Wenger - there are no defensive midfielders

[Glitch33]

Latest spin from AW to justify his investment policy and Wengerball tactics.

I like the fact that we have been defending better as a team but shouldn't we have been doing that anyway?

Article by Chris Harris. http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... idfielders

Arsène Wenger says the age of the specialist defensive midfielder is over.

The 'Makelele role' - named after the former France international, Claude - has become a staple of tactical talk and describes players who tend to eschew attacking play in favour of protecting their defence.

When Wenger sold Alex Song in the summer he was tipped by some to replace the Cameroon star with a traditional 'holding' player, but instead Mikel Arteta has excelled since dropping into a deeper role.

"There are no defensive midfield players at the moment," explained Wenger.

"We try to find the defensive balance collectively. We have fewer players who are purely defenders but some are physically strong in defending like Diaby, some are tactically strong like Arteta.

"At the moment we have the balance because everybody participates, but we have fewer specialists, purely defenders. We are more versatile going forward because everyone has the potential to go forward."

Wenger knows that his team's balance will have to be just right if Arsenal are to prevail against Chelsea on Saturday.

"If you have a defensive balance, yes, that is what is at stake against Chelsea," he said. "Will you be strong enough defensively, in midfield as well, to deal with them? That's where one of the tests will be."

[augie]

Latest spin from AW to justify his investment policy and Wengerball tactics.

I like the fact that we have been defending better as a team but shouldn't we have been doing that anyway?

Article by Chris Harris. http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... idfielders

Arsène Wenger says the age of the specialist defensive midfielder is over.

"We try to find the defensive balance collectively. We have fewer players who are purely defenders but some are physically strong in defending like Diaby, some are tactically strong like Arteta.

"At the moment we have the balance because everybody participates, but we have fewer specialists, purely defenders. We are more versatile going forward because everyone has the potential to go forward."

Wenger knows that his team's balance will have to be just right if Arsenal are to prevail against Chelsea on Saturday.

"If you have a defensive balance, yes, that is what is at stake against Chelsea," he said. "Will you be strong enough defensively, in midfield as well, to deal with them? That's where one of the tests will be."

Diaby physically strong ??? Do me a fcuking favour

[RioGooner]

You can play without a pure DM, Germany does, Bayern does, Real Madrid does. But you need to have to centre mids that are really good at going fowards and backwards. We only have Arteta.

And sometimes you need to be defensive, you need alternatives, and we don't have any.

[QuartzGooner]

I think Coquelin is a good dynamic defensive midfielder and we should use more of him, with Yennaris a decent prospect too.
Frimpong is more of a box to box player, but a physical presence nonetheless.

It is unlikely but not impossible that Vermaelen or Koscielny could find themselves in defensive midfield at one point.

[tomgooner123]

i worry if arteta picks up a knock, there's nobody who can do the same job as well.

[1989]

More bollox from Le Fraud. Defensive midfielders have their place in the game. Chelsea, City, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Milan, etc wouldn't have been successful without the likes of De Jong, Mikel, Busquets, Ambrosini and Alonso.

Maybe if the clueless fool had bought one of those we would have been up there with aforementioned clubs as well ourselves? There's a thought.

Shite manager.

[SteveO 35]

i worry if arteta picks up a knock, there's nobody who can do the same job as well.

Mate, you know it, I know it, Arsenal fans the world over know it. Unfortunately the Self Harmer prefers to cut himself one more time by keeping the Song money in the bank and relying on Coquelin or Frimpong to carry out that role. Now Quartz makes a good case for the defence of Coquelin, but we should not be relying on him for big PL and CL games just yet, and that is where we will be if Arteta gets crocked or banned (or needs a well deserved rest after carrying the midfield on his back for 50 games)

But we can't compete we all know that. There isn't a single defensive midfielder anywhere in world football available to improve the sqaud

Self harm is here to stay

[benglenton]

seems he changed his point of view in few days, hard to understand, from zero players to plenty of them in that zone

Wenger - Diaby’s injury is an opportunity
Arsène Wenger admits Abou Diaby’s latest injury is “a blow” - but says it also represents an opportunity for another player to stake their claim.
The France midfielder sustained a thigh strain in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea and is expected to be ruled out for three weeks.
Wenger is disappointed to lose the midfielder, but believes he has the necessary cover in his squad.
"It is as an opportunity for somebody else to stand up and play, but it is a blow,” he said. "Not only because we lost a good player but because he has qualities that the other players haven't got.
"We have better balance size-wise and [in terms of] strength [when he is in the team] because he has power.
"We also have Ramsey, Coquelin, Chamberlain, Wilshere, it depends on if you want to be more offensive. We have plenty of players who are in between higher up and lower down in midfield."Arteta can play higher and deeper as well. So we can put a deeper midfielder in like Coquelin and then Arteta can move forward.”

[I Hate Hleb]

Welcome to 'Wenger-speak' - where only 25 years experience as a coach qualifies you to understand what he's talking about!! Even then, it's only an applicable qualification if you ultimately agree with him.

[1989]

I reckon he hasn't got a single clue what he's talking about.

[BournemouthRED]

What the fuck is this defending lark?

[TeeCee]

senile dementia

[Mood1987]

Arteta is super plays the Pirlo role, but if he was to get a knock I think wilshere would have to play that so called dm role, with cazorla attacking and then rosicky or Ramsey

[goonerwalker]

I know people love to criticise AW but I genuinely think he might have a bit of a point here. Before we needed a DM as the likes of Arshavin, Na$ri, Cesc etc did not track back whatsoever and we did not defend with any unity. Now that Steve Bould has arrived we seem to be defending as a unit much more and the team seems to have a good work ethic- just look at the work the likes of Podolski and Jenkinson get through. We have 2 players in Arteta and Diaby-and possibly Wilshire who can take it in turns at sitting in fron of the back 4 but if everyone puts in a good shift I don't think a permanent 5th defender is necessary

[DB10GOONER]

It's fucking semantics.

Arteta for all intents and purposes is playing as a DM.

"Blah blah blah - ve might play ze wern off ze two or ze two attackerz off ze wern, but zis iz nert ze Makelele role - blah blah blah".



Calling Diaby "physically strong" is like calling a certain ex-Blue Peter presenter a "nice quiet date".