UCL: Arsenal v Anderlecht - 4/11/14, 19:45 - SS5

[Jury]

Rearranging our players is the same as rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic.

Brutally true.

 

[Iceman10]

Well it depends on who Wenger rates higher, doesn't it?

For all we know (and its the only explanation I can think of for not letting Bellerin play RB so Chambers could play CB) he rates Monreal a better CB than Chambers.

Would that be beyond the realms of fantasy for Wenger?

He probably sees the difference between Chambers and Monreal for CB being less than the difference between Chambers and Bellerin for RB, particularly due to Bellerin having not much experience outside Watford last season where they tended to play him higher up the pitch meaning he didn't really prove his defensive game there.

Chambers and Mertesacker is not a great CB pairing, both are lacking a little in pace and either are ideally in need of Kos to pair up with them, which then of course goes back to depth.

 

[Big Poppa]

It's all Özil's fault

I think everyone has said it all about the mentality but to what extent do we feel Wenger's lack of use of the squad contributed to the last 30 minute collapse?

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

Wenger wants one left and one right footed centre half, and after selling Verms, Monreal is the only other option, as we already saw in pre season.

Chambers plays RB, because he has more experience than Bellerin.

 

[Hunta]

Anyway, at least this never happened in a league game, hopefully we go back to basics and recover. As hopeful as I was, we weren't beating Dortmund by three clear goals anyway, we should still finish second and this SHOULD make the players determined to put it right.

That Tielemans will go far, lad looks like the next big thing in midfield.

 

[entropy13]

Apologies guys, I just realized right now that we're actually in Group E with just 5 points after 4 matches because of all the abysmal performances.






Oh, wait (and I'm already making the assumption that City wins).

 

[kofigunner]

Defensive injuries or not, when you're up 3 goals and it becomes obvious that your opponent is having free rein on your right hand side, it's up to the manager to adjust the mindset or personnel in the team to plug that hole. It's no use Wenger moaning about the defence when it was exceedingly obvious what the problem was. We got away with it a bit before we scored our goals and didn't learn from it.

 

[Big Poppa]

Wenger wants one left and one right footed centre half, and after selling Verms, Monreal is the only other option, as we already saw in pre season.

Chambers plays RB, because he has more experience than Bellerin.

I'm sorry but I don't buy this at all. Mert and Kos had a phenomenal run together at the back and are both right footed. Why would Wenger now suddenly want a left footed centre back?

I don't know how Monreal was even considered an option anyway, he is not a centre back. We had Isaac Hayden and Ignasi Miquel available in pre-season too. Why not take a longer look at them? They are centre backs, again Monreal isn't.

Chambers has more experience at RB than Bellerin but not by much. He arrived here having been a back up to Clyne at Southampton. Chambers is a better centre back than anyone else who is fit and available, and that is a position of the pitch where you pick your team first. A talented but rookie right back playing in his best position is much less risk than a back up left back playing out of position in the heart of defence.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

There's no coincidence in the fact that Kos is more comfortable as the left CB in the centre of defense. That's one of the reasons why his partnership with Verms didn't work, but the one with Merte does.

I for myself, don't think it's necessary to have a left and a right footed CB, in contrast to Wenger who often stated that.

 

[Enfield]

How many times over the last few seasons have we all come on here after a heavy defeat or demoralising game and we all agree that the left side of our defense was a massive problem for all to see

how many more times does Wenger have to look at a game going away from us, with a very obvious problem, and do nothing about it. Not only does he watch it unfold but he watched is unfold numerous times in a season and still does nothing about it either in game or in terms of how we play.

the guy has been grossly negligent with our defense. Its not like we are outscoring teams and accepting that we will concede as a consequence. When we come up against teams who defend well then we generally end up with nothing anyway

 

[Big Poppa]

There's no coincidence in the fact that Kos is more comfortable as the left CB in the centre of defense. That's one of the reasons why his partnership with Verms didn't work, but the one with Merte does.

I for myself, don't think it's necessary to have a left and a right footed CB, in contrast to Wenger who often stated that.

I agree with you. But why then didn't we make a move for someone like Nastasic? In any case I think (hope) that one might be on the cards for January.

 

[tap-in]

Wenger wants one left and one right footed centre half, and after selling Verms, Monreal is the only other option, as we already saw in pre season.

Chambers plays RB, because he has more experience than Bellerin.

I'm sorry but I don't buy this at all. Mert and Kos had a phenomenal run together at the back and are both right footed. Why would Wenger now suddenly want a left footed centre back?

I don't know how Monreal was even considered an option anyway, he is not a centre back. We had Isaac Hayden and Ignasi Miquel available in pre-season too. Why not take a longer look at them? They are centre backs, again Monreal isn't.

Chambers has more experience at RB than Bellerin but not by much. He arrived here having been a back up to Clyne at Southampton. Chambers is a better centre back than anyone else who is fit and available, and that is a position of the pitch where you pick your team first. A talented but rookie right back playing in his best position is much less risk than a back up left back playing out of position in the heart of defence.

I agree with everything you say, even that Chambers is our best fit CB and that includes Per. What I do want to point out though is that Chambers played 18 PL games last season and even kept Clyne out when fit, so he has a lot more exp than Bellerin. As I said, I agree with you anyway and I would play Chambers as CB and Bellerin RB, rather than play this ridiculous defensive Merry-go-round where you have your back up LB playing CB. Although in Monreals defence he looked better than Per last night. Maybe Chambers and Monreal should start against Swansea!

 

[Tir Na Nog]

I pray that yesterday was a one-off.... brought back memories of old Nld's and that Newcastle game from a few years ago. Someone needed to show leadership and take responsibility in that game after we conceded that first goal. It was a worrying display for the last half hour.

 

[GDeep™]

It was a worrying display throughout not just the last half hour.

This Anderlecht team is rubbish too, put 6/7 past them in the old days.

 

[Bigbludfire]

Had we not loaned out Jenks we wouldn't have bought Chambers so it's a moot point.

Erm... no. We lined up moves for Chambers and Schneiderlin as soon as we heard they were available, but we wanted Chambers first which destroyed the move for Schneiderlin. Schneiderlin admitted it himself.

Arsène's always said he'll sign a quality player in areas we require if he's available for a reasonable price, he knew Chambers could play in 3 positions so he moved for Chambers anyway.

 

[bingobob]

Wenger wants one left and one right footed centre half, and after selling Verms, Monreal is the only other option, as we already saw in pre season.

Chambers plays RB, because he has more experience than Bellerin.

Glad someone is seeing sense on this front. But even then I think you have it slightly wrong but looking in the right direction.

Mertesacker is a right sided CB as is Chambers, Mertesacker is very slow and cumbersome with the ball on his stronger side never mind his weaker side and he would have to be the one shifted to accommodate Chambers in the centre. Chambers cannot at present play LCB because he is to young and inexperienced Monreal then is the only real option to keep Mertesacker in his position and keeping Chambers in his original position. In essence we are only playing one player out of position rather than having Mertesacker out of it Chambers in a relatively new role (he has only marginally played more games than Monreal at CB) and means we didnt have two young unexperienced players on our right hand side of defence. Also that defence has kept two clean sheets in a row if anything continuity there was more important than any other area of the pitch, see the discussion about Sanchez starting yesterday.

Recently I think the players have been to blame more so than the manager because we have shown at the end of games things can click in an attacking sense and that therefore is the players fault for not applying themselves from the start. Last night however was the managers fault. The attack clicked scored three goals. The Arteta injury changed the game why because admit it or not he is a big player for us and when he is missing we suffer. We needed investment in that area over the summer the manager never done that. Wenger then never reacted in the right manner to the changing game. Bellerin didnt come on neither did Walcott our reaction to the changing dynamics of the game rests with Arsène alone. The team done it's job the manager should have ensured it seen it out.

 

[The_Playmaker]

Personally I feel debating about who plays where and who we didn't buy is irrelevant because last night wasn't about the quality of personnel. It wasn't a case of us being outplayed and the opposition having stronger players in certain positions.

Last night had nothing to do with individual player ability and was completely about mental capacity. The mental approach of the manager and the players. Those are the two categories. As far as the manager's approach goes, he simply got it wrong. He made all of the wrong decisions, but screams out most is his failure to act, when the situation that was occurring was visible to almost anyone watching. After it went to 3-2, it was inevitable that they would score. More so because we did absolutely nothing different after they scored the first. However, Wenger has always been appalling tactically. That is not something that will change. The guy is old, he won't change now.

However, what there can be no excuse for is the approach of the players. They have freedom and I understand that, but there is a time when they need to stop acting like little kids and need to behave like men and take responsibility. Wenger has criticized Ramsey publicly, yet he continues to make the same mistakes.

 

[amirkat]

Disgusting display.

Sanchez deserves so much more than this for the efforts he puts in.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

Bingobob, I wasn't getting at which partnerships work the best at the back, I was just stating what I assumed was/is Wenger's thinking behind Monreal being favoured over Chambers as Merte's partner.

I agree on your point that Chambers as CB could lead to another change in Mertesacker having to play LCB, though. That's surely part of Wenger's thinking as well.

 

[bingobob]

RedwhiteAustrian think we are on the same page. He likes this idea of natural vision but we have seen him play two right footed players before (Adams Keown Campbell Toure Toure Gallas and now Mertesacker Koscielny and recently Chambers and Koscielny) I think Monreal was the only natural fit to play there with the least amount of disruption.