TV is back, Sagna & Gibbs out, Jenkinson & Santos looking a little less than assured. Jenkinson Vermaelen Mertesacker Santos : Last nights choice, Jenkinson seems to have got the nod over Djourou, but that leaves Koscielny out, and he's been in great form. So does he play at RB? Koscielny Vermaelen Mertesacker Santos : Keeping the partnership of Vermaelen & Mertesacker together, but leaving Santos in the lineup. Or would it be better to keep Koscielny & Merts together Jenkinson Koscielny Mertesacker Vermaelen : A position TV has played for Ajax many times. Jenkinson is more defensively sound than Santos, but not as good attack-wise. I really have no idea how it will pan out. What do you think guys?
I would stick with Mertesacker and Vermaelen in the centre - we need some consistency. At LB Santos must work on fitness and judge his wing raiding more carefully. Now at RB - does Jenkinson get more games, or do we try Koscielny? This is the tricky one for me. Then who plays in front of the 4? Song would have the strength - but is careless. Arteta is safe but might get bruised! So we'd have Ramsey, Benayoun or maybe Song in midfield.
Ideal Line-Up: Sagna----Koscielny----Vermaelen----Gibbs Santos maybe gets the nod ahead of Gibbs if he can work on his positioning a little. Current Line-Up: Jenkinson----Koscielny----Vermaelen-----Santos For me Kosc gets the nod ahead of Mert - Kosc has been one of our best players this season and if him and TV can develop a good partnership we will have amazing CB's. I wouldn't mind seeing: Koscielny-----Mertesacker---Vermaelen-----Santos As this would be a very strong defensive unit, but i don't mind Jenkinson getting game time as he seems a pretty good player and has a nice cross on him when going forward.
Sagna-----Mertesacker---Vermaelen-----Santos is a decent backline, i hope it gets some time to develope when everyone is fit.
At least we finally have good options at the back - 3 CB's who are all very good players - we are sorted at RB with Sagna and a decent back-up in Jenkinson and at LB we have two players to fight for the spot. I'm happy with what AW has done with our defence and we are looking better at the back personnel wise compared to previous seasons.
Jenkinson koshielny mertesacker djourou vermalean santos -------------Song----Coqulin---Frimpong Lets see how frail our defence is now!
I don’t understand how everyone pairs Mert and Vermaelen together instead of the Kos Vermaelen partnership. Kos is our second best Centre back who's faster, more mobile and more physical than mert and from what ive seen he's even better as the heading the ball which initially might be hard to believe given the size of Mert I think if everyone is fit then our ideal defence should be: Sagna-Kos-Vermaelen-Santos as this side offers arguably one of the most important traits of a defender which is mobility especially in this league which is far more frantic than any other league. However another possibility could involve Sanga-Mert-Verm-Kos which would be more solid defensively but would mean that the winger on the left wouldn’t get as much support going forward.
When everyone is fit it should be Sagna-Koscielny-Vermaelen-Gibbs. Although Santos has a chance if he improves his fitness and defensive play. Vermaelen is a great leader at the back, but Koscielny is a better defender imho. Mertesaker is good for Stoke & Co.
play Jenkinson in that position, he's been pretty good so far and hes far better there than someone like djourou
I agree with most of what you said except for the last part, Mert is not the most physical of defenders so I would prefer kos and Vermaelen especially in physical games as i believe they are the more aggressive two and would therefore be better at competing with the likes of Stoke etc.
i'm sure mertesacker would learn to be more physical, the premiership lets players off with alot more than other leagues so coming into it he's still use to abit of a touch being a foul, where as premiership you can send your man flying and it's fine and purely for his height he makes us alot more solid from set pieces
Mert has a serious balance /timing problem. He constantly hits the deck when there should be no reason.
The ingredients are all there, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Mertesacker are all quality. Even Djourou was fantastic for a large part of last season. They need time to gel yes, but there are certain aspects that they need to work on too. Koscielny is incredibly well improved from how he started last season. Vermaelen is pretty good how he is. Mertesacker needs to be more physical and time his jumps better, Djourou needs game time. Santos needs to learn to defend and not stand off his man, Jenkinson needs experience. The raw ingredients are there for a great back line for many years to come. I just wish they were going to get some proper defensive coaching.
He did that a few times against Chelsea. He's just not used to that level of contact. In germany that challenge from terry would have been a foul. He's a big lad and will adjust. Also I still think we should never have sold Clichy. I dont rate Gibbs and Santos may be fantastic going forward (great delivery) but he's REALLY suspect defensively.
The problem with playing with such attacking backs as Jenks and Santos is SONG!!! The guy is too often out of position and needs to cover their maurading runs. If not Song then 1 player in midfield needs to play a strict DM role. I prefer keeping Metz where he is, in the CB position!
