Central Defence

[Maestro]

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

Surely that's Coquelin's job! Show me a defence without some form of midfield screen, and I'll show a dick fucking round without a condom ....no amount of penicillin will be able to fix the inevitable diseases that it will eventually catch.

[Niall_Quinn]

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.

Nothing can be judged on either of those games except how poor our manager is.

[mastermind84]

Kos gets way too much leeway imo. It's only until Merts showed up that he started playing well. It was a good partnership.

TBF, he was playing with an utter spastic in Vermaelen




The defense has been great this year. A lot of short memory types here.

[mastermind84]

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.

This is utter nonsense lol.

[mastermind84]

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.

they did, both played really well last night. Cant fault them for anything, really.

[Globalgunner]

they did, both played really well last night. Cant fault them for anything, really.

We conceded 3 goals including a last minute equaliser and you see no fault in the 2 CBs. We for years used to win games 1-0 now we cant win a game after scoring 3. I certainly dont want you on a fact finding review team. The plane crashed, all souls lost and your report will likely say. It could have been worse.

[Özim]

We conceded 3 goals including a last minute equaliser and you see no fault in the 2 CBs. We for years used to win games 1-0 now we cant win a game after scoring 3. I certainly dont want you on a fact finding review team. The plane crashed, all souls lost and your report will likely say. It could have been worse.

lol seems it's not the defence's fault at all if we concede 3 goals, it's the midfields.

If you concede 3 goals, unless you're very unlucky and beaten by 3 wonders strikes then it's the defences fault, the CB's were certainly at fault in some part.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Walcott was to blame for their opener
Defence stood off too much for their second
And got beaten too easily in the air by Benteke for the third

Defences will make mistake even the team with the best defensive record in the league Spurs marked abysmally for Leicesters goal on Wednesday.

You can never say defenders aren't to blame for goals conceeded, but without Coquelin in the side it's also fair to say they have to deal with more pressure with less protection.

Mertesacker was poor first half at Anfield second half made a lot of good clearances, tackles and interceptions.

[Power n Glory]

Walcott was to blame for their opener
Defence stood off too much for their second
And got beaten too easily in the air by Benteke for the third

Defences will make mistake even the team with the best defensive record in the league Spurs marked abysmally for Leicesters goal on Wednesday.

You can never say defenders aren't to blame for goals conceeded, but without Coquelin in the side it's also fair to say they have to deal with more pressure with less protection.

Mertesacker was poor first half at Anfield second half made a lot of good clearances, tackles and interceptions.

I think the first goal was a combination of errors. Cech should have done better with his save and I think Kos wasn't on his toes to stop the shot in the first place but need to watch the replays.

Third goal I thought Kos wasn't marking well to win the ball in the air and Bellerin wasn't marking Allen well.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

Indeed, but as I reiterate defenders make mistakes and largely most if not all goals are a result of defensive mistakes.

For the first goal I think Cech just genuinely doesn't know which way Firminho is going to go but I reiterate if Walcott hadn't tried to play the ball out in the first place we wouldn't have been in that position.

Koscielny is a great defender but he's far from perfect and makes mistakes, at Southampton he was diabolical (but to a man pretty much everyone was).

Nothing suggests to me that there are serious issues with defence. I think long term we could do with replacing Mertesacker with a better, younger model. Frankly in the summer id offer Everton an offer they can't refuse for both Lukaku and Stones.