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[AKBapologist]

Sorry mate but that's outdated bollocks. May have been true a few years ago but not of last season. We pressed harder and more successfully in more games than any other team in the league. We may have lacked leadership or *character*, but the problems you talk about just aren't backed up by any facts.

Set pieces, Denilson, Eboue, Squillaci, balls over the top and freekicks/Penalties are we shipped the most number of goals in the league last season. Yes, defensive organisation and drilling will help things, but the gulf between even Squillaci and Vermellaen is huge and more than ever I actually believe it has more to do with the individuals (physical attributes, temperament) than anything Wenger is or isn't doing.

[LDG]

Just on anotehr point as well, Metersacker is a bit shit as is Hangeland tbf.

As is squilacci. So we don't want to get him.

Oh.

[Niall_Quinn]

I voted Cahill but it will probably be Mertersacker (if anyone) because I hear he's cheap and past it - Wenger bait. Cahill is young and expensive (another of Wenger's favourite combos) but he's not young enough. Whoever (if anyone) arrives, they'll have a hell of a job fitting into our shambles. That's why we need two, not just the one. Plus we need a LB and Sagna needs to be dropped in favour of Jenkinson. Then we need a keeper and a new defensive coach, a new manager and a brand new defensive philosophy. And we need it by Saturday.

[Flavs]

Sorry mate but that's outdated bollocks. May have been true a few years ago but not of last season. We pressed harder and more successfully in more games than any other team in the league. We may have lacked leadership or *character*, but the problems you talk about just aren't backed up by any facts.

other than the complete and utter collapse at the end of the season you mean? The 43% of goals from set pieces and the ever present "defensive howler"?

Set pieces, Denilson, Eboue, Squillaci, balls over the top and freekicks/Penalties are we shipped the most number of goals in the league last season. Yes, defensive organisation and drilling will help things, but the gulf between even Squillaci and Vermellaen is huge and more than ever I actually believe it has more to do with the individuals (physical attributes, temperament) than anything Wenger is or isn't doing.

dont understand this at all? Are you saying that its due to us having shit defenders rather than a shit defence? If so i completely, 100%, without any shadow of a doubt, disagree. You bought a manager with a more defensive mind in here and they would have this lot looking like the fuckin roman empire's front phalanx. They would heading jumbo jets away if they came near our goal.

Look at Fulhams defence under Roy Hodgson? Anyone who can make Paul Konchesky and Aaron Hughes look good could piss it with our team.

[Kano]

Besides it dosnt matter who we buy, they will look shit. Said it before and will say it again, we could have the best back 4 in the world and would still look casual, uniterested, bambi-like and still concede stupid goals.

You know why? We have no organisation, no team defence, no help from the midfield, a huge gulf between the defence and midfield, we play too high a line, are physically weak, are different nationalities and have no concept of what "winning" a duel is.

IMO we have one actual defender in the whole squad and thats Sagna, he is so much better than the rest its almost embarassing for him at times. (I( cant judge vermaelen as i cant even remember what he looks like) Our team will continue to concede goals while we are coached and set up this way.

Also the DM's we have with are a bit shit which doesnt help either.

partly true but also relying on some outdated cliches about the team. if all of those problems were true we'd be bottom half of the table.

[Flavs]

partly true but also relying on some outdated cliches about the team. if all of those problems were true we'd be bottom half of the table.

Not really, we score more than we concede. Go figure.

I'm not saying its horrific in a zim like fashion, but it could be so much better

[AKBapologist]

Hang about. You said that the team failed to collectively defend (which is false, as they wouldn't be the team with the least goals conceded from open play in the league), then you dredge up the set pieces stat (of which, we conceded double the number from penalties as we did from corners for instance) whilst ignoring the clear and desperate difference between how socking some individual performances where last season, Almunia, Squllaci, Eboue and Denilson in particular.

I can forgive other supporters of other clubs parroting some of the talking head nonsense, but arsenal fans?

Even in preseason, Eboue, Squllaci and a general lack of quality in depth has shown just how important actual individuals are in terms of getting a result.

[Joker]

Getting rid of garbage like Squillaci and replacing them with good quality defenders will help things, but I don't think that by itself will make a big difference. The whole defensive organisation is a shambles, and we seem to be completely unsure about our whole defensive philosophy. Sometimes half the defenders push up, wanting to play an aggressive game, trying to catch the opposition offside, while the other half are more cautious and stay back. We've seen that in pre-season already, especially in the Emirates Cup when we were cut open quite a few times with through balls, because our offside trap failed miserably due to poor organisation. The same thing was seen against Benfica. And I'm not talking about individual errors from shit defenders like Squillaci (which was evident in all those matches) but our first choice defenders who apparently don't know how to coordinate their actions and create a unified defensive unit, instead behaving as individual defenders doing their own thing.

Wenger must take a lot of blame for this. His whole attitude suggests he doesn't really worry about defensive organisation, and it's likely he doesn't work on specialised defensive drills involving the whole team. This can explain why our midfielders are so laissez faire when it comes to tracking back. The worst example was Denilson ambling back when Man Utd scored at the Emirates in 2010.

Unless Wenger realises the importance of defending as a unit, we will continue to concede avoidable goals by the bucketload.

[Flavs]

Hang about. You said that the team failed to collectively defend (which is false, as they wouldn't be the team with the least goals conceded from open play in the league), then you dredge up the set pieces stat (of which, we conceded double the number from penalties as we did from corners for instance) whilst ignoring the clear and desperate difference between how socking some individual performances where last season, Almunia, Squllaci, Eboue and Denilson in particular.

I can forgive other supporters of other clubs parroting some of the talking head nonsense, but arsenal fans?

Even in preseason, Eboue, Squllaci and a general lack of quality in depth has shown just how important actual individuals are in terms of getting a result.

So you beleive the majorioty of our conceded goals are down to individual errors rather than the way we play as a team and the way the defence or organised or set up?

You think that with better players than the squad ones we have we wouldnt concede in such a comical fashion at times?

[Joker]

The whole mentality of the team is weak. I was watching LFC TV a week ago (it comes with the ESPN subscription package) and they said the same thing. How often do you see us go into a state of panic when defending a slender lead at the end of games? You can be sure that the opposition will create at least one decent chance in the last 5 minutes in a game we're leading by a single goal. And this is not only the fault of the defence. In this situation, the midfield also lose the plot, can't keep possession and put us on the backfoot, even in games that we had dominated for the previous 85 minutes.