” that. Mert regained his form and re-solidified our back line with Kosc again. Gabriel will push him hard and compete for that starting spot and wenger will start the better player
Id say there is a chance that Wenger will play Chambers when Mert is out and Gab for Kos, depending on our opponents.
Podolski 5m Diaby 3m
Rosicky 3m Flamini 3m
Campell 2m Ryo 1m
17 m salaries. We can afford to pay
the best DM and a top top goal scorer.
here’s a thought.. many on this site argue that if we are to be a top 10 club in the world we need to have a top 10 striker in the world and our boy Giroud does not fall in that category.
lets apply that same logic to mr. mertesacker. which of the top 10-15 teams in the world would have mertesacker as a starting CB.
chelsea, man city, bayern, dortmund, juventus, real madrid, barcelona, atletico madrid, psg ???
it is of my opinion that mertesacker wouldn’t even sniff the field for any of these top sides yet he is a regular for us. of course it is impossible to have the best player at every position but lets not be naive and suggest mertesacker is an irreplaceable piece to the puzzle that is arsenal. of course the availability of top WC centre backs is limited but we should never be close minded to the opportunity of improving our back line because without a doubt there is room for improvement.
You paint a lovely pretty picture of all being well in the elite world of centre backs. Juve and Atletico have properly decent CB pairings and Thiago Silva is top notch – I’ll give you that but not so convinced by your blanket argument for the rest.
I am surprised you know so little about the problems many of the teams you have mentioned have had over the years with their centre back pairings. Bayern and Barca have had struggled for years. Equally surprised you haven’t followed the poor recent form of many of the players you allude to or point out their disastrous performances at international level or how they don’t perform without their preferred partners.
Ever watch Pique without Puyol? Barca are so blessed they pay £15M for an Arsenal CB who can’t even get our first team. Have you ever seen Dante or Boateng or Pepe on one of their bad days? Tell me you know who David Luiz is – even he doesn’t know what he is going to do next. Are you aware of Kompany and Hummel’s form dropping off a cliff? Do you really rate Demicheles and Mangala and Boyata? And the Chelski lads are not loving Cahill. Even Varane has been poor for France recently and has been culpable at club level for quite a few errors.
if you’re telling me you wouldn’t rather have hummels, subotic, pique, mascherano [albeit a make shift CB], kompany, terry, cahill, godin, miranda, luiz, silva, bonucci FFS even chiellini, boateng or dante partnering koscielny ahead of Mertesacker then there is no amount of statistical or circumstantial referencing I can do to make you see otherwise. I’m not saying the CBs I have mentioned are without their own flaws but they are considerable improvements on our lanky German who is an above average CB at best
Mate, I’m just not so easily impressed by a mere list of names/reputations. You sort of give away your prejudices and the non-objective agenda with the childish insistence on giving PM the “lanky” tag – a sure giveaway. You don’t make any mention of CB pairings – when PM and LK have played regularly together it is probably the most consistent and reliable part of our team. PM’s leadership, experience, calmness and reliability compliments LK’s more eye-catching, dynamic, enforcer attributes. Look at the results when they play together – they are not near the top of the list for things preventing us from winning games. If you want stats then do the comparisons on Squawka or Opta – you are likely to be disappointed because they don’t support your view regarding the performance differences between the CB demi-gods you name and the “pub league” Mertesacker. And it may not be that sexy to you or show up on the FIFA 15 database but PM is one of the few CBs in that list that isn’t injured or out of form for big parts of the season – many struggle to get to 25 league games a season, a massive managerial headache. You also do not mention how many of these guys are a part of generally dominant teams in their leagues – and is why so many of them are exposed at national level when they actually have to turn up.
I think I gave you Miranda, Godin, Bonucci, Chiellini and Silva so not sure why you are repeating them. Luiz, Dante, Cahill, Boateng paired with Koscielny – don’t think you have given that much thought, all the very definition of hot and cold inconsistent performers. Hummels and Kompany you have in there on reputation only – why would you want someone so prone to losing form?
OT: Falco reduce his wages to join Chelsea, not a bad deal for Chelsea. Why no striker reduce wage to join us?
Arteta took a pay cut to join us when he was an important player for Everton. How quick we forget.
Sanchez turned down more wages to join us. We know Walcott Jack Ramsey Gibbs Ox could all get more money moving to one of our rivals. Cazorla i think took a pay cut to join us and remember Arshavin… payed portion of the transfer fee. Sol turned more money down from utd. Thierry and Vieira were being courted and offered the world for years by Abramovic but turned them down, utd and others too.
All I’m saying ATM is that I’m tired of watching Giroud play upfront for us as our main striker.
Who do you want as our ST give me a legimitate reasonable player
Only overseas fans call it the BPL, lol.
Gabriel is the new Centre-half bought to replace Vermealen. He has Prem experience and did excellently well. The only thing stopping him being Koscielny’s regular partner is his poor understanding of English. This should have improved by now.
Here is a heads up. Gabriel is a carbon copy of Koscielny in every respect. He is particularly aggressive, powerfully built, reads the game, is fast, good passing and distribution, heavy tackler and fantastic in the air. When he gets over the language barrier he will definitely be a fan favourite. Mertesacker is going on the Bench.
Another heads up: Callum Chambers is cover for Bellerin and Debuchy. He is a Right back who was tried out in central defense prior to the purchase of Gabriel. He did well at the start against smaller teams, but against our main rivals he was gash and completely out his depth.
Not sure about your two “heads ups”. You might know something I don’t and I am willing to stand corrected but CC will be a CB – he says it, Wenger says it. And not sure what matches you are talking about when you say he was “gash” – at CB he was, much to many people’s surprise one of our stand out players for the first part of the season. He has been exposed at RB though on a couple of occasions.
And don’t want to kick off an argument here – but one of the last things Arsenal needs is two Kos type CBs. Lets not forget Kos’s dodgy knees/achilles – unless someone else is bought in then CC replaces PM and GP replaces LK in the years to come.
We have few natural wingers at the moment. Let’s get pedro.
Maybe nxt season if per leaves or moves to the bench, bt 4 nw we good at CB
Wat we need is a alternative striker(not a winger striker) to help giroud, welbeck hasn’t done a good job so far
I knw we all want new players bt we should knw dis not fifa…we do not need a CB, arteta is a very good backup for coq, we hav enuf good wingers, n maybe a striker
My world, only arsenal fans want everybody that kick the football in their team.. if I may ask. Bob. how many CB does Cheski have? Pple Gabriel that last time I rember he still a CB.
If our current 3 CBs and the tourted Chambers for CB are at Arsenal after the window is closed on 1st Aug, I can’t figure out the necessity for the Boss to engage a 4th or 5th CB for his team. Notwithstanding, let’s not forget 2 of intricacies involved in signing a new player. There was a standing 25 man Gunners’ names that were submitted to the FA last season for registrations and they were registered. Arsenal are yet to do so for this season campaign, I should believe. As that official senior 25 man team were, only Abuoi Diaby has formally disengaged from the team so far and Petr Cech has replaced him. Now the Rumours have circulated that Podolski will likely disengaged from the team soon. If it turned out like that, would the Boss sign a LB or RW to take Podolski’s position in the team? I think the Boss will sign a quality. But I wouldn’t know if it will for any of those above positions. We will then have to wait after Podolski has left to see another Gunner leaves before the Boss can do a 3rd signing. So, let’s us be mindful of these intricacies before we start to say, sign this sign that player.