BlueRayDick:


The fact is this: if you get midfielders to choke the game up for few minutes and hold play lets say for first half, what happens when they eventually get tired and the opposing team face a weak defence? They will definitely score double the goals you attackers might have racked up.

Arsenal's attack is decent judging by the number of goals they've racked up. Just look at Chelsea their attack is not as good as ours considering they've managed to score 40 goals while we've scored 50. Their defence is what places them on the same point with us.

Pep knew what he was doing packing defenders.

not only is our defense poor, we need to change how we defend.
People were using Barca as example of having weak defense line and still doing well. But Barca was once managed by pep, he trained his players to get the Ball back within 5 seconds of losing the ball.
Arsenal players will shadow mark you and practically allow you to reach the edge of box 18 before everyone start moving around

Someone said our attack is like the Liverpool front3 SAS
NO! We aren't.
Suarez,sterling and sturidge all pace, dribbling skills,mobile and deadly on the counter, ours isn't.

I insist our defense is okay, injury disrupted our season, The back4 of Monreal, Holding, Sokratis,mustafi and bellerin is good enough.

The main problem is we rely on bellerin and kola to attack from the flanks,
Our rivals have wingers doing that and that allows their full backs and defence take shape and organized

Go see the goals we concede, often times our defenders are far up the pitch. While our attackers are busy side passing and flicking the ball.

sod09:
i was chatting with a colleague at the office, he is an arsenal fan too.
he asked how sunday go be, he started with how many we go chop i say 5 atleast. then we try to think of a narrow way out if we have a way of managing city. but we both concluded that the defense will fvck us up.
we can slightly manage city if we choke the midfield by using midfielders that will mark and can hold ball
suarez should start, we can use guen to our advantage with his unnecessary falling especially if city are in the mood .




but in the end i dont see us having any hope against angry city

City will beat us because they have attackers who will threaten us all day, I trust sterling and sane to pin us back, an attempt for Niles and kola to attack means we will be done by sane and Sterling's pace on empty space and fans will come up with oh defense is trash and so on.

That will be the difference, quote me.
And expect our world class attackers to rely on their usual slow side passes/flicks walk the ball in the net pattern.

Niles and kola will be our maim 7 and 11, why do you think city struggle against l.pool? Mane and sallah are waiting to kill them on the counter and that's why they attack with caution, but Arsenal, they will attack us confidently since they loosing the ball means an ozil will slow it down and start building possession, Ramsey will dance and flick it on, Auba can't beat walker, laca will be bullied, and iwobi alone can't do it.

Auba and laca are good goal scorers, and will score in any formation you put them in,they just need chances to do that.
To get the best of them,either of the Twain should play the CF role and nothing more, provide them with quality wingers and AM who will create from center and wings.

Rather we stress laca a lot and make Auba looks useless on the wings.

Fkhalifa:
Someone said our attack is like the Liverpool front3 SAS
NO! We aren't.
Suarez,sterling and sturidge all pace, dribbling skills,mobile and deadly on the counter, ours isn't.

I insist our defense is okay, injury disrupted our season, The back4 of Monreal, Holding, Sokratis,mustafi and bellerin is good enough.

The main problem is we rely on bellerin and kola to attack from the flanks,
Our rivals have wingers doing that and that allows their full backs and defence take shape and organized

Go see the goals we concede, often times our defenders are far up the pitch. While our attackers are busy side passing and flicking the ball.

Bros, when we had our back 4 stable early in the season we were conceding goals. We had a full back 4 against fulham in the first leg yet we conceded, the same thing happened in the second leg. In the two matches our attack was sharp while our defence was poor. We couldn't keep clean sheet when we still had our defenders intact, neither did we keep clean sheet when they were injured. So you see that point about injured defenders won't stand.

We played two legs against cardiff the second least scoring side in the league as of today, our fully fit back 4 of Bellerin, mustafi, Sokratis and monreal conceded 2 goals. Can you imagine? On second leg we still concede 1 in the die minutes. Yet we should believe a Frontline that has scored the same number of goals with Tottenham and 5 goals lesser than the league leaders are not doing enough?

Kai! I no gree

Fkhalifa:
Someone said our attack is like the Liverpool front3 SAS
NO! We aren't.
Suarez,sterling and sturidge all pace, dribbling skills,mobile and deadly on the counter, ours isn't.

I insist our defense is okay, injury disrupted our season, The back4 of Monreal, Holding, Sokratis,mustafi and bellerin is good enough.

The main problem is we rely on bellerin and kola to attack from the flanks,
Our rivals have wingers doing that and that allows their full backs and defence take shape and organized

Go see the goals we concede, often times our defenders are far up the pitch. While our attackers are busy side passing and flicking the ball.

.....The bolded is very correct. Take our last match in the F.A. cup for example, all three of United goals came in with a lofted ball to either side of our defense with AMN and Kolasinac far up the pitch. Lukaku had a field day that day because Kolasinac was usually no where to be found when a lofted ball was sent to his side of defense. Kos...had to bail him out on several occasions and still yet two of the goals came in from his position. Sanchez switching flanks after being frustrated by AMN got his goal from his end because Lukaku was so free to dictate play...no one was marking him and dragging Kos .... from his position whenever he had to fill in for Kolasinac....
.....In the Chelsea match, we were so disciplined going forward and I hope it's the same against City or else it will be goals galore.....
..... That's why Emery wanted one of Perisic or Carrasco but none materialized but Suarez is here and he can move the ball from Midfield to attack, something only Guendouzi has been doing all season..... using our fullbacks in attack is costing us goals and I trust that by Summer, Emery will get either Pepe or Hazard, the younger one

Fkhalifa:
Someone said our attack is like the Liverpool front3 SAS
NO! We aren't.
Suarez,sterling and sturidge all pace, dribbling skills,mobile and deadly on the counter, ours isn't.

I insist our defense is okay, injury disrupted our season, The back4 of Monreal, Holding, Sokratis,mustafi and bellerin is good enough.

The main problem is we rely on bellerin and kola to attack from the flanks,
Our rivals have wingers doing that and that allows their full backs and defence take shape and organized

Go see the goals we concede, often times our defenders are far up the pitch. While our attackers are busy side passing and flicking the ball.

Bro, read my comment again.

You said as long as a team as a quality attack, it is ok. And I said it is not. Using Liverpool as an example, they had a quality attack, but shitty defense, and they paid dearly for it.

Bro, when he had a complete back four, we we're still conceding goals like no man's business. This is not a matter of system, but down to the quality of the players. Which is average at best.

solomonbrown64:

.....The bolded is very correct. Take our last match in the F.A. cup for example, all three of United goals came in with a lofted ball to either side of our defense with AMN and Kolasinac far up the pitch. Lukaku had a field day that day because Kolasinac was usually no where to be found when a lofted ball was sent to his side of defense. Kos...had to bail him out on several occasions and still yet two of the goals came in from his position. Sanchez switching flanks after being frustrated by AMN got his goal from his end because Lukaku was so free to dictate play...no one was marking him and dragging Kos .... from his position whenever he had to fill in for Kolasinac....
.....In the Chelsea match, we were so disciplined going forward and I hope it's the same against City or else it will be goals galore.....
..... That's why Emery wanted one of Perisic or Carrasco but none materialized but Suarez is here and he can move the ball from Midfield to attack, something only Guendouzi has been doing all season..... using our fullbacks in attack is costing us goals and I trust that by Summer, Emery will get either Pepe or Hazard, the younger one

you have said it all. Not even van dijk and kolibaly will be faced with 3 on 2 by good fast attackers and survive.
The other big teams have sane,hazard, mane,martial,son et al doing the do.
We rely on bellerin, who I think is our best full back, he's got energy and pacy to get upanda, others are often caught on the counter.

sod09:
not only is our defense poor, we need to change how we defend.
People were using Barca as example of having weak defense line and still doing well. But Barca was once managed by pep, he trained his players to get the Ball back within 5 seconds of losing the ball.
Arsenal players will shadow mark you and practically allow you to reach the edge of box 18 before everyone start moving around

Those people that are even using Barca as an example of a weak backline are 'ignorant'. How many teams in world football have a better backline than Barca's. Although it is not the best in the world, but it is among the best.

Although I support that system argument, I'll also have to disagree, too. Because, that same system bleeped pep up in the EPL (1st season). It was only when he bought 'quality' players, did the system become a huge success.

BlueRayDick:


Bros, when we had our back 4 stable early in the season we were conceding goals. We had a full back 4 against fulham in the first leg yet we conceded, the same thing happened in the second leg. In the two matches our attack was sharp while our defence was poor. We couldn't keep clean sheet when we still had our defenders intact, neither did we keep clean sheet when they were injured. So you see that point about injured defenders won't stand.

We played two legs against cardiff the second least scoring side in the league as of today, our fully fit back 4 of Bellerin, mustafi, Sokratis and monreal conceded 2 goals. Can you imagine? On second leg we still concede 1 in the die minutes. Yet we should believe a Frontline that has scored the same number of goals with Tottenham and 5 goals lesser than the league leaders are not doing enough?

Kai! I no gree

Bro, my issue isn't the striker, I already reiterated Auba and laca will and can score goals than any other forward, they are that good.
But with this system of relying on full backs to create chance after going one nil down or drawing means our backline will be exposed and we'll get scored against any team.

MrDojo:


Bro, read my comment again.

You said as long as a team as a quality attack, it is ok. And I said it is not. Using Liverpool as an example, they had a quality attack, but shitty defense, and they paid dearly for it.

Bro, when he had a complete back four, we we're still conceding goals like no man's business. This is not a matter of system, but down to the quality of the players. Which is average at best.

Liverpool that year had the worst defence of ageing skirtil and toure, moreno and Johnson, they are worse than our first back4, Rodgers played to the strength of SARs and outscored any team, the attack was good and was stopped by mouriho's packed bus at Anfield, they bottled it at crystal palace.

That Liverpool had wingers and was close to winning the league, if we have wingers maybe we will be up there and close to winning the league and then sort our defense later on.

We've drawn/lost 90% of our first half, we struggle to break teams down, we aren't like the Liverpool's SAS that outscores every team.

Our 1st choice back4 may not be world class,but aren't as bad as being portrayed.

MrDojo:


Those people that are even using Barca as an example of a weak backline are 'ignorant'. How many teams in world football have a better backline than Barca's. Although it is not the best in the world, but it is among the best.

Although I support that system argument, I'll also have to disagree, too. Because, that same system bleeped pep up in the EPL (1st season). It was only when he bought 'quality' players, did the system become a huge success.

I think barca,city PSG and few other big teams don't do the typical old school defending, I noticed those defenders have this quality of shielding the ball and passing accurately to teammates even when under pressure.
Pique isn't like Ferdinand or Godin,but his ability to gaurd the ball, pass it on,keep possession makes him super and that's what city use.
Walker and Danilo are good examples,they don't lose the ball, but if faced by neymar or mpbappe,will surely struggle.
Our defenders lack that except Holding, we lose the ball under pressure, that's what modern teams do now.

BlueRayDick:


Wait a minute! so u mean an Argentina team that has Ever Banega, Di maria is average...but a liverpool team with Henderson, Wijnaldum is more compact right?

Di Maria is not a CM and Banega can't do it all alone. Forget names, that Argentina team doesn't function as a unit.

MrDojo:


Those people that are even using Barca as an example of a weak backline are 'ignorant'. How many teams in world football have a better backline than Barca's. Although it is not the best in the world, but it is among the best.

Although I support that system argument, I'll also have to disagree, too. Because, that same system bleeped pep up in the EPL (1st season). It was only when he bought 'quality' players, did the system become a huge success.

if you notice that method ease pressure on defense no one remember if the backline us weak or not

BlueRayDick:


Bros, you are right they have pacy and skillful players upfront, but we all know the difference between the Liverpool of last year and this year is the strengthening of their back-line including the goalkeeping position.

Arsenal's defence is wack and this is why teams attack us, not because they they are not wary of our attackers. No sensible coach will see an old and slow Lichsteiner playing at right back and a defensively weak Xhaka playing at left back and tell his team to focus on our attack. Hell no! They will definitely work on the weak defence and get the juice out of them.

I have no doubt that Arsenal's defense is weak but you can't talk about the defense without mentioning the attack and midfield, In my team, Manchester United, we start defending from the front (Rashford and Lingard) in midfield, we have Matic and Herrera battling for every ball...This line of defense helps protect our defense.
If you look at Arsenal, you'd see the lingering deficiency right from the attack, where only Lacazette bothers to defend, in midfield, only Torreira fights for every ball, Guendouzi is trying but he is still young...Check out that Pogba's burst for our 3rd goal in the FA cup and you'll realize how a passive midfield exposes a team.

Look at Pool, their defense have much less to deal with in a game compared to the other teams though they have some very good defenders but their work is made easier by the pressing of the forwards and midfield.

Fkhalifa:

Liverpool that year had the worst defence of ageing skirtil and toure, moreno and Johnson, they are worse than our first back4, Rodgers played to the strength of SARs and outscored any team, the attack was good and was stopped by mouriho's packed bus at Anfield, they bottled it at crystal palace.

That Liverpool had wingers and was close to winning the league, if we have wingers maybe we will be up there and close to winning the league and then sort our defense later on.

We've drawn/lost 90% of our first half, we struggle to break teams down, we aren't like the Liverpool's SAS that outscores every team.

Our 1st choice back4 may not be world class,but aren't as bad as being portrayed.

I really do not understand you here. You stated Liverpool defence back then was shitty and their attack was on fire and they ended up losing the league. Now they added quality to their defence and they are looking like Epl champions already in January, yet you want to make it seem like defence was not their problem then.

Klopp observed he had ageing defenders and replaced them with young blood doing quite well and a club record signing goal keeper. We saw how Judas Karius made sold out in the UCL final and conceded goals he shouldn't have, and Klopp replaced him with a record signing that has saved them points.

I agree with you on not having wingers that can put the ball in front of our strikers, but the major problem Arsenal has is defence followed by wingers which will be the case if we want to play tru the wings. If we don't want to do wing play, then central midfield should be our concern after defence.

So are you saying if you are appointed arsenal manager today, you will play mustafi, Bellerin, sokratis and Kolasinaic at the back 4 and then focus on getting Carrasco and maybe perisic and you will win the league in the next two years without injury?

patrickmuf:
I have no doubt that Arsenal's defense is weak but you can't talk about the defense without mentioning the attack and midfield, In my team, Manchester United, we start defending from the front (Rashford and Lingard) in midfield, we have Matic and Herrera battling for every ball...This line of defense helps protect our defense.
If you look at Arsenal, you'd see the lingering deficiency right from the attack, where only Lacazette bothers to defend, in midfield, only Torreira fights for every ball, Guendouzi is trying but he is still young...Check out that Pogba's burst for our 3rd goal in the FA cup and you'll realize how a passive midfield exposes a team.

Look at Pool, their defense have much less to deal with in a game compared to the other teams though they have some very good defenders but their work is made easier by the pressing of the forwards and midfield.

Someone already pointed it out to you that despite Argentina having messi, dybala, higuain, icardi and the rest upfront ready to punish you, people still attack Argentina.

As for man utd attackers being the first set of players in the line of defence, it hasn't helped man utd keep opposing attackers at bay going the number of goals conceded already. Without prejudice you know a defence that has an aging Ashley young, and Valencia, a lindelof still adjusting to the game injury prone Jones and an Eric Bailey not at his best has been the reason you conceded some goals, and not because Rashford, Herrera, Martial, Sanchez, etc did not do enough

BlueRayDick:


Someone already pointed it out to you that despite Argentina having messi, dybala, higuain, icardi and the rest upfront ready to punish you, people still attack Argentina.

As for man utd attackers being the first set of players in the line of defence, it hasn't helped man utd keep opposing attackers at bay going the number of goals conceded already. Without prejudice you know a defence that has an aging Ashley young, and Valencia, a lindelof still adjusting to the game injury prone Jones and an Eric Bailey not at his best has been the reason you conceded some goals, and not because Rashford, Herrera, Martial, Sanchez, etc did not do enough

I can't go further, bar Burnley game where Jones decided to do vintage Jones, you could that we have given up much less chances to our opponents.
When talking about attack, you will agree that PSG have a more fearsome attack than Liverpool but you can't compare the work the both attackers put in. Messi doesn't mark, others in their attack do little to help out defensively and their midfield is not so good bar Banega so you might need to look beyond names, football is a team game.

patrickmuf:
I can't go further, bar Burnley game where Jones decided to do vintage Jones, you could that we have given up much less chances to our opponents.
When talking about attack, you will agree that PSG have a more fearsome attack than Liverpool but you can't compare the work the both attackers put in. Messi doesn't mark, others in their attack do little to help out defensively and their midfield is not so good bar Banega so you might need to look beyond names, football is a team game.

So do we now say messi goes to the back, collects the ball from the defenders and dazzles his way from the back into the opponent's goal of when you Claim Argentina's midfield does practically nothing?

Screenshot below is the player ratings Nigeria vs Argentina at the world cup from skysports. Messi was rated 8 for a suberb performance, same as Ever Banega. In fact the two were the only players rated that high on the pitch and you think their midfield does little or nothing?

Wait, truthfully if you are appointed Arsenal today and you need to get good reslts ASAP, would you rather overhaul the back line on replace the Frontline with dribbling wingers partnering the existing attackers. Assuming these are the two options opened to you?

BlueRayDick:


So do we now say messi goes to the back, collects the ball from the defenders and dazzles his way from the back into the opponent's goal of when you Claim Argentina's midfield does practically nothing?

Screenshot below is the player ratings Nigeria vs Argentina at the world cup from skysports. Messi was rated 8 for a suberb performance, same as Ever Banega. In fact the two were the only players rated that high on the pitch and you think their midfield does little or nothing?

Wait, truthfully if you are appointed Arsenal today and you need to get good reslts ASAP, would rather overhaul the back line on replace the Frontline with dribbling wingers partnering the existing attackers. Assuming these are the two options opened to you?

I will clear the damn defence
Another example of good defence is atletico and juve
These 2 clubs hardly score much but they hardly concede too

BlueRayDick:


So do we now say messi goes to the back, collects the ball from the defenders and dazzles his way from the back into the opponent's goal of when you Claim Argentina's midfield does practically nothing?

Screenshot below is the player ratings Nigeria vs Argentina at the world cup from skysports. Messi was rated 8 for a suberb performance, same as Ever Banega. In fact the two were the only players rated that high on the pitch and you think their midfield does little or nothing?

Wait, truthfully if you are appointed Arsenal today and you need to get good reslts ASAP, would you rather overhaul the back line on replace the Frontline with dribbling wingers partnering the existing attackers. Assuming these are the two options opened to you?

First of all, understand that Banega cannot do it all alone.
Talking about Arsenal, someone here pointed out that one of the problem with your team is over reliance on the fullbacks to provide width leaving the CBs exposed during counters so before having a go at the defense, imagine what the situation will be if you guys had proper wingers doing their jobs and your fullbacks defending and only attacking when necessary.

sod09:
I will clear the damn defence
Another example of good defence is atletico and juve
These 2 clubs hardly score much but they hardly concede too

Then you're underestimating the work Matuidi, Khedira and Bentacur does for Juve and the work Rodri, Koke and Thomas put in.

BlueRayDick:


I really do not understand you here. You stated Liverpool defence back then was shitty and their attack was on fire and they ended up losing the league. Now they added quality to their defence and they are looking like Epl champions already in January, yet you want to make it seem like defence was not their problem then.

Klopp observed he had ageing defenders and replaced them with young blood doing quite well and a club record signing goal keeper. We saw how Judas Karius made sold out in the UCL final and conceded goals he shouldn't have, and Klopp replaced him with a record signing that has saved them points.

I agree with you on not having wingers that can put the ball in front of our strikers, but the major problem Arsenal has is defence followed by wingers which will be the case if we want to play tru the wings. If we don't want to do wing play, then central midfield should be our concern after defence.

So are you saying if you are appointed arsenal manager today, you will play mustafi, Bellerin, sokratis and Kolasinaic at the back 4 and then focus on getting Carrasco and maybe perisic and you will win the league in the next two years without injury?

I meant Liverpool's attack of 2013/2014 season was surprisingly good, it was their attack (mainly wingers) they conceded goals but outscore opposition, they scored average of 3+ goals against everyone including the big4, it was only mouriho's bus that stopped them.

They didn't lose the league because of defence, Gerard's back pass against Chelsea and a shocking upset at selhus park gave city the league.
Klopp came in,sold Suarez, coutinho and dead woods, last season was very good for them with mane,firminho and sallah,but they were still very good..

Our present attack won't get us to what the Liverpool of 2014 got to nor of 2018..

Also I don't understand how midfield play looks,top teams nowadays play from the wings mainly.

Lastly,haven known the current financial situation at Arsenal, yes I'll take carrasco and perisic.

I'll instruct bellerin and Monreal to focus primarily on defence before over laping , also koosc,mustf,sokrt and holding to avoid high line.
Without injury or any ish, I expect that squad to compete for the league and be up there, whatever then happens I'll look to strengthen in subsequent Sumners.

Fkhalifa:

I meant Liverpool's attack of 2013/2014 season was surprisingly good, it was their attack (mainly wingers) they conceded goals but outscore opposition, they scored average of 3+ goals against everyone including the big4, it was only mouriho's bus that stopped them.

They didn't lose the league because of defence, Gerard's back pass against Chelsea and a shocking upset at selhus park gave city the league.
Klopp came in,sold Suarez, coutinho and dead woods, last season was very good for them with mane,firminho and sallah,but they were still very good..

Our present attack won't get us to what the Liverpool of 2014 got to nor of 2018..

Also I don't understand how midfield play looks,top teams nowadays play from the wings mainly.

Lastly,haven known the current financial situation at Arsenal, yes I'll take carrasco and perisic.

I'll instruct bellerin and Monreal to focus primarily on defence before over laping , also koosc,mustf,sokrt and holding to avoid high line.
Without injury or any ish, I expect that squad to compete for the league and be up there, whatever then happens I'll look to strengthen in subsequent Sumners.

So you think Bellerin poses more threat playing on the defensive compared to when he goes forward? I disagree with that.

I've watched Bellerin play for few seasons now and I observed when on the defensive he's not as good as he is when offensive. In fact, of the top 4 or 5 teams competing with Arsenal for a top 4 spot, Bellerin is playing defensively can match any of the players in that same position. Is it Azpilicuelta or Valencia he can claim to be more defensiveinded than or Walker or this liverpool boy? If you will be truthful with yourself, you will admit whether playing on the offensive or defensive any of those mentioned will trump Bellerin hands down in that position he plays. That boils down to the quality of the player which someone pointed out already.

patrickmuf:
First of all, understand that Banega cannot do it all alone.
Talking about Arsenal, someone here pointed out that one of the problem with your team is over reliance on the fullbacks to provide width leaving the CBs exposed during counters so before having a go at the defense, imagine what the situation will be if you guys had proper wingers doing their jobs and your fullbacks defending and only attacking when necessary.

Are you kidding me? Have u not seen man city using walker and Mendy(for the games he's played) provide width for the team? Have you not seen Liverpool's fullback make the ball enjoyable for the front men?

Aside that, at a particular point played 3 centre backs and two fullbacks who doubled as wing back, yet we still conceded those matches and even didn't win the first half after conceding early, do you still think the 3 man CB was unable to ward off attack because others won't join defence?

The truth is : if you are to judge on facts on ground, our attackers have a job to do which is to score as many goals as possible and they've racked in 50 goals after 24 games which places them on a joint No.3 spot of highest scoring side in the league with Tottenham, while our defence has job of warding off attacks and preventing goals; a job they've not excelled at going having conceded 33 goals which is even higher than Newcastle's that is number 14 on the log.

Like seriously?

BlueRayDick:


Are you kidding me? Have u not seen man city using walker and Mendy(for the games he's played) provide width for the team? Have you not seen Liverpool's fullback make the ball enjoyable for the front men?

Aside that, at a particular point played 3 centre backs and two fullbacks who doubled as wing back, yet we still conceded those matches and even didn't win the first half after conceding early, do you still think the 3 man CB was unable to ward off attack because others won't join defence?

The truth is : if you are to judge on facts on ground, our attackers have a job to do which is to score as many goals as possible and they've racked in 50 goals after 24 games which places them on a joint No.3 spot of highest scoring side in the league with Tottenham, while our defence has job of warding off attacks and preventing goals; a job they've not excelled at going having conceded 33 goals which is even higher than Newcastle's that is number 14 on the log.

Like seriously?

I won't argue further, just watch Man City and the contribution of their attack and midfield in defending and compare it to Arsenal.
Football has gone past forwards scoring and that's why at some point, Pep demanded more from Kun Aguero.
Let's just end it here...

patrickmuf:
I won't argue further, just watch Man City and the contribution of their attack and midfield in defending and compare it to Arsenal.
Football has gone past forwards scoring and that's why at some point, Pep demanded more from Kun Aguero.
Let's just end it here...

Any team coached by pep has this same philosophy. It's either u blend or make way for others to come on board.

Why not use any other team not coached by him as an example? We saw a defensively solid athletico win the Spanish league. Do you belive an Athletico Madrid koke and Co would have won the league with mustafi, Sokratis, Bellerin and monreal/Kolasinaic playing as back 4

sod09:
if you notice that method ease pressure on defense no one remember if the backline us weak or not

Yes, it does. But a team needs a lot of hard workers to make it a success.

BlueRayDick:


So you think Bellerin poses more threat playing on the defensive compared to when he goes forward? I disagree with that.

I've watched Bellerin play for few seasons now and I observed when on the defensive he's not as good as he is when offensive. In fact, of the top 4 or 5 teams competing with Arsenal for a top 4 spot, Bellerin is playing defensively can match any of the players in that same position. Is it Azpilicuelta or Valencia he can claim to be more defensiveinded than or Walker or this liverpool boy? If you will be truthful with yourself, you will admit whether playing on the offensive or defensive any of those mentioned will trump Bellerin hands down in that position he plays. That boils down to the quality of the player which someone pointed out already.

Bellerin going forward is good, he's one of the highest assisting full back since he he came from academy,because of his pace,he's got the advantage of running back on time..

Maybe due to him not being physical, he may not be as rugged as Walker and the likes,but I rate him a bit above average defensively if allowed to defend with a sterling like attack in his front.

There's a reason barca wanted him. Messi will do the attack job from the right, while he concentrates on defence..

Sanga and Clichy won the league at city, they were made to look like world best because of what they had in front of them.

Fkhalifa:

Liverpool that year had the worst defence of ageing skirtil and toure, moreno and Johnson, they are worse than our first back4, Rodgers played to the strength of SARs and outscored any team, the attack was good and was stopped by mouriho's packed bus at Anfield, they bottled it at crystal palace.

That Liverpool had wingers and was close to winning the league, if we have wingers maybe we will be up there and close to winning the league and then sort our defense later on.

We've drawn/lost 90% of our first half, we struggle to break teams down, we aren't like the Liverpool's SAS that outscores every team.

Our 1st choice back4 may not be world class,but aren't as bad as being portrayed.

In a same you're buttressing my point, although they played to their strengths, their weakness (defense) still cost them in the end.

Just imagine where we would have been if he had a decent defense. Or a good defensive approach (the whole team defending together.)

Bro, let's agree to disagree.

To me, our defense is nothing to write home about.

Fkhalifa:
Someone said our attack is like the Liverpool front3 SAS
NO! We aren't.
Suarez,sterling and sturidge all pace, dribbling skills,mobile and deadly on the counter, ours isn't.

I insist our defense is okay, injury disrupted our season, The back4 of Monreal, Holding, Sokratis,mustafi and bellerin is good enough.

The main problem is we rely on bellerin and kola to attack from the flanks,
Our rivals have wingers doing that and that allows their full backs and defence take shape and organized

Go see the goals we concede, often times our defenders are far up the pitch. While our attackers are busy side passing and flicking the ball.

how would you say our defence is okay in one paragraph and counter that in another paragraph in the same post? you just shot yourself in the foot.


Their moving forward is the problem. No matter how fast they may be to recover, they cannot be settle enough to stop goals from being scored against us. even if its ramos and terry we have.


Thats why its not okay. The shadow marking stuff sucks for arsenal.


we are still good at the offside traps but trust me, our defence sucks. How can u be passing inside the box with terrifying strikers such as firmino, salah and mane inches away. instead of budeying the ball, they are showing flair!!!


we may have defenders that contribute well to getting goals, but Arsenal's defence is wack than Leicester when it comes to Organization and overall reaction. fact.


we have conceeded stupid goals.


GF-50
GA-33
GP-24

Thats conceeding 1.7goals per game!!!


Dats not a good defence.

See liverpool's GA.


im not expecting a high performance, but that conceeding of stupid goals is my issue with the back line.

BlueRayDick:


Any team coached by pep has this same philosophy. It's either u blend or make way for others to come on board.

Why not use any other team not coached by him as an example? We saw a defensively solid athletico win the Spanish league. Do you belive an Athletico Madrid koke and Co would have won the league with mustafi, Sokratis, Bellerin and monreal/Kolasinaic playing as back 4

In that set up, they'll look much better than you can ever imagine.
Felipe Luiz looked out of this world at Atletico, he joined Chelsea and looked out of place...Smalling will look world class in that setup...

Fkhalifa:

I think barca,city PSG and few other big teams don't do the typical old school defending, I noticed those defenders have this quality of shielding the ball and passing accurately to teammates even when under pressure.
Pique isn't like Ferdinand or Godin,but his ability to gaurd the ball, pass it on,keep possession makes him super and that's what city use.
Walker and Danilo are good examples,they don't lose the ball, but if faced by neymar or mpbappe,will surely struggle.
Our defenders lack that except Holding, we lose the ball under pressure, that's what modern teams do now.

Yes. Although there are some very good defenders in those team, the whole team defends together. They have people who can take up a leadership role if the need arises. Unlike ours, where Baba Lich will be shouting for Mustafi, and Kos will be compaling to Kola. Even Papa will sometimes forget that he his a footballer, he will be talking and shielding players as if he is a Greek wrestler.

They really need to overhaul the defense or bring in a "PROPER" defensive minded coach (asst.) If not, the team will continue to suffer.