What has happened to our defensive discipline in the last few games? Arsenal started the season so well-organised in defence; conceding just two goals in our first five PL games. But with Vermaelen and Koscielny all over the place against Chelsea, and the Lion of Flanders bombing forward like a total nut-bum whenever he feels like it, it is difficult to say whether Arsenal have made progress or not.
Vermaelen’s kamikazes have been rightly criticised by the majority of the fans. His attacking endeavours against Olympiakos and West Ham – mostly late in the game when we were already ahead, seemed unnecessary and left us vulnerable at the back.
I cannot imagine Steve Bould feeling very comfortable with that, but I have no doubt that TV5 is simply acting on instruction. I guess the theory is to keep attacking in order not to invite pressure on our defence, and by going for a two (or more) goal-lead rather than closing up shop, we have a better chance to finish the game with all three points in the bag.
Bould-dozer has been asked by Wenger to sort out the defence this season, and in order to complete his task successfully, he will surely have doubts about defending a lead with risky attacking football late in the game.
But what is Wenger’s role in all of this? Although Arsene will really want a tight defence – which manager wouldn’t?! – he will also want Arsenal to play attacking, attractive football: to keep its identity. He will also have noticed that except for the goal-fest against Southampton at home, we were simply not scoring enough goals in the fist five games.
Something needed to change, and I reckon Vermaelen finds himself now caught between the Bould-dozer’s need for defensive discipline and Wenger’s desire to play attacking, heavenly football. He is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
In the last two games, we have seen a lot more involvement of our defence in our attacking moves. Gone seems the tight defensive discipline where only one of our four defenders – mostly one of our Full Backs – would go out to support our attack. Gone, seems the conservatism of the CB’s to focus on defending first and for all.
We all got the biggest shock of the season so far, when we conceded two super-soft goals from set-pieces against the Chavs. It just felt that overnight we lost our magic and we were back at the Arsenal defences of ‘recent old’. I reckon a lot had to do with the managers’ decision to keep Mertesacker on the bench. Big Per has made incredible progress in his second season at Arsenal, as his organisational, game-reading and natural leadership skills have all come properly to the fore, and Arsenal appears to be lost without them.
Vermaelen and Koscielny are similar CB’s. They remind me of Gallas, Kolo Toure and Martin Keown: energetic, adrenalin-driven, high levels of stamina, aggressive, strong in the air and on the ground, good tacklers, with good timing and good ability to go forward from a defensive position, if and when there is space for it. Every team needs a CB like this if it wants to be successful.
Mertesacker, on the other hand, reminds me of Sol Campbell, and to a certain extent of Tony Adams: he is calmer, and has a strong ability to organise his defence and keep discipline. Good in the air and on the ground, but clearly not the quickest turner and not the fastest defender. His reading of the game is so exceptional, though, that he will seldom find himself in a position where his weaknesses are exposed, and can subsequently be exploited by the opposition. Every team also needs a CB like this if it wants to be successful.
I have no doubt that Mertesacker will play a pivotal role this season, and our ability to win something will hinge disproportionately on him staying fit, most if not all of the season.
Mertesacker’s continuous selection will also allow Vermaelen to keep bombing forward, and keep both Bould and Wenger happy at the same time. The German has the ability to organise the defence, including one or two deeper laying midfielders, in such a way that the gaps left behind by the Belgian are appropriately covered.
There is a delicate balance to be struck between defensive discipline and attacking football, and one of the most interesting developments to watch this season, is how Bould and Wenger will work together to achieve it.
Let’s hope we end up with a Bould-dozer kept in the air by Wenger’s heavenly wings!
Total Arsenal.
Bergkampesque 
OZ, wrote (previous post):
‘Glad it was enjoyable, hope you can duck over for a bit longer next time and catch up with your mates. Can’t believe your dad isn’t an Arsenal supporter though, sort it out TA!’
He loves football Oz, but has no associations with any particular club. Nothing can be done about it! At least he loves the right sport and took me to footie games from a young age! 🙂
‘Still deliberating, he will be not guilty though. By the sounds of it he has been set up. Conveniently a camera wasn’t working on a bridge the night it happened. The coroner’s tape was stopped during the examination process (planting of evidence perhaps). Police corruption…thought it only happened in dodgy countries and in the movies.
if I go missing after this TA my internet has probably been bugged and my cover blown (GLIC could be a mole!), get the kids, find a safe house and lay low for a while. only come out to write posts about Arsenal under the codename: Klaus van Arsenal’
Wow OZ, that sounds bad. Hope you are not too disappointed by it all! 😦
Klaus van Arsenal 😆
Is it getting warmer now where you are? Lovely Spring days?
Hi TA, 🙂
What a remarkable ‘tour de force’ that Post is. If I may say so it is right up there with some of the best you have written. 🙂
To do it justice, I will have to get back to you a little later to comment properly. (been a busy morning).
Having re-read the Post I found it so comprehensive that it blocked off ant avenues of disagreement.
What concerns me, as a logical person, is my attempts to guess at the roles that AW and Bouldy play at the macro level.
Obviously Arsene is Chef d’ Equipe, the overall boss, but if he has delegated the responsibility for coaching the defence to Bouldy then there has to be a clear demarcation between the two of them in that area. But is that the case?
In the opening matches it was evident that the defence, particularly the CBs were under strict instructions to do their jobs and not to try and play the role of attacking midfielder or especially not as a CF.
The wheels came off only when the zonal marking system let us down at Man City and to an extent against the Chavs — altho their goals were down to luck to a certain extent, and not down to a mad foray by TV.
Nonetheless, it was also apparent that our defensive ‘pattern’ was not as clear cut as it had been previously.
So, who is responsible? Arsene? Bouldy? or a testosterone fuelled TV?
Without a definite knowledge over who is responsible for setting out our stall – so to speak – it is impossible to say. But my money is on a naughty TV! 🙂
Hi RA 🙂
Thanks for your fine comment. That is indeed the big question: is there a clear demarcation of responsibilities between B and W and how are they integrating the need to have a meaner defence with our style of (attacking) football?
Naughty TV hahaha 🙂 is caught in the middle of this threesome! 😀
Morning Total
Last year Kozzer was a serious contender for the best CB in the Premier League.
The year before, Vermaelen was similarly outstanding.
Your tactical analysis of the problem may well be right, but I wonder if it’s just that TV and LK are having a little dip in form (it happens to all players).
They have been a very good pairing when playing together in the past and there is no reason they can’t be again.
Mind you, I agree with you about our best pairing being Per plus one of the other two.
Hi Rocky 🙂
You could well be right. Our best defensive period of the entire last season was in Feb/March/April when both Koz and TV found some good rhythm and achieved a number of clean sheets (with help of their colleagues of course).
A lot comes down to hard work and the whole team helping out with defending, but with Mertesacker (and Szczesny) in the team there seems to be a lot more organisation and discipline at the moment.
I know you agree with me on this as you have been singing Mertesacker’s praises for a long time! 🙂
TA
It’s interesting that you used the “simply acting on instruction” argument to possibly explain TV’s upfield forays.
Much the same was said of Alex Song when he used to go a-wandering.
I’m not sure that either will have had explicit orders to commit to attack when we’re already winning – but maybe AW spends a lot of time telling the team that they all have multiple responsibilities.
Anyway, I’m always a bit suspicious of the “only following orders” defence – I’m sure I’ve heard that somewhere before…
Jawohl Rocky! 😀
Yes AW allows players room for manoeuvre but what TV5 was doing was potentially suicidal. I cannot imagine that it wasn’t done as part of the game plan. If it was done by TV on his own initiative and Arsene was happy with it, then it would potentially undermine Bould.
Rockadillo,
I hope you realise that obstreperous fellow over on AA was an RA impersonator, and nothing to with me.
I am not servile lickspittle, unless I am after some booty! 🙂
Insert the words ‘do’ and ‘a’, as appropriate, in my 16:54 comment! Doh!
Glicster, Tug Boat Tilly —– where are you.
VCC come out and talk to me!!
Oz……………………..oh, OK you are excused, I remember now, you are hanging upside down in your hammock in Aus, playing with your jambok.
Evening RA, Friday has never been a big blogging day and the interlull is not helping either. 😦
Luckily we can watch a bit of footie tonight. Ramsey is on ESPN or Sky and Germany is also ESPN or Sky, and with a bit of luck we can watch big Per or Der Pod in action. Will Theo or Ox get a chance in the England site?! 🙂
I saw a Sky Sports News report this afternoon that said both Theo and the Ox would be playing at the start. I will probably channel hop as you said and try to have a look at our various internationals.
Hi Red Arse, I’m here now, been busy today job hunting. Getting settled down to watch the match tonight.
How’s your health been lately? Hope your well
I’m fine thanks VCC. Good of you to ask. 🙂
Fingers crossed that you get some joy on the job front soon.
Like you I am getting ready to watch the games tonight, but first I have to sort out something to eat! I’m always hungry. 🙂
I’m suitably fed (Asda skate and chips) bottle of red opened breathing and calling me to drink it, so I can’t stay for long.
I’m off down to my local fish and chip shop now you said that VCC. 🙂
So I will say goodnight to you and TA. See you tomorrow.
Hope the games are good!!
Enjoy your fish and chips Redders. I just had a lovely honey-glazed gammon roast.
Hi VCC 🙂
Hope the hunt was successful. Enjoy the game and the vin rouge!
See you tomorrow RedArse.
Total, it’s a headache this employment seeking at 62, lol.
Looking forward to my vino tinto.
Off subject Total, can you recommend a decent laptop?
Walcott and Chamberlain start
Unfortunately, I am no expert VCC. I reckon GiE or Chas know a thing or two about laptops: they are quite technology savvy! 🙂
Try to forget about your age: you are healthy, experienced and have worked all your life…ooooh and you are a true Gooner, so very, very employable!! 😀
Excellent – I will be watching England then! 🙂
Cheers Total. Have a good evening.
6-0 England
you too VCC 🙂
Bendtner just scored for Denmark. His international scoring record is good.
7-1 🙂 If you are right I give you a bottle of vino tinto! 🙂
A bottle of South African red will go down nicely Total. If your right I’ll buy you a peroni or two.
That’s outragious
Evening fellow handsome gooners…….minus VCC ! hahaha
Just before I get back to the game, may I say, your usual fine post Total . I`m confused though, you say ,” bombing forward like a Total nut-bum ” , so who is the nut-bum ?. Is it Verm or Total ? and I thought I was ” Nut-bum”, it seems like we`re all in an exclusive club !.
Later fellow nut-bummers. hahaha
Ha Ha GLiC, you are the first nut-bummer. Compared to you Vermaelen is only an insignificant nut-bummer! 🙂
I would not mind a bottle of SA red either, VCC 🙂
Poor Theo – it is just not working out for him at the moment. How did the goalie get away with that one!? 😦
VCC,
Just popped back for a minute (I have company watching the game).
I looked up Which magazine’s best buy Laptops for you.
It rather depends on how much you want to spend, of course, but the Samsung Series 3 laptop at £350 is a Which best buy. It does everything you would want I suspect.
Then the Acer Aspire for £550, or the HP Folio for £750 are also best buys, then it starts to become expensive.
My advice, VCC, would be to go for the cheaper machine because unless you need the fancy stuff, all of them will suit Internet/Skype/blogging etc, unless you need a special performance computer for playing games and so on.
Alternatively, many people are going for Tablet computers like the iPad which is light, portable has an integral keyboard (the keyboard come up on the screen) but is not so convenient for printing unless you buy an Apple printer.
Finally, you might want to consider a Net Book. This is a smaller computer with a 10″ or 12″ screen, much lighter for carrying, rather than the 15″ or 16″ screens which most laptops have, but again it is fine for Internet/blogging/social networking.
If the Net Book computer rings your bell, move your ass to John Lewis and get a 2 year guarantee + software support for a machine costing between £220 to £350. 🙂
RedArse your a star. £350 is about the price I want to pay. As you say machines of this quality will do everything I require. Internet/blogging, etc. I want a programme called Sage book keeping and salary. I will have a look at the Samsung series three. Thankyou so much for taking the time to help me.
New Post (for the night birds)! 🙂