âIt is not about buying new players,â says Stuart Robson. âLook, itâs always nice to get new faces in â and we have done already with the signing of Lukas Podolski from Cologne â but this is more about working with the players we have got and making some big changes to how we play. âIf we are to challenge, if we are to improve, then it is all about Arsene Wenger needing to get a clear, coherent, defensive strategy drilled into the squad.â Robson believes Wengerâs new No2, Steve Bould â a three-times title winner at Highbury as part of the Gunnersâ miserly defence of the 1980s and 90s â could play a key role, but only if he is allowed to do so. âSteve Bould was a great defender and can bring much to the role on the defensive side. But we do not know what influence he will have as Arsene Wengerâs right hand man,â says Robson. âIf he is given scope to make these changes he could really make a difference. âWhat is clear is that they simply have to get that defensive game right. We have the players there to improve and make an impact next season â but the style has to change. Until that happens they will only be a good team, not a great team. âThis team needs to start consistently defending well, getting in the habit of keeping clean sheets. There is no point in full-backs bombing forward if there is no strategy when we lose the ball. âSteve Bould may have ideas and Arsene Wenger will do. If Steve has some influence they have to work together to marry their two philosophies and make them compatible. âThe fact remains that even if Arsenal went out right now and bought the four best defenders in the world, if they keep their current style they will not make any real difference. âWe need to defend more from the front, we need to be disciplined and to make sure the defence always has cover in front of it. These are the fundamentals that title-winning sides have. You donât see poor defences win leagues. We have the players to do it.â === From the Islington Gazette. Thoughts?
tell the defenders to defend and stop blazing up the pitch like they think they are messi . its not rocket science.
That is what I was talking about for years. As one guy once said, "Arsenal defender is something to be". As soon as you're born they make you feel small By giving you no time instead of it all Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all An AFC defender is something to be Drilling the defense is OK, but the problem is - you can not change a defensive style and keep an attacking one, it is all bound together. With Arsenal where attacking philosophy is so uncompromising, changing style means changing the manager.
I disagree EmirAleks. When Wenger first came we had defenders that wanted to defend and so we were not so easy to cut open. OK, ever since we have played open and attacking football we have leaked more goals increasingly, but we found the balance with the Invincibles - we could attack, defend and boss possession. We had thrust, we played counter attacking football, we were able to do the lot. Its all about balance.
!00% correct Gervinho and Walcott never tackle, they might run back alongside the opposition player but they never actually tackle and Rosicky and RVP rarely tackle. Alex Song needs to spend the majority of his time protecting the defence. Gibbs needs to stop being drawn out of position leaving huge holes in defence. The only thing that I disagree with is the personnel we definitely need 4 new players, the simple reason being that we have a distinct lack of quality and motivation in the current squad, and that there are no second string players ready to make the breakthrough yet.
I think Stuart Robson is correct when he says that it doesnt matter who we have as defenders if we keep our currrent approach, and that the team need to change the defensive strategy. To be honest none of this is news - its been said on here many many times. He is wrong in my view when he says that we do not need new players - 2 or 3 new signings are vital.
I agree with this. But it's not just about the attacking philosophy, there is nothing too wrong with it, it's just our players fail to execute it properly. We are following a simular Cryff/Barca way of play but to play this you need to close down and harry opposition players and maintain discipline over 90 minutes. If Barca didn't have these in their game they wouldn't be no where near as successful. It just wouldn't work. We tend to lose focus and concentration over the course of a game and then concede because we stop doing the fundementals correct. I've seen a few games this season where players have maintained this throughout the whole 90 minutes and looked fantastic. They haven't looked rickety in any way. The Man City game at home where we cruised to victory was a standout. But we simply are not consistent enough...
i agree completely with robson. there is no point getting new players, ours are already good enough. sagna is (many agree) already world class, and has a few more years left at that level. top 3 RB's in the world, best in the league by far. koscielny can be world class if the system is adopted to give him more cover. he has been our stand out defender this season. vermaelen needs to stop bombing forward all the time and also be less rash in the tackle. he always tries to get to the ball in front of the striker and against the top, more experienced ones he can be easily turned (i.e. drogba). gibbs is still young and will improve positionally. he is already very good at tackling and going forwards, but he does need to learn when to go and how far to go. remember, he came through the acadamy as a left winger, not a full back.
Defensively I believe this Analysis represents the perfect application. I wanted vetonghen but seeing as he's unlikely I feel we're fine thoug I do sense we WILL get defensive reinforcements. Attack wise I feel we do need new personnel particularly for the purposes of depth though I do feel we do need as heavy an overhaul as some are suggesting.
Lazarus I agree with part of what you say - where I disagree is with being able to employ Barca's pressing game in English football. The game is too fast and physical for us to press as a team how Barca do - they play at almost walking pace when they have the ball so they have energy to press for most of the game. Our players would be shattered if they tried it.
I dont think we need better 'defensive tactics' just a better calibre of player. I agree that Wenger is defensively poor but that's fine as long as we have the required quality to play a high paced attacking passing game. Wenger was'nt wiser in 2003-2004 we just had more quality and more physical power. Look at Barcelona - THEY ONLY PLAY ONE WAY! As do Spain, Dortmund and the great Ajax team of the 70's. If you have the quality you can play 'total football'. I like the fact we play a very attacking high line. The problem is we dont have the quality at the back to do it successfully. 49 league goals concede is beyond ****. We dont have a settled established left back and Koscielney does not have the physical power of defensive awareness to play at this level. Vermalen has lost form and Sagna has been plagued with injuries. On top of that our defensive backups: Squillaci, Djourou, Fabianski are nowhere near the standrad required to win Championships. When you look at the Great attacking teams throughout history they all had a dominant centre- half and a solid defensive unit to build the team around.
koshielny - 100% tackling for A YEAR! easily bossed possibly the worlds best player in messi, if he was at united they would of won another 1 or 2 champions leagues. Vermalean - Class defender, tough no nonsense, occasionally out of position abit rash going forward Mertesacker - Tall german international, experience, knowledge and an amazing defensive brain Sagna - Sagna... all amazing defenders, look at clichy/toure at city, suddenly they look good we need the rest of the team to help out, and them to be trained to defend together rather than defend separately
