But wouldn't Chambers fall into the "larger" category? He's got a big frame and isn't the quickest. Maybe a speedy CB isn't a bad thing. I remember being negative when we got Koscielny in for this very reason. There's no business for scrawny centre backs I said.... ooops. TBH though I know sod all about this chap so can't comment on his ability.
I think of Chambers as more the ball playing CB, one who closes down the opposition quickly and dives in - and as such needs a player with good positioning like Mertesacker to cover for him is he mistimes it. Same with the Merts/Kos partnership (Kos sweeps for Merts if Merts is beaten for pace, but Merts covers Kos if he comits and gets beaten)
Merts and Chambers have looked a bit rocky to me so far as a partnership. Part of that is they're inexperienced together I know, partly as I felt there was little pace and partly, obviously, because CB is new to him. You may be right and that will be his niche in time.
I hope they improve as a partnership TBH - hopefully having a more settled back 4/5 around them will help as well (just a shame that Debuchy is out), Bellerin is looking much better, and hopefully Gibbs will stay injury free for the rest of the season (I know...) But I must say I've been disappointed with merts this season, last season he was immense but this season he's been very sloppy.
Definitely - only in the last few games we've actually had a settled Back 4, or even Centre Back pairing since the start of the season, which is horrendous in terms of injuries, and it isn't surprising we've been terrible at defending set pieces or conceding.
I reckon it helps having a mafiosa henchman in nets. Ain't nobody going to mess if the mob's getting involved. Viva Ospina.
According to the Times West Ham are confident of signing Carl Jenkinson on a permanent deal in the summer
To be honest, as much as I like Jenkinson and as much as he loves Arsenal, he probably behind Debuchy, Bellerin and Chambers at RB now.
I see Chambers as a CB and not a right-back. We have I would take Jenks over Chambers as a RB (as I see Chambers as a CB), but as you've stated, both Debuchy and Bellerin are ahead of him in the pecking order. It wouldn't be fair on him. Chambers is still not ready but is showing promise for the future. He still has stuff to learn and shouldn't be relied on so heavily. Bring in another CB and bring Chambers on as a sub/backup player. Let him learn and earn his stripes. He shouldn't be brought in due to our shortage of players, but should earn the call up.
I agree, I think Jenks is looking good and would challenge Bellerin for th RB spot behind Debuchy, Chambers will be moved into the centre, and maybe even tried out at DM occassionally. I really like Jenks, and really want him to stay, though how we fit him into the squad is another question - though one thing is for sure having 8 defenders (Jenks + new CB + our current 6) is better than having 6 defenders for a whole season.
OXO brings up a valid point in another thread that Debuchy is 30 this year and won't have many more seasons left. I think Jenks has been given a raw deal as he is still very young. But going out on loan to West Ham seems to have done him the world of good. We might not rate Fat Sam, but he sure knows how to organise a defence and has bags of experience. Jenks is getting invaluable experience with West Ham and it's a little too early to right off his Arsenal career.
I said in the Bellerin thead that I thought that if Jenkinson hadn't gone out on loan he would possibly be our 1st choice rb now.
According to John Cross of the Daily Mirror,Arsenal will decide in the next 24hrs whether to let Joel Campbell go out on loan to Real Sociedad
I think that would be a bad move, as the (only) worrying thing about the team in the Man C game was that we had no strikers on the bench. If Giroud breaks a bone in his foot again, then you'd be expecting Welbeck to play every game in the next 4 months without any cover.
