How I would reshape the defense

[jrthgooner]

From the very start of the season it was clear we lacked strength in depth and as the season wore on it became at times desperate watching them trying to find a way to keep the opposition out.
Given the players we have on the books I would like to see the following happen:

KEEP
Woj S - best keeper at the club, but then there is no competition for that title!!
Bacary Sagna - best right back in the league. Just hope another break is not the sign of a continual problem for him
Laurent Koscielny - most improved player by miles and lets hope for another good season from him next year
Tomas Vermaelen - a class act who we need fit all season
Kieran Giibs - is a better left back than he gets credit for, lets hope he tsays injury free
Carl Jenkinson - he is going to develop into a very good right back lets hope he learns from Sagna
Andre Santos - not a left back as he can't defend but could he play left wing and use his attcking prowess to balance out our midfield?

SELL
Per Mertersacker - awful in the air, no pace and poor with the ball at his feet. The premier league is to quick and physical for him
Sebastien Squilaci - need I say anything more??
Johan Djourou - accident waiting to happen, his new contract will probably price him out of a move sadly!!
Pedro Botelho - spent to long in Spain (and not with good teams) not sure he could adapt to England
Lukas Fabianski - useless keeper who has had his chance and failed numerous times
Manuel Almunia - enough said!!

BUY
Allan McGregor - Rangers need the money and he would be excellent back up
Leighton Baines - good defender, carries a threat going forwards and is at the prime time of his career
jan Vertonghen - by all accounts better than Vermaelen was which is a big statement

I think this would give us a balanced and competitve defensive set of options at long last

[STLgooner89]

We'll get vertonghen if lucky. That is all.

[GranadaJoe]

I agree that Jenkinson has potential, but right now he is a liability. Against WBA he could easily have cost us the game.
His body positioning is terrible. Time and again he was square on to MA Fortune who, despite being devoid of pace, strolled by him. An experience RB as back up to Sagna is a must.

Additionally, any consideration of our defence must include the protection it receives. The good players you list will have little chance when they've got Song and Ramsey in front of them.

[Vinny1967]

Give the whole defence to Bould and give him the autonomy to instil some old fashioned defensive qualities and structure to an area that has been neglected.

Hard to argue with any of your proposals and I would love to see Vertonghen join us as I think he is quality.

[Block_5_Gooner]

Give the whole defence to Bould and give him the autonomy to instil some old fashioned defensive qualities and structure to an area that has been neglected.

Hard to argue with any of your proposals and I would love to see Vertonghen join us as I think he is quality.

Because he's done wonders to the defence of the youth team. Shipped in as many as the 1st team!

Steve Clarke is now available!

[flash gunner]

We need to start defending as a team, its as simple as that!!! Our Sunday League style of play where we try to outscore opponents is pathetic yes we beat Chelsea 5-3 but it so easily could have been a 3-0 or 3-2 loss where as if you dont concede you always stand the chance of nicking it.

Apart from the left backs who i dont rate at all indivdually we have good defenders but we need tactics to suit a more defensive way of playing

[Vinny1967]

Give the whole defence to Bould and give him the autonomy to instil some old fashioned defensive qualities and structure to an area that has been neglected.

Hard to argue with any of your proposals and I would love to see Vertonghen join us as I think he is quality.

Because he's done wonders to the defence of the youth team. Shipped in as many as the 1st team!

Steve Clarke is now available!

So now we have two peeps in charge who can't coach a defence and give them structure

I'm hoping Bould can be a positive influence in Wenger's ear. Maybe I'm naieve

[arseofacrow]

I agree that Jenkinson has potential, but right now he is a liability. Against WBA he could easily have cost us the game.
His body positioning is terrible. Time and again he was square on to MA Fortune who, despite being devoid of pace, strolled by him. An experience RB as back up to Sagna is a must.

Additionally, any consideration of our defence must include the protection it receives. The good players you list will have little chance when they've got Song and Ramsey in front of them.

Have to agree. He is in the same boat as Gibbs...they both need a hell of a lot of work on their defending - which is a shame, seeing as they are both defenders.

[kiwomya]

Give the whole defence to Bould and give him the autonomy to instil some old fashioned defensive qualities and structure to an area that has been neglected.

Hard to argue with any of your proposals and I would love to see Vertonghen join us as I think he is quality.

The problem is those old fashioned ways don't really cut it in the modern game anymore IMO. 15 years ago Mertesacker would have looked world class. Individually our back 4 are good players but clearly together they aren't anywhere near good enough. Vermaelen plays on the edge and takes faaaarr too many risks in games.

[OOKed]

SELL
Per Mertersacker - awful in the air, no pace and poor with the ball at his feet. The premier league is to quick and physical for him

isn't this what everybody was saying about the Kos last year ? Jesus ! .. Give the German a chance !

BUY
Leighton Baines - good defender, carries a threat going forwards and is at the prime time of his career

Why ? do you happen to know we can throw £15m - £20m at a LB when we already have a Brazilian international who has been doing a great deal going forward as much as Baines does !

Baines in 41 Games this year - Goals 5
Santos in 21 Games this year - Goals 3

BUY
jan Vertonghen - by all accounts better than Vermaelen was which is a big statement

Stop reading the daily mail and watching sky. Everytime a name gets thrown out we sit back and drool at it. Last year, it was Cahil to be the savior of all our woes .. and before that it was Jagielka ..

bottom line is, apart from Squillaci and Djourou .. our personnel at defence are pretty much all we need. The main problem we have is defending like a unit.

We need to start defending as a team, its as simple as that!!! Our Sunday League style of play where we try to outscore opponents is pathetic yes we beat Chelsea 5-3 but it so easily could have been a 3-0 or 3-2 loss where as if you dont concede you always stand the chance of nicking it.

Apart from the left backs who i dont rate at all indivdually we have good defenders but we need tactics to suit a more defensive way of playing

Spot on.

[arseofacrow]

Give the whole defence to Bould and give him the autonomy to instil some old fashioned defensive qualities and structure to an area that has been neglected.

Hard to argue with any of your proposals and I would love to see Vertonghen join us as I think he is quality.

The problem is those old fashioned ways don't really cut it in the modern game anymore IMO. 15 years ago Mertesacker would have looked world class. Individually our back 4 are good players but clearly together they aren't anywhere near good enough. Vermaelen plays on the edge and takes faaaarr too many risks in games.

I guess he really means old-fashioned in things as straightforward as organisation and communication, as this is what appears to be old-fashioned at Arsenal these days.

[SteveO 35]

As long as that German carthorse isn't anywhere near the re-shaped defence I'll be relatively happy. I thought I'd seen the last of his kind when Willie Young pulled down Paul Allen in the 1980 FA Cup Final

He does however seem to be doing a good job of persuading decent German players to join us so perhaps we could use him to replace Sammy's mate who seems unable to close out the Goetze deal

[Vinny1967]

Give the whole defence to Bould and give him the autonomy to instil some old fashioned defensive qualities and structure to an area that has been neglected.

Hard to argue with any of your proposals and I would love to see Vertonghen join us as I think he is quality.

The problem is those old fashioned ways don't really cut it in the modern game anymore IMO. 15 years ago Mertesacker would have looked world class. Individually our back 4 are good players but clearly together they aren't anywhere near good enough. Vermaelen plays on the edge and takes faaaarr too many risks in games.

I agree to an extent but I still think a defender should be a defender first and coach from there instead of the other way around. Nothing wrong with having quick agile defenders who can defend properly and are coached properly. Our defense has not been of the standard required over the last few seasons and I think something needs to change if we are to compete for the top honours. I think it has lacked leadership, character and good old fashioned guts. Hence my hope for Bould.

Central to that would be the need for signing of a good quality DM. Its all very well attacking as a team but we need to learn to defend as a unit better.

[QuartzGooner]

BUY
jan Vertonghen - by all accounts better than Vermaelen was which is a big statement

Stop reading the daily mail and watching sky. Everytime a name gets thrown out we sit back and drool at it. Last year, it was Cahil to be the savior of all our woes .. and before that it was Jagielka ..

Vertonghen has been talked about on here for over two years. No one needed the Mail or Sky to let us know he existed.

I would give Mertesacker more time, buy Vertonghen and try to bid for Baines, moving Santos forward to midfield.

But above all we need better defensive coaching.

[stevedagooner]

in my opinion we need to protect the back four, the two central defenders are constantly exposed by either gibbs or santos being too far advanced. the same happend when clichy was at the club. its obvious squilaci and djourou are not up to the task and need replacing so for sure we need an experienced centre back. more importantly we need a defensive midfielder to play in front of the defence. added to that the hope that our manager realises that there is a need to change tactics depending on the opposition. that means not only before the game but sometimes during it.