Integrating Pablo Mari into the back four is the next big task for Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal signed a new left-footed centre back this month and I can see how delighted Mikel Arteta is about the signing of Pablo Mari.
While discussing the player’s move to the Emirates, Arteta gushed about landing a left-footed centre back and discussed how the player gives them the chance to expand the field even further.
Now that Mari is available and he is expected to be a starter at Arsenal, the next question will be; who would be his best defensive partner?
Arsenal has struggled in defence this season regardless of the combination they have used at the back.
At the moment, it seems Mikel Arteta is still unsure of his best pairing in the centre of the defence.
David Luiz joined in the summer and he was expected to become Arsenal’s answer to its defensive issues but the former Chelsea man has been underwhelming so far.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos has been inconsistent as well, while he loves to dive into challenges, he isn’t confident on the ball and never really inspires confidence.
Shkodran Mustafi has been revived a little by the appointment of Arteta, but the German remains one mistake away from causing problems for his team and cannot be fully trusted.
Calum Chambers is injured and Rob Holding seems quite away from nailing down a regular spot.
At the end of the day, Arsenal’s defence has no stand out performer so far and David Luiz seems to be the right choice to partner Mari.
The Brazilian might be erratic in his defending, he is still better than the other options at the club right now.
An article from Ime
Mart why do we have so many (mostly irrelevant) posts
You don’t even get time to comment on some before the next is up ?
I understand what you are asking, however, it is how it is going to be John and will increase going forward. It is the business model that has been employed. There will be a new design very soon and once it is rolled out you will be able to pick and choose which categories of articles you are interested in and which ones have little interest for you.
David lyuz is very good with the ball and mari seems good in defending so could be a combination that will work.
But luiz needs to improve his defensive side more.
And southampton are being very brave and that seems to work against liverpool.
Good one, if Luis will be, I will support, if any other player is in, I still will support…
Who ever plays there will be a good decision mad by manager(MA) so for me, we are Arsenal… And we go ahead to support the team although till the end…
Up Gunners
Let’s drive this team back to the top…
We are the fans, the supporters.. The 12th man in the team… We play to support the team and to help us all achieve success…
I think Luiz and Mustafi would be able to communicate better with Mari, as compared to Sokratis
Luiz’s and Mustafi’s long distributions also seem to be better than Sokratis’
I don’t know about Mari yet, but we have no quality CB’s. Sokratis is the best CB we have if we’re looking purely at defending (which we should do, as that is a CB’s primary objective). He just doesn’t look great when asked to play the ball out.
Very difficult to answer the question – we haven’t even seen him play yet. The future will tell what the best back combo will be. It probably won’t be what most people expect.
Only Arteta can tell. Bcos he (MA) knew Mari, and he went for him, and he knows his game plan, and he is the one with the players to know them better and as to who is to pair with who…..
We don’t really have anyone outstanding this season to play with Mari. Our hopes are on Saliba next season maybe with Mari. If I had to choose somebody to partner Mari though it would be Socratis…. Luiz and Mustafi are mistake factories. Next season hopefully Chambers will be back as he was beginning to show up well. We will still need another decent CB to really be a defensive force.
It’s really about who is the quickest as this guy isn’t. Unfortunately I don’t think we have a quick centre back on the books, unless you drop into the academy and look at Harry Clarke.
A high line needs pace, good positioning, great communication and concentration or at least 3 of the 4.
Quickness of brain in perceiving danger and reacting is just as, if not, more important than foot speed. At 6’3″ Mari is also moving a lot quicker than you may think.