Shalmaneser V
Active Member
I definately think you have some clear points. But at the same time you have to remember that the mistakes these guys are making are unforced errors.
It's like Federer double faulting. Kolasinac hadnt enough pressure on him to make a simple back pass difficult. The ball that came into Luiz against City is as routine as you can get.
What I would also say is that we have continued to sign the wrong type of player. The type of player who is trying to do something they cant do. And this links into your points abit.
Managers are asking these players to play out from the back but in reality they arent that comfortable at it. They seem to not know when to clear the ball upfield or go short.
One other thing that is the problem is this idea that Arsenal has to play free flowing attractive football where we dominate possession, knock it about etc. Its funny how that has become the "culture" at Arsenal. In 1998 we played decent football but nothing super attractive. We hit the wings with pace. Had Bergkamp, Wright and Anelka along with Overmars able to create. We had solid CM and a solid defence. That was based on defend first.
Then Arsène decided he maybe didnt want that style so he was looking for defenders to be able to be ball playing. However truth be told he didnt have an eye for defenders. It was one area that completely eluded him.
In the same period Fergie was making a point of signing top defenders. Chelsea were never short of good defenders too. Yes they had money but Vidic at 7.5m. Likes of Stam, Desially, Carvalho, etc were all good defenders that didnt break the bank.
I look at teams who try to play similar systems and player for player they are better than what we have as individuals.
Azpilecueta at Chelsea has played left back, right back and centre back over the last 5-6 years under different managers. He can do this because hes a good player. Is he world class? No but hes solid. He reads the game well. He knows when to put his foot through it and when to play about with it.
Theres a reason we were the only team in for Mustafi. Theres a reason why Kolasinac was on a free and came to us. If he had been half as good as people made out Bayern would have been all over him.
Luiz. David Luiz was so good Chelsea decided an 18 year old Tomori who was playing in the Championship the year before was better equipped to help their cause.
Look I’m not trying to make excuses for their unforced errors. I agree with everyone who says they’re not good enough for Arsenal. I would bin every last one of our current centrebacks if i had my way.
I also agree with you that our defensive recruitment in recent times has let us down badly.
The point I’m merely making here is that our defensive issues run far deeper than individual talent.
Everyone’s raving about Saliba. I think he’d be making mistakes too if we had decided to keep him here this season.
Put Van Dijk in our set up and I honestly think he doesn’t look as impressive in our team.
A successful defensive unit is more about the system and organisation than personnel.