Not for the first time, our calamitous defence has cost us dear. The game against West Brom would have been a comfortable 0-2 but for some shambolic defending. The Squillaci and Almunia incident yesterday was worse than the one against Brum in the CC final. At the top level, there is no excuse for such poor defending. At the end of the season, I wonder how much we are going to pour over the mistakes against WBA at home and away, the 0-4 we threw away at Newcastle, the Brum game and so on? The could turn out to have cost us the title. This season was always going to be difficult for the CB's with two new ones coming in and the campaign long absence of Vermaelen. Djourou has done okay and Koscielney is a decent CB, but overall - the performances have been pretty dire. It's a well publicised key area that we need to strengthen at and I pray that Wenger finally brings in some top talent at the back. For me, the rest of the team is fine - including GK. But CB is the area that will make the difference between success and failure for us.
With a better defence, we could now be 1 point behind united with a game in hand, and Carling cup champions. When everyones fit and sorted, i think we now actually have a great defence, Szneznky is a great keeper and will improve greatly. Tommy V is great, Djourou has been immense, and Koschielny (when not partnered with squillaci) has been immense The only problem is that 2 of them 3 are injured and song being injured doesn't help matters Hopefully come next season, Vermalean back, Djourou back and with a season under his belt, and Koschielny with a season in the premier league and abit of time to bulk up
Having Vermaelen, Djourou, Koscielny and Squillaci should be good enough. However due to injuries it has not turned out how it should. The trick is to stay fit rather than but someone new.
We've been saying this for 2-3 seasons now though. Injuries are part and parcel of football and whilst we've had more than our fair share, we need to have a contingency plan.
they have never even played together thats how bad the injuries have been. next season with KOS and fabianski backup, we SHOULD be ok!
Another 1st choice defender will upset the pack, we don't really need another in my opinion. It is too early to say whether Vermaelen is injury prone or just has a bad injury, and I can't remember about Djourou.
defence is fine once fully fit. kos is a good back up and the youngsters will be making a first team break next season for the bench, miguel looks good!!
Exactly, We already have 3 defenders fighting for the starting 2 positions, so we're going to have 1 class CB not playing, with another class CB coming in that would just double that problem, meaning we either have to switch the defenders around every handful of games, which would cause unrest etc
I think given the amount of games in all the competitions, coupled with the injuries sustained over a season - there would be a enough of a balance between game time and fighting for a place for all of the CB's without causing unrest.
Miquel looks like a proper footballer ...... comfortable on the ball, in the same mould as Nesta and Maldini - Of course it remains to be seen whether he'll reach such lofty heights, but the raw skill is there. I'd like to see Kyle Bartley getting games for the first team too. Totally different player, he's more like an old school English CB - tall, strong and direct. If these two can make the grade at Arsenal, along with a fit Vermaelen, then we've got plenty of options. ........But I still can't help thinking that we need someone who's already got bags of experience at the top level
I honestly think we're about the same. Where Arsenal excel with skill and flair of our players, Utd make up for with experience and ability to grind out results.
