Facecloth Posted 23 June 2013 Share Posted 23 June 2013 Arsenal won't win **** with that defence. Second best defence in the league behind Man City last season! Mertersaker and Koscielny formed a good partnership towards the end of last season. Sometimes it's not about having the best individual players, and about having the best combination instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Hundreds Posted 23 June 2013 Share Posted 23 June 2013 Granted they kept more clean sheets than usual, but against their title challengers they were bobbins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 Granted they kept more clean sheets than usual, but against their title challengers they were bobbins. They only lost by the odd goal apart from City at home which was 1-2. They got draws against City away and United home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnderbyFox Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 Mertesacker had a very good season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stadt Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 Mertesacker is a beast on Fifa . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facecloth Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 Mertesacker had a very good season That's true. But his name's not Vidic, Ferdinand, Terry, or Verthongen, and therefore the media haven't talked him up, so there people who can't form their own opinions think he's crap. Koscielny was also excellent and for me should have made the team of the year, especially when you consider Rio only just played half the matches this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facecloth Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 Mertesacker is a beast on Fifa . Mertesacker has the turning circle of a tank on FIFA! And runs like he's in treacle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Hundreds Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 Meh-tersacker. Imagine Koscielny going to Barca. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facecloth Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 Meh-tersacker. Imagine Koscielny going to Barca. See what I mean, you're just laughing at them because you perceive they are shit from some misguided idea of them, you haven't paid any attention to how well they played last season. Koscielny was excellent last season and on that form would slot into most defences in the top leagues. But no, in your world, Koscielny must be shit. He plays for Arsenal and wasn't great when he first started playing over here so therefore must be shit. And you're just laughing at Mertesacker's name not his ability. Plenty of people have offered opinions as to why Arsenal's defence is actually quite good, but you can't offer a reason why you think they are so poor, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitchandro Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 I've seen Mertesacker for years for Germany and Arsenal and he's always looked shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facecloth Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 I've seen Mertesacker for years for Germany and Arsenal and he's always looked shit. Like many have said he played very well, especially the second half of last season, and he's playing for Germany, surely can't be THAT shit. His biggest weakness is he's very slow, but his positional sense seemed to improve a lot last season, perhaps it's working with Steve Bould. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Hundreds Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 They've had half a good season. They still get terrorised against half decent attacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facecloth Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 They've had half a good season. They still get terrorised against half decent attacks. You mean those half decent attacks that didn't score that many past them last season? Those half decent attacks that scored sooooo many goals past them they had the second strongest defence in the league? Wow this is hard work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Hundreds Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 I wouldn't say conceding, on average, a goal a game was the sign of a great defence. Even if it has been their best defensive showing for 3-4 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnderbyFox Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 Big Per is class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?f&v=N-9gOJIqvGY He even invented a completely new method of tackling, the back tackle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facecloth Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 I wouldn't say conceding, on average, a goal a game was the sign of a great defence. Even if it has been their best defensive showing for 3-4 years. Better than 18 of the other 19 teams. In terms of the Premier League they were the second strongest defensive unit. Every other defence conceded more than a goal a game on average when facing the same teams over the course of a season. So last year that defence, mainly made up of Mertesacker and Koscielny were better on average then Rio and Vidic, Agger and Carragher, Dawson and Verthongen, Distin and Jagielka, Ivanovic and Luiz. I'm a bit miffed what they actually have to do to get some recognition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Hundreds Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 They could try winning something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facecloth Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 They could try winning something. What's that got to with anything? We're on about the quality of their defence, not the team as a whole, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Hundreds Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 You tend to win a bit with a great defence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facecloth Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 You tend to win a bit with a great defence. But not winning anything doesn't necessarily mean you have a shit defence. If your argument that they have a shit defence is based solely on the fact they haven't won anything, you've got a shit argument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Hundreds Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 They conceded 37 goals in a season, that's bang average. I'd class it as the 2nd least shit defence in the PL. I don't think any top flight team covered themselves in glory this season defending wise. Chelsea and Man City who usually do possess very good defences, had anomalous seasons, and City still conceded less than Arsenal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facecloth Posted 24 June 2013 Share Posted 24 June 2013 How can it be average when it's second best? They all faced the same teams and Arsenal conceded less goals against them than everyone else other then Man City. I think we were spoilt by teams being very defensive 5 or 6 years ago, teams are more attacking now, therefore there are more goals as they score more and also leave themselves open at the back. 5 or 6 years ago you'd expect team to concede about 20 a season, that's just not going to happen these days. Doesn't mean the players have got particularly worse, just teams aren't putting so much emphasis on defending anymore. When Mourinho first came over Chelsea went something like 10 games without conceding, when does that ever happen now? And it's not because of a huge overhaul in players is it, it because of changes in tactics. I mean seriously you can't have watched Arsenal last season and thought they were worse defensively than they have been in the seasons previous! They may have conceded less but they were a joke, all over the place in the previous season. Squilachi or his ever it's spelt, Djourou, both shocking. They've certainly improved, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaspa Posted 25 June 2013 Share Posted 25 June 2013 They conceded 37 goals in a season, that's bang average. I'd class it as the 2nd least shit defence in the PL. I don't think any top flight team covered themselves in glory this season defending wise. Chelsea and Man City who usually do possess very good defences, had anomalous seasons, and City still conceded less than Arsenal. Some decent trolling here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Father Ted Posted 25 June 2013 Share Posted 25 June 2013 Arsenal are big contenders for me. The only team with a settled management system. The addition of Higuain along with a new keeper and for them the return to full fitness of Wilshere could lead to big things. Their back line is quality! Two quality right backs and left backs and three quality centre backs, Wenger has that bang on for the first time in years. An attacking unit of: Walcott, Ox, Cazorla, Higuain, Podolski, Wilshere, Giroud GOALSSSSSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxfanazer Posted 25 June 2013 Share Posted 25 June 2013 Arsenal are big contenders for me. The only team with a settled management system. The addition of Higuain along with a new keeper and for them the return to full fitness of Wilshere could lead to big things. Their back line is quality! Two quality right backs and left backs and three quality centre backs, Wenger has that bang on for the first time in years. An attacking unit of: Walcott, Ox, Cazorla, Higuain, Podolski, Wilshere, Giroud GOALSSSSSSI disagree. I think they are miles away from Chelsea (who I think will win the league) man city and United (although I don't think there squad is all that). I also think Spurs are catching them up more each season and if they can keep Bale and get in a quality Striker I could see this being the season they finish above Arsenal. Their defence did have a decent record last season but against the top players they look bang average, especially Mertesacker! Should be a very interesting season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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