What can Wenger do to improve Arsenal’s defence?

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Every Arsenal fan knows that the biggest problem we have had this season is the fact that we concede silly goals far too easily. Our goals against column is reading 41 so far this season, whereas last year it was 44 for the whole campaign, and only 36 the season before.

Every single Arsenal fan knows that the biggest problem we have had this season is the fact that we concede silly goals far too easily. Our goals against column is reading 41 so far this season, whereas last year it was 44 for the whole campaign, and only 36 the season before. This is by far the biggest reason why Arsenal are completely out of the betting to grab a place in the Top Four before the end of the season. They are now 100/1 outsiders to overtake Tottenham and Chelsea, although they are 1/10 on to finish in the Top Six. Most of the betting sites can agree on this, thus giving different options for the final position in league table for Wengers team. They would need an absolute miracle to win it, so the best option when placing a bet is to try to guess will Arsenal be in competition for Europe next season.

The problem is that Laurent Koscielny (32 years old with ongoing achilles problems); Per Mertesacker (33 and in his last year of competitive football); Nacho Monreal (the youngster at 31) and Petr Cech (35) are all getting very close to their sell-by dates. The wing-back roles are easily covered by Bellerin and Sead Kolasinac.

We do also have Calum Chambers and Rob Holding, who definitely have scope for improvement but Wenger doesn’t seem to trust them very much and you could say they are not gaining much top-level experience sitting on the bench either. And they are hardly going to improve siting there are they? But we probably have to accept that they will be our future first choices at the back.

So we thought it was a certainty that Wenger would be buying a top class experienced centre-back in January especially as Mustafi is not looking anywhere near the quality we need, and with just him, Chambers and Holding as  our first-choices in the future we are hardly going to be invincible.

Wenger admitted that he wanted to buy Jonny Evans in January, but after spending over 50 million on Aubameyang there was nothing left in the pot. We can hope that the new Greek lad, Mavropolas, is going to grow into a top class addition but again this doesn’t help us now. We had Krystian Bielik coming through from the academy, but every time I read about him he is looking for a move somewhere where he can play every week. So what can Wenger actually do in the summer to correct these defensive problems?

There are two very popular choices out there in Manolas and Koulibaly if Wenger wanted to bring in one more defender, but there is also a school of thought that it is not the quality of our defenders that is the problem, it is the lack of protection from a World-Class Defensive midfielder and the lack of solid tactics defensively, which can only affect our confidence leading to even more mistakes. 

A very popular choice for DF would appear to be the Italian international Jorginho, who is playing at Napoli right now and raising eyebrows with his tough tackling displays although he is also very good at joining up with the attack when his team are on the front foot. This would seem like an ideal Wenger candidate, but Le Prof is hardly known to encourage his midfielders to defend when they could be up front scoring goals, so another popular idea right now of changing the manager for one that actually thinks about defending now and again!

How do you think Arsenal could cure our defensive problems, other than sacking Wenger?

5 thoughts on “What can Wenger do to improve Arsenal’s defence?

  1. Wenger will never improve our defence. We have quality on the bench chambers and holding. We need that shield (DM). Wenger pls sign Ndidi and our defence will improve drastically.

  2. Last 13 year he can’t solve the defense problems but owner remain him as coach this is the major problem. Enrique or alligri the best option.

  3. This season Arsenal have had to contend with a shaky defense that was able to leak lots of goals. But I think the over focus on defending is making Arsenal lose out on one of the best means of defending – dominance. Is it a coincidence that nowadays Arsenal rarely dominate possession in games that we are leaking so many goals? But the other issue is dominance for a reason, being dangerous and also scoring more frequently out of this dominance is very important. It is what Man City are now doing, it is what Barcelona are known for, it is what Bayern, PSG and Real are made of. It was what the Arsenal of Yore – the invincibles were known for. Arsenal should score more frequently, score more earlier in and score more goals. This means we have to generate an almost unexpected goal conversion ration from attack and therefore Arsenal needs to shape the team around superior attack and score default system. The squad is certainly well placed for frontal domination. Just look at these players Lacazette, Aubemeyang, Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Welbeck, Iwobi, Wilshere, Ramsey… But for starters, I would get rid of Wilshere, Xhaka and keep Ramsey in the bench. I would bring in Ousmane Dembele, Goncalo Guedes, Oriol Romeu, Ryan Bertrand and Fraser Foster.
    My personal team under the current squad circumstances for the above would be a 3.1.4.1.1 or 3.1.2.3.3 as below:
    Aubemeyang
    Lacazette
    Guedes—Mkhitaryan—Ozil—Dembele
    Romeu
    —Bertrand-Mustafi-Bellerin—
    ——————Foster—————-

    or

    Aubemeyang
    Lacazette
    Mkhitaryan—Ozil
    Guedes – Romeu – Dembele
    —Bertrand-Mustafi-Bellerin—
    ——————Foster—————-

    Guedes and Dembele are capable of working the wings with high level energy just like when we had Ljungberg, Pires and Overmars and that will mean Bertrand and Bellerin stay back defending in more instances but can come out one in a while in that odd moment follow-up attack to provide killer passes. Romeu is coming with premier league pedigree and can sit affront the back three and help intervene to cut off the opposition moves early on forcing the opponents to errors that can be then be better dealt with in the defending department. Both Mkhitaryan and Ozil have the potential to start up attacks from deep in the central defense area and continue those attacks in the pivot attacking midfield set-up as well and completing the same in advance attacking roles as well as striking positions. Aubameyang and Lacazette in the same team finally. We got Welbeck, Iwobi and the youngsters to fill the roles in the bench. Petr Cech needs to be allowed to move on, he has done his bit and Bertrand and Foster will help retain the British core in the side. At least we have the core of this team already playing together in Ozil, Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan and Lacazette is already in the squad.
    A team that attacks competently also ends up somehow defending well and that’s the reason why Arsenal squad of 2003 ended up the invincibles. That’s is why Man City somehow are not conceding too many goals.

  4. How can Wenger improve the defence ? Stay in his office and let a real defensive coach do his job. EG. Steve Bould … instead of treating him as a highly paid Yes Man. Then retire at the end of THIS season.

  5. I don’t think Wenger watch football matches of other clubs otherwise he would have noticed someone like Ndidi and Doucoure, This problem of shaky defense has been there with Arsenal for over 15 years now still Wenger never found a solution,Arsenal back line need protection(a quality defensive midfielder)my question is, can wenger find the solution now? no way! Prof u had all the chances in this world to improve your team but your stubbornness and ego wouldn’t allow you.Prof is too late to cry when the head is already off,we wish u good luck coz is time to go prof,we sincerely thank u for all u have done for Arsenal, Prof if you truly love Arsenal as you said then a change is inevitable .prof time is up and delay may cost more damage to the club and you as a manager, no one will remember your achievement if your ego and stubbornness persist ,just bow down honorably and keep ur head up,you don’t ve a choice Prof .Thank you very much

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