From what I've heard, Mertesacker was really bad last year.
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From what I've heard, Mertesacker was really bad last year.
The way things have been going, I'll take that. He should at least be better than Johan "what-has-happened-tou-you-panic-at-the-disco" Djourou.
Although I do think Djourou and Koscielny have the raw talents of being good defenders in the making, they have shown flashes of goodness, but something is just a bit wrong. Whether that is to do with the way we are setup and organized in terms of defensive coaching, or whether they just need more time to mature and develop I'm not sure.
The strangest one is Squillaci. I'd heard very good things about him at Lyon and Sevilla, ok not the fastest but he was a French international, experienced, supposed to be decent enough and positionally aware. But for us he's looked like he's never played professional football :?
He was nowhere near this bad at his other teams, which is leading me to believe the problem may be more with our setup than the players, as they all look shaky; even Veramelen at times although he has become more consistent.
Which is why signings will have a limited effect if we do not drastically improve the coaching side. Where's Martin Keown or Steve Bould when you need them, perhaps they should be the NO.2 to Wenger instead of Pat Rice, an attacking mindset and a defensive one balancing things out.
According to Sky Sports our interest in Cahill is done.
@dancompton: Sky sources: no inerest in Cahill from AFC...deal dead