So we spent big money on Mustafi but it has made fuck all difference to our defence, we have leaked 31 in 26 games and continuously concede 2+ in most of our matches vs the top 6.
but spending money guarantees leagues! Instead of persisting with players like Giroud, we should replace RVP and get a real striker. then we would win all the things
Mate we would make a CB partnership of prime Franz Beckenbauer and prime Franco Baresi look like mugs in this setup.
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It was lovely how both center-backs took themselves out from defending for the first goal and no one except the player that was miles away (Welbeck) realized that Mane was completely left alone for the second. We couldn’t have made it any easier for them to score.
If Mustafi has only played for the likes of Everton, Sampdoria and Valencia there is a reason. Another CB who is better than Gabriel, but he shouldn’t be first choice in a big team.
Idea of this topic came from a post by @DavidHillier with whom I share this view on.
How much of our defensive shambles is really a personnel issue - and is it possible to fix this nightmare tacically without any re-enforcements?
Intrigued to hear what fellow Gooners have to say.
P.s. responses more elaborative than ‘sell Mustafi’ would be appreciated
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It’s both.
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Definitely more player based than anything in my book but then again when you don’t have adequate cover you are always doomed to fail. We needed to bring in sok last summer but also move up whoever we have our eyes on as Koz’s replacement. If we have someone in mind to replace koz that is, but knowing us we probably have zero foresight because we suck.
Answer the question after properly reading it. Thanks
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In before Shammy responds with sell mustafi.
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I’ll answer whatever I want however I want. Thanks.
Ah you suck
I’d go so far as to say Sol Campbell or Tony Adams would suffer as a defender in this system.
Such great defenders would still need a midfield link and this midfielder has to be pretty immense. The ability to get the ball from the defensive third to the opposition half in a matter of seconds (either with an incisive pass or by intelligent forward thinking running). Xhaka could have been that guy but he can’t even make a simple pass.
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With the amount of errors I see leading to goals conceded, personnel definitely is a factor.
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Well all - liderally all - of our conceded goals are from open play and it’s usually a case of more than one error compounded that leads to each goal. Some of the criticism is harsh but then we’re judging by league title challenging standards.
Many of our ‘team defending’ errors start in midfield or higher up the pitch so I’m loathe to always keep nailing Mustafi and his mates for it.
Some tactical errors have been extremely obvious in recent times, eg Kolasinac getting caught way too high and Xhaka or the left-sided midfielder in the diamond not being able to cover him. This seems to happen quite a lot
Mustafi loves to dive in and when it works it looks great but when it doesn’t it usually leads to a strong goalscoring opportunity for them, so that’s why I wish we had someone more rational and intelligent than him at the back
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I’d like Arsenal to concentrate on developing a defence with the players we have. We played well against Chelsea and could have a real chance of keeping clean sheets on games but we look confused as to attack or defend. A simple rule is when we have the ball we attck, when they have the ball we defend. If we only work to that simple strategy the style will develop.
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It’s both but If I have to choose, It’s player based and not just defensive ones.
We have a poor attack which can’t reduce the strain on our poor defensive players leading to more mistakes.
Clubs like Barcelona, Bayern etc have so much attacking potency that opposition is always on back foot and hardly come through the match with more than 6-7 forays towards the opposite end.
We need an overall system of an effective attacking & defensive play from the front, which can only be built with superior players
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Pretty spot on tbh. The composition in midfield has never felt right all season which ties into the fact formations have felt off too.
I thought we’d transition to resemble peak Emery Sevilla where two DM’s holding was the basis of both attacking and defensive transitions.
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I’d love to have superior players but we got no money to spend this season so we have to make do. If we could make our ground a fortress for our home games it would go a long way to giving confidents to the attacking players we have. It’s not perfect but let’s get a system in place and make sure we stick to it.
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