Arsenal Defence - Discussion

We are very good at keeping clean sheets vs bottom 10 teams at home.

When the team capitulates which is a common occurrence Wenger does nothing, he must have a psychic link with the team because he just sits on his hands and leaves them to it.

Most top managers would be on the sideline passing messages, instructions what have you but not Wenger. It’s just the passive body language again and again. Would be interesting to be a fly on the wall in the changing rooms during these situations because it’s quite evident he can’t really inspire the team either.

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Not really true. We’ve conceded loads of goals to much lesser teams - both Home and Away. I dont think there is a direct correlation to who we concede against and who we keep clean sheets against. It’s down to how we perform on the day and the consistency in our side.

On our day we can challenge anyone in the league to three points. But we just don’t do it enough to win the league in the end.

Well its a known fact we can’t play 9 consecutive months of quality football. We will end up somewhere in the 70-78 point category again this season.

Oh right so after 3 games our season is over fantastic; I want to win some money I am under the impression that you have Clairvoyance you’d be able tell me the eventual winner

The stats say we have kept the most PL Clean Sheets since January 2015.

So we do have a good defence and have made it better with the Mustafi signing but its capable of silly mistakes still.

Our defence is good, and the stats make for a good read. What they don’t show is our defensive mentality.

We can be solid for 90% of a match, but we are inexcusably susceptible to the opposition getting any kind of momentum, and have been for quite some time. That brilliant defensive cohesion melts away like a digestive biscuit after being dunked into a hot cup of tea. One moment we are cruising, and the next it looks like we’re not even in the same division. We become the football equivalent of the Keystone Cops.

Top teams can kill that momentum. We seem to encourage it.

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Couldn’t agree more. It’s so frustrating to watch.

January 2015 seems like a conveniently arbitrary starting point for that stat. It’s not even when the season starts, why not take it from the start of the 2014/15 season? Would we still have the most in the league?

Just a general musing rather than a question for you Calum, I’m sure it isn’t your stat :slight_smile:

If your an average player and you get the chance to go and be a bitch at Barcelona. You go and be a bitch at Barcelona.

When your 63 looking back sounds much cooler to say I played in the same side as Lionel messi, Xavi and iniesta compared to I was a central figure for an Arsenal side that finished 4th.

That barca team will go down in history as one of the the greatest. Even being a squad member your in the history books. Nobody gives a fuck about the Arsenal banter era.

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But it’s a fact our defence it terrible only an ardent wenger supporter would take into account the FACT that we have conceded the least in the league 3 out of the 4 last seasons didn’t you read derpsides posts?

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But why does a Guardiola or Mourinho side have less individuel mistakes? Or is known to have less players with regular brainfarts?

Is that just because they have better players or because of the fact those teams are better coached which leads too players being less exposed and less prone to make individuel mistakes? Something Wenger fails to do tbh.

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Obviously that.
Better players lead to opposition not being as brave to advance at the defence, leading to lesser opportunities for their defenders to fuck up.

Individual mistakes are present in Guardiola’s teams as well but they have Messis & Mullers & Robbens to make sure they scored more than mistakes.

I don’t understand the obsession of passing messages on sideline.
What would it fucking achieve that years of training & dressing room sessions didn’t?
How would the manager sitting by right wing send instructions to Monreal?
How would player concentrate properly if the manager is shouting at him?
Not every players takes well to his manager shouting at what he is doing wrong?

It’s a very mundane thing to pitch against Wenger even when not taking into account that Wenger does have a presence on the sideline.

Also it’s an easy assumption to make that Wenger can’t inspire because things are not going our way; but you can’t say for sure, can you?

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We conceded 23 and 26 goals from 36 conceded in total against top 10 teams in 14/15 and 15/16. Last season, a quick scroll too our fixture list, I think we had 13 (from 18 total I think) clean sheets against bottom 10 teams. I think there is some truth in what Aussie is saying.

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Every team has individuals who will make errors. Barcelona aren’t better because they score more, they’re better because one person’s mistake doesn’t lead to another, and another, and another, cascading till the whole defensive structure has fallen apart.

When one player makes a mistake, they either correct it, or another player corrects it. It doesn’t become a virus that infects the entire team.

Guardiola’s teams concede very less. 23, 18 and 17 goals in Bundesliga. 35, 24, 21 and 29 in La Liga. I don’t think it’s just their offensive talent outscoring the opposition. His defensive set up, which begins with pressing to get the ball back as quickly as possible, is just really good. Something he could get more credit for imo.

I have always given Guardiola credit.
i consider him a genius & someone who revolutionalised the game.

But let’s be honest, his system will fail with inferior players.

I don’t know about that. But that’s wasn’t my exact point. I think other coaches are better at making individual mistakes less prevalant by having a better set up. That’s what Wenger is blamed for imo. Which leads to them losing less games, less points dropped, etc. etc. etc.

The best managers do it so it’s funny to ask “what would it achieve”?

And clearly all this training and other bollocks isn’t working so what harm would it do? For example the amount of times we’ve been chasing a game and the whole fucking team including the likes of Mertersacker who might as well be running with one leg pushes up and plays suicide football and then we get hit on the counter is astounding.

Yet he does nothing, also he doesn’t have to pass the instructions to the player/s that need it, the closest one can easily get it across.

Why are you assuming they have to be shouted at? And is it acceptable you can’t concentrate whilst being given tactical instructions on those kind of wages? Are you really trying to sell me that bullshit? And even if they’re being shouted at they’re grown fucking men, all that pandering nice nice shit is one of the reasons why we have such a fragile mentality in the first place.

Thank you. I must say the back 5 we have this year is probably the best we have had on paper for a decade, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.