Arsenal faced criticism for choosing to invest in their already strong defence by agreeing to a 42 million deal with Bologna to bring Riccardo Calafiori on board.
Given the exceptional performance of their defence last season, which saw them concede the fewest goals (29) while maintaining the highest number of clean sheets (18), was it necessary for them to use their budget to strengthen it? Given that their defense featured players such as Jurrien Timber, Ben White, Gabriel, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Jakub Kiwior, and Oleksander Zinchenko, allocating resources to defense seemed unwise, as the primary emphasis should have been on the attack, which necessitated reinforcement.
But the Riccardo Calafiori deal’s completion gave the impression that the Arsenal defense was secure for years to come. Has that been the case? That hasn’t been the case; injuries have hindered their progress.
Ben White, Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori, and Zinchenko have all spent time on the sidelines due to injury. William Saliba has also missed a game due to suspension.
Heading to another PL match day this coming weekend, the Gunners are in some sort of mini-injury crisis on their defense. Timber and Gabriel, who were unable to finish the Liverpool game, may not be available for Arsenal’s match against Newcastle; they may join Tomiyasu and Calafiori on the treatment table.
It is baffling that Arsenal’s strongest position is now emerging as their worrying position due to player availability.
Football Insider has made an intriguing claim about Arsenal’s winter plans. They, from a chat with Mick Brown, suggest that the Gunners have decided they’ll have to splash the cash for another defender after the injury crisis they’re experiencing, exposing their defence.
Brown suggests that the Arsenal defence, consisting of Thomas Partey, White, Kiwior, and Myles Lewis Skelly, is not capable of winning the league. Therefore, the scouting department intends to bring in someone as talented as Saliba and Gabriel.
“They’re definitely going to enter the transfer market,” Brown told Football Insider. “After Gabriel’s injury, the transfer team will be working overtime.
“They’ve already been looking at options to help the depth in that position.
“Saliba and Gabriel are so important to their team in that defensive unit, and you need to know the level won’t drop if either of them are out.
“The defence is the reason Arsenal have become such a force.
“Finding new options for those positions is an issue that will be swamping them at the moment.
“The back four that ended the game against Liverpool is never going to be good enough to challenge for the title, so they’ll definitely be looking to improve that depth.”
Last winter, the Gunners didn’t take advantage of the transfer market; this they cannot afford to ignore. Points of weakness have already been established; they ought to be addressed to give Arteta’s team an edge in the title race.
What do you think?
Daniel O
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No Arsenal should be looking to sell, If the Polish international is surplus to requirements, why would we need to buy while we have players like Tomi who haven’t seen a game in many moons.
When is the last time Tomi played five consecutive games? As much as I like him,he can’t seem to shake his injury issues,much like Tierney.
Maybe he hasn’t played since saltfish use to shingles house top, but Italian clubs continue to express interest for both him and the Polish international
Yeah I remember the club facing criticism for ‘buying yet another defender’ but now it’s clear that it was a necessity. Truth is,a number of players who make the numbers in our defence can’t be relied upon. Tomi and Tierney are always injured. Zinchenko is injured a lot and seems to have lost the trust of the manager. White has been carrying an injury for a while now. Timber is coming from a serious injury and it takes time to get fully fit.
Against Liverpool, we finished the game with an inexperienced 18 year old at LB and a 32 year old CM at RB. That tells you all you need to know.
I think the 18 year old left back is probably ready to cover for injuries tbh. We had a young RB on the bench as well who I think is quite good. Hopefully they’ll both play tomorrow.
That said, the assertion that we can’t win the title with the back four that ended the game against Liverpool is rather stupid. I mean it’s not like that back four is going to play all the remaining 29 games. It was an extraordinary circumstance that we were missing 6 out 9 senior defenders from the 75th minute (Saliba,Tomi,Tierney,Calafiori,Timber and Gabriel). Clearly depth is not the issue here.That is two thirds of the entire defense.The fact that we managed to get a point with a makeshift defense against virtually full strength Liverpool is admirable.
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Only if some players leave, such as Kiwior, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu.
Maybe we should be thinking of promoting from within. The game against Preston some of our young guns.
The one area I thought we’d be fine with is defense. In fact, we were so stocked with defenders I was surprised we didn’t sell at least one of them.
Yet our luck with injuries is that bad, we finished the Liverpool game with only one first choice defender playing in a position he hasn’t played in for a long time. Even Kiwior, who is naturally a CB, has barely played in that position for us either!
I am not a superstitious person, but I am starting to believe the club is cursed when it comes to injuries. Whether it’s Arteta, or Emery and Wenger in the past, injuries have destroyed so many of our seasons. It’s crazy, that just keeps happening.
There must be something fundamentally wrong at the club for this to happen almost every single season.
The fitness regime was a point of criticism under Wenger, I recall, and that led to an overhaul of the relevant department. Not sure what’s happening now though.
No.Timber only suffered cramp and the scan on Gabriel’s knee has not shown up anything to worry about, according to a report on Sky news 15 mins ago.
That’s very good news with Captain Odegaard nearing a return
No.
It’s much too early to be thinking about the transfer window I mean we could be out of the title race by then if these injuries and red cards persist We’ve had awful luck this season I mean between the fixture schedules the referees and the injuries it’s just awful luck and I think going down to ten men so often so early in the season has played a part with our injuries because it takes a while for a team to get up to speed but we had to have all hands on deck very early in the season that’s what I think Now I’m hoping for decisions to even out against our rivals seeing as they say they do even out over the course of a season So we’ll see