You couldn't fail to be impressed with some of the defending on show by Stevenage today. We were looking for CBs for ages and I still don't think we have addressed our issue, we still need a commanding CB. Mertesacker doesn't dominate aerially - he gets beaten to far many headers and is too slow. I said before and I maintain, forget these foreign defenders, lets buy a quality no nonsense CB who loves getting hurt, loves shouting at people and loves defending. There are loads that coulod step up - as we all saw in today's game. Got to say the Stevenage RB was fantastic, fast, great defender and can cross the bloody ball, He kept Bale quiet, so much so Bale had to drift inside !! Good baller. Why didn't we buy him instead of Jenkinson ? I saw more in today's game from the RB than I have in all of Jenkinson's games combined.
Considering the fact that jenkers has been injured for most of the season? Yes they defended VERY WELL (take notes Arsene) Hopefully Jenkers can surpass Sagna in a couple of years (When he was fit he looked promising)
Dunk's own goal may rival this one [video=youtube;QXcWBU-BFk0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXcWBU-BFk0[/video]
our defence is bad because we don't work on negating the opponents threats at training. past players and even wenger (i think) said that we don't analyse other teams, we focus on our own game. he should have come up with a plan to negate the midfield runners that milan use all the time. their strikers drift around, pull the cb's out of position and the midfielder run into that space. considering they don't even play with wingers, another manager may have used 3 CBs in that game, with wing backs on the wing, and pack the midfield. against sunderland he knew they would counter attack, yet did nothing to prevent that from happening.
Drudeboy - for years since Campbell left us, we haven't had that demanding CB we needed, that thorn in the side, that guy who is always there to block a shot and shout at players, a nasty bastard. That sort of thing breeds desire, when other players see you breathing fire, they get some steel inside them too. We have had a soft underbelly since we haven't had this sort of leader and it is when the going gets tough, thats when these guys come into their own, they never hide and their heads don't drop. Not a single player consoled OXO when he scored the own goal, they all walked away for the restart. That nasty bastard would've told him to keep his head up and ignore the mistake - then he would've roared at the team - in fact, from the off he would've fired all the players up. Have you ever seen RVP, Henry or Fabregas in the tunnel firing people up ? Nope !
good point hothead. we do need a real leader. but wenger has to realise this, because he would be the one to buy one.
Rubbish. A man in the know told me that Mert was the closest thing to Adams we could find and was confident that next year he will be a star for us.
You know .. I do actually agree with this, I see the similarities !! But, he is even slower than tony Adams and Tony Adams was commanding in the air. Can you imagine Clint Dempsey or Wayne Rooney ever beating Adams for a header ? No way.
i thought vermaelen would be like that this season. then he started whining about having to play at LB, despite knowing that he is the ONLY player in our squad who could play there due to injuries. a real leader wouldn't whine like that. hope mert is different
Yeah and equally you can't tell jack from seeing a player play in La Liga for numerous seasons .. I remind you all of .. Squillaci. How much did he see of Jenkinson .. but he bought him - he wasn't even playing Championship football, he was playing Division 1 football. This RB kept one of the best players IN THE WORLD at the moment quiet, what has Jenkinson done ? What had OXO done before we spent £13m or so on him ? The point is, we should've gone down a division to find a CB fit for purpose and not slower than my mum
What had that RB done before that game? jenkinson has been injured for most of the season and hasn't had time to prove himself (he started of shaky but he adapted and was playing solidly pre-injury). Are you really having a go at OXO? M'Sacker and Koscielny is a good partenership. One has better positioning and the other has good pace and reading of the game. To claim M'Sacker is a bad buy is just silly
Merts has been getting better in the air from game to game - first season. He needs another to tell how good (or not) he is going to be. I, at least, think he has what it takes.
I'm saying their RB had a fantastic game and if he can keep Bale quiet he must be a decent player. Compare that to Jenkinson's first games where he didn't even look like a pro. Not saying one is better than the other though, just saying the other guy looked very good. Not having a go at OXO, I was commenting on the fact that we bought a lower league winger we had no real knowledge of for £13m in response to comments that you cant base an opinion on one game. I am claiming that Mertesacker isn't the answer to our defensive problem, not that he is a bad buy.
I'll admit I over reacted but I think Jenkers will come out good IF he is not thrown into the PL too quickly And we need a cover CB because Djorou and Squill aren't good enough and Miguel is decent but Aw won't play him and he still needs a couple of years
Lets sign them, i mean world class liverpool only put 6 past them..... It's all good chucking yourself about everywhere and doing anything to stop them scoring in probably the biggest game of their lives for some of them but they still let in 6...
OXO - I actually think Jenkinson will become a very good defender, top defender in fact, he has the tools, I just don't agree that he has been as good as some have made out. I am not upset we bought him MrWright - true, but some players have the attributes to be very good players, in the right environment. In 2009 Koscielny was playing the equivalent of Championship football but we took a punt. If we can do that with a foreign player and we have done it for offensive players why can't we do it with English defenders ?
