Central Defence

[Chippy]

I know that I will receive much criticism for this comment, but here goes anyway.

I fully understand that the fans are crying out for a defensive Midfielder (which we have now got in the addition of Elneny).

However, my concern is with our central defenders Koscielny and Mertesacker.

I know that Kos puts in a good shift and is dedicated, however, in my opinion, he is certainly not outstanding.

As for Merts, he has a big heart and gets involved, but he is so slow and gets caught out far too much.

I would put Gabriel alongside Kos from now on and use Merts as back up.

We rarely look secure at the back.

Just saying………….

[Marc Overmars]

I don't think you're the only one mate who is advocating Gabriel to start in place of Merts.

[Özim]

Mertersacker is pure rubbish, should have never signed him he's never been any good, it's no surprise that he's a liability.

Gabriel should play every game, agree with Koscielny, good defender no doubt but not the world beater some claim he is on here.

[IBK]

Hmmm - our central defence looked decent before Coquelin's injury. Didn;t we have the best (second best) defensive record up until then? Our lack of MF is skewing our view, IMO.

[Letters]

Mertersacker is pure rubbish, should have never signed him he's never been any good, it's no surprise that he's a liability.

Yes. The man who has a hundred caps for Germany, most recently as part of their World Cup winning team, is "pure rubbish" and has "never been any good"



He's getting on a bit now and arguably shouldn't be first choice now but man you spout some nonsense.

[selassie]

I know that I will receive much criticism for this comment, but here goes anyway.

I fully understand that the fans are crying out for a defensive Midfielder (which we have now got in the addition of Elneny).

However, my concern is with our central defenders Koscielny and Mertesacker.

I know that Kos puts in a good shift and is dedicated, however, in my opinion, he is certainly not outstanding.

As for Merts, he has a big heart and gets involved, but he is so slow and gets caught out far too much.

I would put Gabriel alongside Kos from now on and use Merts as back up.

We rarely look secure at the back.

Just saying………….

Central Defence isn't perfect and I am not against Merts being dropped for Gabriel but that will not fix the flaws in our team IMO.

The bigger concern and major flaw in our team right now is Central Midfield. They offer the defence pretty much no protection, lack positional awareness and offer little creativity. Central Midfield right now is an abomination and it's completely handicapping the balance of the team. Central Defence is massively exposed and overworked at the moment, they are under immense pressure pretty much every game now.

Before Caz & Coq got crocked Central Defence wasn't an issue, we had the best defensive record in the league because we had Coq who was mopping up in front of them and Caz who was distributing and keeping hold of possession, since they've been crocked our level of performance has dipped dramatically and we are basically struggling in most games, even our recent wins against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Sunderland haven't been easy.

IMO, even if Gabriel replaced Merts we wouldn't see that much of an improvement because opposing teams are getting a free run at our back 4.

Wenger needs to fix Central Midfield and quickly because if he doesn't I think we'll be dropping a lot more points.

[IBK]

Yes. The man who has a hundred caps for Germany, most recently as part of their World Cup winning team, is "pure rubbish" and has "never been any good"



He's getting on a bit now and arguably shouldn't be first choice now but man you spout some nonsense.

Give it a rest, Letters?

[Chippy]

Hmmm - our central defence looked decent before Coquelin's injury. Didn;t we have the best (second best) defensive record up until then? Our lack of MF is skewing our view, IMO.

That is because Coquelin was protecting them! Papering over the cracks so to say.

[Globalgunner]

Give it a rest, Letters?

You are asking for too much

[IBK]

That is because Coquelin was protecting them! Papering over the cracks so to say.

Yeah - they were getting decent protection - but I feel that we do need to factor in the loss of not just 1 but both of our first choice CMF's and the fact that Ramseyhas had very little experience playing there (one of the problems with AW's obsession with playing players out wide...A team can only defend effectively as a team - and I wonder whether any defenders would look secure with as shaky a MF as we have ATM?