I don't think there's anything wrong with the players in defence. Sagna obviously isn't a clown. Our CB's are #decent.
It's the coaching that causes the issues in defence IMO.
We could have done with a bit more creativity up front and a striker to replace Chamakh, Gervinho and Arshavin none of whom are up to it.
The problem is, that was supposed to be resolved by having Bould or a more pro-active assistant. For whatever reason that clearly hasn't happened, so the only other option to stop the rot that has gone on for years is to bring in top of the range defenders who can do it themselves.
The problem is, that is highly unlikely to happen too, given the price range we buy in. Hummels would be fantastic but let's face it, why would he leave Dortmund for us? It's not going to happen. So that leaves us in a catch 22, where we have to keep outscoring the opposition and so we need top of the range up there to counterbalance the fact we are shocking at the back. But of course, that isn't going to happen either, so we are stuck in the mid-price range, which means mid-price range performances resulting in near or mid-table finishes.
The bottom line is, relegation.
sorry.
Last edited by Kano; 01-02-2013 at 03:11 PM.
I disagree to an extent here. Our defenders are not younglings hoping to come good. They are all aged enough, experienced defenders who some how can't consistently be relied on to do the basics, which are the execution of properly timed tackles and clearances (most recent eg, Liverpool's 2 goals against us Wednesday).
Our blend is just plain ridiculous, especially our coterie of centre backs who are all shitte and who I feel no amount of coaching will significantly help/improve. Somewhere in there, at least one quality defender needs to be brought in for this hopeless bunch to feed off of and possibly adapt the basics of defending from.
I think the left back signing was not needed. We could have played Verms at LB, what we really needed was a quality keeper and how the fuck did England's no 2 end up at Stoke for 3-4 Million? I have no confidence in our GK and he's our weakest link, he's full of himself but in truth he is a poor keeper, and I think the back 5 have no confidence with our keeper. How Wenger missed out on Butland is beyond me, he would have been my signing of the transfer window, i just have no faith in Votjek.
Ches has regressed without a doubt, but I think it would be interesting to see how well a top keeper would fare with this lot infront of him.
He hasn't missed out on him because he didn't want him (Butland). And really, how often can you say you've seen him? He's not even at Stoke for the remainder of the season.
As mentioned above these guys aren't young players, they're players well past their mid 20's and now don't really have long to improve. I'm not convinced by any of them, the errors are schoolboy errors and whilst I agree the coaching is poor it doesn't excuse the errors we see week in week out.
We're crying out for leaders IMO, players than organise, lead and stand up to be counted.