Due to this being a hot topic in the Mustafi topic at the moment. I thought I would create a new topic to purely discuss our defence.
Whats right with it, whats wrong with it. How can it be improved, statistics etc.
My thoughts are we have been pretty solid defensively in terms of pure goals against. What I would be interested to know is how many goals from outside the box are scored against us in the last 3-4 seasons. I personally think we have a higher percentage of goals conceded from outside the box then the other so called top 4.
I also reckon we are more susceptible to defensive errors leading to goals, for example the ball not being cleared to safety, or mis kicks in the penalty area leading to a goal conceded.
I think we are right up there tactically, in terms of shape and interceptions.
Anyway just penning my thoughts on this. What does everyone else think ?
But joining them and being a bit part player while winning things, is that really a sense of achievement? It’s kind of like passing someone elses achievements off as your own.
In terms of making more money it’d make sense for some, Cesc actually earned less. They probably had to shift him, given his agent would of been pushing for a bigger deal and got it with Chelsea.
This is bollocks because we have one of the best defensive records in the league, and Koscielny and Mertesaker didn’t concede many goals between them, most of the goals came in capitulation games and some of the times (actually most) was down to the midfield or twats like Walcott losing the ball on the counter and us getting punished because the defense couldn’t get back into position after starting a counter attack and a player giving the ball up in a dangerous area.
I’m talking from a fans perspective. It’s easy to forget the 10 plays that a defender did his job well on
after the team gets stretched and the defender slides in at the half line and gets torched leading to a 3 v 1.
Regardless the team is incredibly tactically inept which is why it’s crazy to the think what we could achieve with someone who knows how to coach a cohesive defensive unit.
Wow let’s ignore the fact for the last two season defensively we’ve been sound (usually near in the top three or four)except from about four league games; but yeah you’re right let’s blame inept tactics and not player error which had directly lead to goals turning wins to draws and draws to loses.
Hey it’s been proven we are one of the better defensive teams in the league; but forget that lets run with the media narrative and tabloid narrative of how shit our defence is because of personnel and tactics…yeah that makes sense
We’re okay defensively against the trash teams and can generally keep clean sheets. Against any half decent team, particularly away from home, we fall to shit.
Bayern 5
Southampton 4
Barca, Liverpool, United, West Ham, Southampton 3
A few games from last season and I’m probably forgetting some other disastrous days too.
We are the only top team in recent seasons to be thrashed regularly.
Man U scored eight, Chelsea six and some games where we let in five and fou.
But worse than that is the amount of games where we have been in good winning positions and then have either drawn or lost.
Throwing away leads is our speciality, so that isn’t all down to the players, it must be down to the tactics.
Exactly. We DO have serious weaknesses which are exploited by the better teams or certain managers (like Koeman). Pointing at just the defensive record doesn’t show that.
Meh, the defensive record isn’t bad, but our defending isn’t exactly great either. Most of the times it’s just putting players behind the ball and drop deep to crowd teams out that are poor with the ball to begin with. It works against most PL teams as most of them are overrated and not nearly as good as the media want to tell us, but falls apart once teams do more than just put in low % crosses. I wouldn’t put that only on the center-back position though, but also on our midfield, wing and full-backs. It’s a team issue that would also help in an attacking sense if we improved on.
Our defensive record has improved since the days when Top teams would annihilate us; however we are only ever switched on half a season & then something goes flat.
This team abandons the defensive ethics as a whole, so to be fair it comes down on the manager.
But we fans also tend to blame individual mistakes on Wenger, which I do not support.
Mertesacker getting red carded against Chelsea, Coquelin against Tottenham and many others have dented our chances more than the defensive frailities on a whole.
Our defensive record can’t be that bad if we’ve won the Golden glove 3 out of 4 years ( I think it is?).
Before that, remember the times when we used to concede from almost every set piece. Jesus, they were bad times. A free kick almost felt like giving away a penalty.