Tag Archives: Per Mertesacker

Has Mustafi solved Arsenal’s defensive problems?

mus4

Arsenal have not conceded a clean sheet for 10 games. You have to go back to the League Cup home win against Reading on the 25th of October for our last one. Arsenal clearly have problems at the back.

Much of our defensive “problems” were supposed to have been sorted by the signing of Shkodran Mustafi for big money from Valencia. And whilst he has been a terrific signing, and he is yet to lose a game in an Arsenal shirt, he has certainly not solved Arsenal’s defensive problems:

https://twitter.com/SouthportDJ/status/809713697417560064

https://twitter.com/SouthportDJ/status/809711115836026880

In the last two years, or lack of success has been firmly blamed on our defence, and on one defender in particular, Per Mertesacker. But this ignores the facts.

In 205/16 Petr Cech kept more clean sheets than any other goal keeper, Arsenal conceded as many goals as Leicester, and just 1 more than the leagues two stingiest defences, Man U and Spurs.

The year before was not too much different. Arsenal were once again 3rd in the league when it came to ‘goals conceded’ Only Southampton and Champions Chelsea conceding less.

So what has happened at Arsenal? If Mustafi has so obviously (to many fans eyes) improved out defence, why has it seemingly gone backwards?

The first problem is our eyes often deceive us.

Per Mertesacker was often labelled a weak link as when he was beaten, our made an error, he would rarely be in the picture when a goal was scored. Where as when Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny make errors, it is not as obvious.

This year Arsenal have given their opponents a lot of chances. And a lot of these come from Mustafi and Koscielny’s lack of positional awareness.

Neither are as good positionally as Mertesacker, nor are they as good at organising the defence. What this leads to is a massive gap between the two defenders, leaving a lot of space for strikers to slip in between and get a chance. From Cavani in the Champions League, to lowly Ludogorets, our defence gives opponents very clear chances.

Even when we beat Ludogorets 6-0, the chicken farmers still had 10 shots and it was only poor finishing that stopped them scoring.

The weakness with Per Mertesacker was when a ball went in behind Hector Bellerin, Mertesacker would not have the pace to get across him. So Koscielny at left sided centre back would have to undercut the big German to get across to the opponent. This would then leave Mertesacker labouring to get back in the middle to cover whoever had run through from the away team. Koscielny wouldn’t get to the right quick enough, Mertesacker would be nowhere near anyone, Nacho Monreal would fail to drop inside to cover, and our opponents would be left with a simple tap in if the squared ball was right.

Signing Mustafi has meant that Koscielny no longer needs to undercut, but it has created another problem.

When Bellerin gets caught out going forward, Mustafi drifts across to the right a bit to cover his full back, which is what a centre back should do. But then everyone else should follow. Koscielny should tuck in to cover Mustafi, either the defensive midfielder or Monreal tucks in to cover Koscielny, and the winger or defensive midfielder slots in to cover Monreal. But this is not happening.

Mustafi go’s right, and Koscielny is not covering his centre back partner, leaving a big gap between the two centre backs that a striker is exploiting.

A major reason why Koscielny is not covering is he is so concerned about Monreal. He is trying to cover his right back when he should be covering his centre back. It does not help when Alex Iwobi is also not covering his full back, so Monreal can not fully commit to covering the middle.

I do think Mustafi and Koscielny could develop into a decent defensive partnership, but it is clear that at the moment Arsenal’s defence is not keeping enough clean sheets.

Koscielny’s positioning has always been his weakness. I have got a lot of abuse for saying this before. But this probably highlights who knows football and who doesn’t. Koscielny has been caught out a lot inf the past. Too high up the field, too far left, diving in when a player is not a danger.

There is a reason why Koscielny has conceded more penalties than any other Premier League player since 2010. Because he is always out of position and having to lunge in to win the ball.

Koscielny has always performed better when he has a leader next to him. Someone who can organise him, direct him. Mustafi looks a classy player, better than Mertesacker, but at the moment the defence is struggling with positional organisation. I am a big believer of the effect games such as FIFA has on people. Many did not rate Mertesacker purely because they could not defend with him on computer games.

Good defences always work on partnerships. You have a leader. Tony Adams, John Terry, Laurent Blanc, Nemanja Vidic. Arsenal currently do not have this out and out defensive leader. Manchester City have spent £150m trying to find one.

Mustafi could grow into the leader of the defence over the next 6 months, but at the moment he is the junior partner to Koscielny.

Arsenal defensive frailties have become worse this season. Mustafi has solved one problem but created another.

Keenos
Follow @KeenosAFC

The Curse of The Arsenal Captain

3 Replies

untitled

Over the there have been a few curses on Arsenal Football Club.

We have The Curse of The Arsenal Number 9, which stretches back into the last millennium. Under Arsene Wenger, no one who has worn the number 9 shirt at Arsenal has ever really prospered for a long period of time. Paul Merson, Nicolas Anelka, Davor Suker, Francis Jeffers, Jose Antonio Reyes, Julio Baptista, Eduardo, Park Chu-Young and Lukas Podolski. All either failed at the club under Wenger, or were shipped out within a couple of seasons. Current holder of the shirt is Lucas Perez. The Curse of The Arsenal Number 9 has not yet been broken.

Then we have The Curse of The Invincibles. When you sell your soul to the devil for a donut, you pay a hefty price. No matter how tasty that donut is, you are forever cursed, forever owned, by the devil. A special place in hell is waiting for you where you are fed donuts for eternity.

And that is what Arsenal pretty much did when they went invincible. They sold their soul. Since that glorious day in May 2004, we have failed to win another title. It is as if it took half a century of luck, strength and ability, rolled it all together, into just a single season. Of course, the curse has slightly been chipped away with FA Cup wins, but until we win the Premier League title, the Curse of The Invincibles will continue to grow bigger in folklore.

Will The Curse of The Invincibles end up being like Mayo GAA? They have not won the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship since 1951. The story go’s that they will not win another one until every member of the 1951 side is dead. They made the Final this year. Their 5^th in 12 seasons. They have lost them all…

Then we come on to The Curse of Aaron Ramsey. We all know how this one go’s. When Aaron Ramsey scores, someone important dies. From Osama bin Laden to Steve Jobs; Whitney Houston to Muammar Gaddafi, Paul Walker, Robin Williams, Richard Attenborough, David Bowie and Alan Rickman. What will it take for Piers Morgan to be added to the list? A hat trick?

It should be of no surprise therefore that over recent years, another curse has attached itself to Arsenal. The Curse of The Arsenal Captain.

13 – Premier League starts by Arsenal's captain in the last 3 seasons.

— Andy Kelly 🌍 (@Gooner_AK) August 8, 2016

2013-14 Vermaelen 7
2014-15 Arteta 6
2015-16 Arteta 0

— Andy Kelly 🌍 (@Gooner_AK) August 8, 2016

https://twitter.com/DarrenArsenal1/status/774593620649316353

For an Arsenal captain to have played just 13 games in the last 3 seasons is a shocking statistic.

Current club captain is Per Mertesacker. He is out injured until 2017. With his contract set to expire at the end of the year, talk has already begun that he might return to Hannover 96 on a free in the summer of 2017. A return to his home town club, the city of his birth, to see out his career.

When you add his injury and contract situation, alongside the current form of Laurent Koscielny & Shkodran Mustafi, the development of Rob Holding and the presence of Gabriel, a case could easily be made that we might never see Per Mertesacker in an Arsenal shirt again.

Never playing for Arsenal again is unlikely, but I would be very surprised if, when he does eventually return, he plays another 10 times for the club. He certainly will not make another 10 starts, and will only break in if injuries hit. Even with injuries, Wenger might be tempted to push through Gabriel or Holding, who are much more suited to our current high pressing, defend the half way line, game, than Mertesacker.

So after getting the arm band in the summer, the curse looks likely to hit again.

A little investigation shows this curse has been going on longer than the last 3 seasons. Maybe it will get renamed The Curse of Tony Adams?

Adams captained the club from March 1988 to 2002. 15 seasons as captain. In the next 15 seasons, Arsenal have had 8 captains.

First up was Patrick Vieira. He was long consider heir apparent to Tony Adams. A foreign leader for the foreign legion of Arsenal players. When he became Arsenal captain in 2002, he was 26 and looked set to become an Arsenal legend. He then spent his 3 years at Arsenal engineering a move away from the club before finally being sold in 2005 to Juventus. 3 years as captain.

Next up was Thierry Henry. Given the armband as talisman of the team. The best player, but not necessarily the best captain. He lasted 2 seasons. Then, like Vieira, engineered a move away from the club to Barcelona. Cheers T.

William Gallas was the surprise next choice as Arsenal captain. He was stripped of captaincy after a little more than a year after giving an unauthorised interview where he revealed tensions within the squad which were disruptive to team morale, and suggested that Arsenal’s younger players needed to show more courage if the team were to be successful.

Following up from Gallas was Cesc Fabregas. At the time people felt he maybe got the arm band too early. Barley 2, the argument was that if captain Arsenal young was good enough for Tony Adams, then Cesc could also step up. A young leader for a young team. He last 2 and a bit seasons, going on strike in his last season, heading to the Spanish Grand Prix rather than supporting the team, and buggered off the Barcelona.

It then fell to Robin van Persie to be Arsenal captain. A similar situation to Henry, he was basically given the armband to ensure he stayed at the club when, like with Henry, others around him were leaving. He did stay, for one season, before engineering a move to Manchester United.

Thomas Vermaelen was next in line. He looked an ideal fit. Had been at the club for 3 seasons. Was 26 years old. Was a guaranteed starter. Was an international regular. Was captain of Ajax before he joined us. Was a natural leader. The Arsenal captaincy resulted in injuries and lack of form and 2 years after being given the armband, he was sold to Barcelona.

Vermaelen was replaced by Mikel Arteta. At the time it was a questionable decision. Many pointed to the fact he was already not a 1^st team regular. His legs already going. Per Mertesacker was the fans choice in 2014. As captain Arteta started just 6 games. 612 minutes of Premier League football over 2 years. He retired.

Per Mertesacker finally got the armband this summer. An odd decision considering he was already out for the rest of the year injured. And with his contract expiring, likely to leave.

Arsene Wenger should bite the bullet now. Take the armband off Mertesacker and give it to Laurent Koscielny. The Frenchman has grown as a leader this season since the Euro’s. He seems to be revelling in being the senior partner.

Laurent Koscielny should be Arsenal captain, and hopefully break the curse.