I dunno. I suppose it's all about context. If Bale was an Irish immigrant in NYC in the 1850s and someone threw a banana at him, that'd definitely be considered racist. Poor behavior, regardless.
seems like rubbish to me. IDK why people cant fathom that maybe Steve Bould isnt a magic elixir we all wanted to believe. Its not like his youth team defenses were sterling when he managed them. And maybe the defenders just arent that good. nah, he definitely looks like he shoulda been on Planet of the Apes
Some guy next to me at a pub Sunday called him "The missing link" (between man and ape), which I found rather humorous.
I disagree - all of these guys are established internationals and have played in plenty of big games. And we've seen it with lots of different defenders, virtually all of whom have played lots of international games: 1. Toure 2. Gallas 3. Senderos 4. Djourou 5. Clichy 6. Eboue 7. Sagna 8. Vermaelen 9. Mertesacker 10. Koscielny 11. Gibbs If our defenders weren't that good, we would concede goals other than sloppy ones. But we only concede horrible, head scratching goals: I can think of maybe five goals we've conceded all season that weren't due to horrible defensive screwups. That screwups keep happening isn't down to talent - it's down to coaching.
Sagna has had a bad spell, but he isnt awful. Eboue is not good, period. Clichy isnt that good either. Senderos and Djourou? Are you serious? Being an international dont mean much to me when you cite Senderos and Djourou. I am not saying coaching isnt a problem, but outside of Sagna, none of those guys are who you would consider world class.
But those guys are all good, and teams aren't exactly ripping us apart defensively. How many times do we score goals and think the other team really couldn't have done anything about it? Happens fairly often, right? How often do you say that about goals we concede? There are horrific mistakes on 75 percent of the goals we concede. If you fix the stupid crap and make the players positionally aware and reduce the number of screwups to a level that matches up with, say, Chelsea, we're the second best team in the league. The players aren't bad: it's that the coaching and practice time is abysmal.
I think people don't think. Defense is a team game and all about cohesion and time together. With back fours changing so rapidly in terms of personnel tunrover as Neville correctly pointed out there is a lack of "good/great" defending in the modern game. Also with Arsenal the midfield and forward pressing/tracking and defending as a team is wholly unacceptable. I remember a Mourinho talk some years back when he said that the most important things he worked on in training was the transition from possession to defense and how everyone had to work together otherwise you lose games. Everyone is so good in the modern game in terms of scouting, fitness, etc. that the transitional phase of a game or defending that phase of the game is crucial. Arsenal sucks at both at this moment. I watched the highlights again, any striker worth his weight should've scored. Also I know everyone loves Wilshire, myself included, but his passing on the final ball should've released his teammates for chances on goal. Arsenal just isn't good enough in the critical moments of transition.
That logic is a little warped. When a player scores a goal that no one can do anything about, you say oh well, not much we could do about this! On the other hand, soft-ish bs goals time and time again tells me that these guys are not that great. BTW, I do not think the second goal was TV5's fault all the way. It was stupid of Monreal to play zonal marking on someone sliding into the box and not track. TV had his body turned and did not know that Lennon was cutting in. Nacho should have done a lot better. Simply put, you track your marker inside the box, not shift it over to someone else as is expected during zonal marking. It works when the players are in front of you, not in this situation.
Monreal and TV5 have played how many games together? there's no communication no cohesion in the back four. Have the starting back four been together for extended periods?
I do not argue with that logic. I am also fine with giving Monreal time to settle in. He is an excellent player.
What about getting rid of TV5, and buying two experienced CB's and rotating Kos/Mert for FA Cup and lesser games? Also need a new RB seeing as how Sagna on his way out and Corporal Jenkinson being young. Too much flux in the back four. They need an interceptor DM badly. Not sure if any of the ones on the roster will pan out. Arteta is old. This whole team just is a mismatched part outfit
Fair enough, but that matches up with my larger point. The issue is that the necessary teamwork in defense just doesn't exist. Part of that is players needing time to gel, but part of that is on the manager to make sure the defense can play as a unit when defending, and that requires careful attention in training. What I'm saying is that this issue is bigger than just this squad. It's gone on for years and lots of different defenders, and what's been missing is that the unit doesn't play as a team, and our zonal system (which seems to be used for more than just set pieces) requires lots of teamwork. When that same teamwork is missing, well....
I agree fully. The moment possession of the ball changes hands is the most important moment in the game. And it takes thousands of reps to get it right, as a team. It's pretty apparent to me that it's not something we spend a lot of time on.
Never had a problem with it a decade ago. Must be all those new training and coaching techniques. Thanks Wenger.
the team has no balance! especially centrally! in the modern game most sides play a 4 3 3 varient in which a dm becomes a thirds centre back as fullbacks push on, or they play a lopsided system with a cb as a rb for example and a wing back with a dm screen dropping deep we have no balance, advanced midfielders expected to hold and wingers who either don't track back or create many chances when they attack, plus the lack of a prolific striker! this team is awful by arsenal standards since wenger came, as dutch said we defend badly as a team....imo it is the balance we also need 2 different styles of cb, an aerial threat and balls to the wall mixed with a covering player who sweeps up, campbell and toure was the last time we had that.....
clichy is a good player. in fact, the stats say he was one of the best in the league just last season.
those defenders didn't play the way wenger asks his defenders to play now, therefore it must be, at least partly, to do with coaching and training. (the only one who could arguably be said to play like our current defenders was ashley cole, though gio, who was really a lw, was also used at lb on occasion)
wenger's biggest mistake? take a winning formation, change it, claiming it wasn't "modern" enough to cope with 433/4231 in midfield (and to suit a single star player), win nothing ever since and remain too stubborn to accept it has failed.
You are ignoring the possibility that they are dumb and I am not kidding. I have seen plenty of strikers who can score with no time to think because instincts kick in. Same player will kick it out of the stadium if you give him time to think about what he should do. I think our defenders are very good against men, they are crap against tactics. Have Gleek run at them with the ball, he scores 15% of the time, gets pushed to a bad angle/saved by the keeper 50% of the time, has the ball taken away 25% and gets scythed down like a stalk of simian wheat 10%. In a game situation, with players moving off the ball, they just cannot cope with the variables and he gets away from them, receives the ball and cue the moaning and wailing. Tactically they are just unaware but that can be compensated for with a strong keeper or strong leader. We have neither. TV is the captain and does nothing to organize the defense. Our keeper is more of the same.
Those guys were mature adults who all possessed brains and leadership. They coached themselves. As much as I might dislike them, Terry and Rio supply that. Barca get it from Michael Bolton. We need one of them.
lamb, we diddnt really play a 4 4 2 tbh bergkamp was deeper .............henry pires..........db10 ..........vieira............ljungberg ....................silva cole ...............toure...campbell...lauren
Look at that lineup and ask yourself if it's the quality of the coaching or the quality of the players. It's laughable.