Arsenal has a lot of work to do before they can become a top team in England again. That much is obvious and Mikel Arteta has been trying his best to get his players up to speed.
However, every other day, the Spaniard’s team suffers a new setback and he continually has to go back to the drawing board.
One problem that seems to have stuck around Arsenal for some time is their poor defending of set pieces.
The Gunners conceded yet another goal after they defended a set-piece poorly against Sheffield United.
Robin van Persie has now told them that they will have to get better in that area before they can challenge the top teams for trophies.
The former Arsenal striker noted that it can be quite easy for teams to hurt Arsenal from corners, free kicks and other set pieces, and he has urged them to work on how they defend those before they can become a top team.
“They can hurt Arsenal at set pieces, corners, free-kicks, as you could see,” he said as quoted by Mirror Sports.
“It (the first disallowed goal) was clearly offside but if you want to hurt Arsenal somewhere, this is the time to do it, this is the moment. Arsenal are still vulnerable from set pieces. We talked about it four, five months ago.
“If they want to compete for trophies they have to sort that out. They have to find a way to run with their man. You have to follow your man or protect your zone, and they’re still not doing that.”
You do not have to like van Persie to acknowledge that what he is saying is correct, however, with the defensive decisions that Arsenal have made in terms of contracts it is a worry that the necessary changes required have not been made.
We all know that the arsenal defense needs an upgrade but I am getting tired of the amount of negative comments directed at them. Chelsea, Tottenham and arsenal have all conceded the same number of goals(41) in the epl this season. How come nobody is talking about how leaky the defenses of the other teams are.
Personally, I feel the main problem of our team lies in the midfield. If our midfield is fixed, every other thing will fall into place. We don’t need a traitor telling us what to do.