Vermaelen Surgery?

[Darth Vela]

But don't we have a track record of Kos being shaky (if we are kind)? I agree we have no choices now and we go with what we've got. I wonder when the club knew TV needed surgery? Before or after the transfer window closed? If it was before then Wenger is again saying Kos is good enough to start for us, or maybe JD is good enough. I think they have clearly demonstrated they are nowhere near good enough. Not sure what Wenger is looking for or what he sees in them. He also appears to count Squillaci as a viable option when he speaks about us having enough CBs at the club. This is the heart of it. Wenger says one thing and all the evidence contradicts him.

Yeah, he's made mistakes and he's had bad games, most of them coming early on in the season whilst adapting but it's as if people expect players to be perfect at all times which simply doesn't happen.

I'd have liked another CB as I don't trust Djourou and Squillaci isn't even really a defender but if you simply focus on errors instead of considering the effect of different partnerships and personalities on the synergy and efficiency of a defence then you're gonna ignore a large part of putting a team together.

From where I'm standing we have two senior defenders who can organise things and two junior defenders who need one of the others there due to their own lack of organisation in Kos' case and inability to concentrate in DJ's case, I reckon Cahill would fall somewhere between those two so would have been more useful than Djourou. It's not perfect but it's a damn sight better than last year.

As for what Wenger thinks, who the fuck knows? One thing I will say though is if Squillaci gets any gametime this season I will consider this summer a complete and utter failure.

[selassie]

Glad I'm not going completely mental.

Or you both could be mental?

FWIW I see the potential in Kos I just don't think he's at a stage yet where he can perform at a high level every week.

Moreover our alleged lack of defensive drills in training will not do him any favours as he needs to learn and to an extent be babysat.

I think Kos can be quite useful as a 4th choice, he really isn't a bad back up option.

[IBK]

Or you both could be mental?

FWIW I see the potential in Kos I just don't think he's at a stage yet where he can perform at a high level every week.

Moreover our alleged lack of defensive drills in training will not do him any favours as he needs to learn and to an extent be babysat.

I think Kos can be quite useful as a 4th choice, he really isn't a bad back up option.

I think Kos could be very good. But I think its near impossible to evaluate the relative quality of our defence against players from other clubs when the cover they have from midfield is non-existant; the line they hold is suicidally high; our interminable possession game almost invites the opposition to pull us out of shape, and we neither attack the box or exploit set pieces - meaning that our defenders cannot train to hone this side of their game.

[Özim]

It's a sad state of affairs when a 26 year old defender can't stand on his own two feet and thus still needs babysitting.

As has been said before, good defenders are good defenders regardless of who is beside them, they don't need to rely on others to make them look good.

There's an awful lot of excuses for Koscielny's poor play, he's not a 19 year old kid at the end of the day.

[Cripps_orig]

It's a sad state of affairs when a 26 year old defender can't stand on his own two feet and thus still needs babysitting.

As has been said before, good defenders are good defenders regardless of who is beside them, they don't need to rely on others to make them look good.

There's an awful lot of excuses for Koscielny's poor play, he's not a 19 year old kid at the end of the day.

[Joker]

Oh dear, we're going to have to play either Koscielny, Squillaci or Djourou with Mertersacker until at least November it seems. God knows how many points we'd have lost by that point, and how many defensive calamities we'd have had to endure. What awful planning from Wenger and the board, he should have bought Cahill in the transfer window, if he had our defence would have had at least a semblance of competence assuming Metersacker and Cahill would have started most of the games until Vermaelen came back.

I don't know what's happened with Wenger. He used to be a smart manager, now he's one of the least capable managers in the EPL IMO.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Arsenal.com say he'll be back in training in a month, which I think will be when the next international break is.

[AKBapologist]

Weren't the same people saying we shouldn't make excuses for Koscielny blaming Zack Knight for Boltons defensive shocker vs Liverpool?

Reality is that you need a stable back 4. If you can get the same 4 players playing 20 games or more they'll be half decent. All this chopping and changing throughout the side is no good.

[Daniele]

Stepanovs was a far worse player than Kos and Djourou.

[Cripps_orig]

Stepanovs was a far worse player than Kos and Djourou.

Not really