Central Defence

[Power n Glory]

Yes our distribution from MF has been increasingly non-existent - which has disrupted our attacks, while it's been pourous defensively. If Flamini had been playing alongside Cazorla; or Ramsey with Coquelin, these defects might have been masked, but the double injury situation has been a bit of a disaster.

It's really not good enough. It's partly why I think we should have subbed either Ramsey or Flamini yesterday but kept our counter attacking threats on. When ball retention isn't possible, the aim should be to play on the counter. We've seen this ball distribution problem plenty of times before like when we use to play Arteta, Wilshere and Ramsey together. Or after we lost Cesc and Nasri and everything was coming from Song, RVP and Theo. I really hope this new kid is good and Rosicky is ready to play because I have zero faith in Ramsey and Flamini.

[fakeyank]

Merts is a good defender when the other team is slow and our deep lying midfielders have time taking the ball from the back. However when you are playing against teams with a high press or playing quick football, he is a complete liability- with or without a defensive midfielder. I agree with the notion that headless chicken (Flamini) and Hollywood (Ramsey) have made the situation even worse but at this point, we should be playing horses for courses.

I do want Merts to stick around because of his experience and the respect he commands in the dressing room, but it'd be a handicap to play him against high press or quick passing teams. The thought of him starting against Barca in the CL gives me nightmares!!

[IBK]

Merts is a good defender when the other team is slow and our deep lying midfielders have time taking the ball from the back. However when you are playing against teams with a high press or playing quick football, he is a complete liability- with or without a defensive midfielder. I agree with the notion that headless chicken (Flamini) and Hollywood (Ramsey) have made the situation even worse but at this point, we should be playing horses for courses.

I do want Merts to stick around because of his experience and the respect he commands in the dressing room, but it'd be a handicap to play him against high press or quick passing teams. The thought of him starting against Barca in the CL gives me nightmares!!

Its all about adapting properly for when we play teams that we know are going to press rather than be more intimidated by us and sit deeper. Wenger has shown this season that he is prepare to sacrifice our possession game for counter attacking - he needs to treat his personnel similarly - rather than being inflexible - particularly with his defence which is not necessarily one size fits all.

[Niall_Quinn]

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.

I bet we'd see an improvement right across the backline with every player benefiting. Kos could play one position instead of two, the fullbacks wouldn't then have to cover random and gaping holes appearing as Merts tries to get up steam and move himself from one spot to another on the pitch. The German is decent enough covering set pieces but when the play is mobile and with any sort of pace he might as well be at home with his feet up. Added to that he slows everything down when he gets all those fucking backpasses from the midfield. And his distribution is lousy if he attempts anything other than a square ball to either side. He's not the worst but he's not good enough for us.

[Power n Glory]

Is Merts really struggling badly or is it because he sticks out like sore thumb and looks awkward that it gets noticed more? Not that stats tell all but he won all his aerial duels. 3/3. 5/5 headed clearances. 7/9 clearances. 1 block, no interceptions or tackles.

Kos in comparison - 2/5 aerial duels won, 3/4 headed clearances, 5/8 clearances, 0 blocks, 3 interceptions, 0 tackles.

Kos is the better player on the ground but he has his faults as well.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Koscielny is not great at defending set pieces either. You can tell despite the pace they have in their front three, when we play at Mordor on Sunday they will mix their high handed tactics with trying to cause us grief from set pieces. So for that game tactically I'd be tempted to bring in Gabriel....who besides looking like an Orc can put it about himself.

[Power n Glory]

I bet we'd see an improvement right across the backline with every player benefiting. Kos could play one position instead of two, the fullbacks wouldn't then have to cover random and gaping holes appearing as Merts tries to get up steam and move himself from one spot to another on the pitch. The German is decent enough covering set pieces but when the play is mobile and with any sort of pace he might as well be at home with his feet up. Added to that he slows everything down when he gets all those fucking backpasses from the midfield. And his distribution is lousy if he attempts anything other than a square ball to either side. He's not the worst but he's not good enough for us.

I'm not so sure about that one either. We lost our opening two champs league games with Kos and Gabriel along with the Chelsea game. I'm not sure that would be an instant fix but wouldn't mind seeing a change.

[The Emirates Gallactico]

Prime Maldini/Nesta or Vidic/Rio would have struggled with Ramsey and Flamini in front of them tbh.

Might be an odd thing to say seeing as we conceeded three goals, but I though Merts and Kos had really good games last night in the face of relentless Liverpool pressure and virtually non-existent protection in front of them. The first goal wasn't really their fault (Theo mainly but also Cech and Nacho) and the second was a worldie - should have done better for the third but those happen.

The problem wasn't starting them ahead of Gabriel but instead not bringing Gabriel on at the end to shore things up. Wenger instead went for Arteta - personally with hindsight I think bringing Gabriel on and playing three at the back may have prevented the third goal.

[fakeyank]

Prime Maldini/Nesta or Vidic/Rio would have struggled with Ramsey and Flamini in front of them tbh.

Might be an odd thing to say seeing as we conceeded three goals, but I though Merts and Kos had really good games last night in the face of relentless Liverpool pressure and virtually non-existent protection in front of them. The first goal wasn't really their fault (Theo mainly but also Cech and Nacho) and the second was a worldie - should have done better for the third but those happen.

The problem wasn't starting them ahead of Gabriel but instead not bringing Gabriel on at the end to shore things up. Wenger instead went for Arteta - personally with hindsight I think bringing Gabriel on and playing three at the back may have prevented the third goal.

Second goal was Merts fault.. his clearance was horrible and he fell down like a lump of coal and awkwardly kicked it to a Liverpool player. He also couldnt get the ball out of defense without a panic. Anytime he got the ball and Liverpool pressed, he seemed to make a panic pass putting pressure on the other players. I will agree that he did better in the second half, but his first half was as bad as I have seen him play.

[Özim]

Tony Adams wasn't quick but he read the game really well and made up for his lack of pace, Mertersacker has none of that for me, the sooner we see the back of him the better IMO, players likes him have been a plague in the last decade of the Wenger era, players just not really up to scratch we've had to put up with for year after year.