As far as i remember, Man U had terrible injuries this season too, with their best defender Vidic missing a whole season. Yet they conceded 33 goals this season. The difference being, our organisation at the back is worse. I remember one season when both Rio and Vidic were out, they were playing Carrick at the back. They were still solid! Remember, its a squad game, sometimes you have injuries and need players to step up and cover.
True, but my preference was always Vermaelen. Another future captain would be Wilshere, when he grows up
Wee were'nt dealing with a couple of injuries at the back though were we? We had Vermaelen, Santos, Gibbs, Sagna, Jenkinson, all injured at the same time. Infact i think at one stage it was worse and we had 8 defenders out injured at the same time. That is a freak occurance and very unlikely to happen again. With a more stable defense we will concede far less goals as organisation etc will grow with time. I agree it is a coaching issue as to why we concede so often. But it is very clear we had a ridiculous spell of defensive injuries last season.
I'd have Mert and Verm against teams that are dangerous from set pieces / crosses. I'd have Verm and Kos against teams that just have a lot of pace. I'd have Mert and Kos the rest of the time.
Nice to actually have some positive feedback with serious responses ..fair play, lets see next season. BRING IT ON gooooooners lets just hope persie stays, if so we will have a very very strong attack too
Fair enough it did have an adverse impact to our defence conceding. But we really need to improve as a defensive unit overall. It's not just about our back 4 i think, it's the way our whole team defends and sees out games. We tend to lose concentration at key times. Hopefully Bould can help tighten things up.
I'd go with Vermaelen. Merts is too slow and not commanding in the air, for a big man he doesn't win the headers that he should. Pace is a big issue though, with the tricky nippy strikers in the Prem I'd be worried for him .. and its not like Arsenal play a deep line either. But he should get games, we should be picking players aimed at beating specific teams, Merts I am sure would be better against physcial opponents, Vermaelen and Koscielny seem weak. Koscielny played very well V Spain though, his pace and positioning were very good. Kos would be my starter.
Some are much better than others. I wouldn't say that we are particularly good from set pieces / crosses in the air for example, especially as opposed to the likes of Stoke.
And how many of those 49 were the fault of Shezza, Kos, Jenkinson and Djourou as well as Verm of course ? What about Merts getting out jumped by midgets ?
As long as Koscielny is starting I do not mind playing Verm or Mert depending on the opposition. Vermaelen has great character and he is a fighter and a true leader, but defensively he is slightly overrated. He is a perfect example of a player who is blindly loved for his attitude, body language and facial expression. As well as for things that normally are not included in his his job description - ie running forward and scoring goals. I would even go as far as to say that in pure defensive terms ( and we are ignoring other qualities here) he is not that far away from much maligned Squilacci. Both had their defensive lapses, some awful ones, but where one is easily forgiven the other is crucified for basically similar mistakes. I would guess by the end of the season all three will have playing time with maybe Mert playing less than Verm and Kos playing more than both.
Mert is a calming influence, Both Verm and Kos seem to be overly aggressive, with the both of them constantly attacking the ball. Of course this looks all well and good, but if they miss, then we've got a big gap behind them we have to cover, which Mert is very good at doing. The reason why Verm gets so much credit for his 'oh so amazing' last gasp tackles is that positionally, he can be very suspect, but has the pace to make up for it. People forget that this was Mert's first season in the prem, and before his injury he was starting to look a very good player, as he got over the initial surprise of the premier league. Quite honestly, just because the way that Vermaelen/Kos play i think Mert has to be a starter, many people also overlook Vermaelen's errors due to the goals he scores and after last season Kos also has to play alongside him.
This^ 100%! Mert is an organiser at the back I reckon. He has experience and is the perfect guy to play alongside kos.
Mert all day long, Vermaelen seems to be more concerned with scoring and is nearly always out of position.
