Arsenal has had trouble defending for a long time now and that is one of the reasons why in almost every transfer window the Gunners are tipped to sign new defenders.
Despite signing David Luiz in the summer, the Gunners have struggled at the back this season.
The appointment of Mikel Arteta seems to have improved our defence, however, there are still occasional mistakes from our defenders and one can’t help but feel that something crazy might happen in every game.
In our preparatory games ahead of the restart of the Premier League, there have been good performances and bad ones, in our last game against Brentford, Luiz proved again just why we should be anxious and Paul Merson worries about how they will perform when football returns properly.
Merson reckons that when the fans are in the stadiums, the players feel obligated to do better, but he worries that they might consistently make mistakes now that the games will be played behind closed doors.
‘I worry for Arsenal’, he said on Sky Sports’ The Football Show.
‘I watched their goals that they let in against Brentford and I worry about them playing against closed doors.
‘When you’re not a great defender, and there are a few at Arsenal, I think the fans keep you honest, and I mean that in the way they keep your concentration levels.
‘As defenders you need the fans there where you’re always going to concentrate. I don’t know if you saw one of the goals against Brentford, David Luiz tried to play out and flick it over the guy’s head, that’s not being honest.
‘The fans keep you honest. For Arsenal it’s going to be a problem defensively, because I think they’ll switch off, behind closed doors, no crowd, there could be mistake after mistake.’
Remember 2014 WC final? Fans were there -actually the whole world was there. and Luiz was there, at least physically, and we all know how it worked out for Brazil. So how is this any different? when arsenal defenders have a good performance, it should be treated as an anomaly, not a norm.