Thomas Vermaelan is almost back from his long-suffering injury and might even be available for some of our fixtures at the end of the season. At the start of the season, he was accompanied by Laurent Koscielny at the heart of our defence. But now that Djourou is fit and in his prime form, who should accompany the Verminator at the back?
Koscielny has had a superb first season in England. I’m sure many of the renowned defenders playing in Europe would have struggled to cope with the demands of the Premier League. Koscielny also had his ups and downs. Mistake against Blackburn, Bolton and Birmingham(obviously!) along with some others have shown that he needed time to adjust to this league. But the fact remains that he was thrown into the deep end very early in his Arsenal career but still managed to survive it.
He’s become exceptionally stable and so has his performances. He now plays with this authority of a quality centre-back and has learnt from his mistakes quickly. He’s great in the air and assure with his feet.How many of the Arsenal fans would’ve thought at the start of the season that he’d be so very instrumental for us. His vision for a defender is also pretty good. For me, he is a great centre-back who deserves a place along Thomas.
But now arrives Djourou. He’s got power, strength, aerial ability and tackles very well. He is another defender who’s proven the critics and the fans wrong. I for once never thought that he’d make it at Arsenal( I thought the reverse for Kozzer though!!!). But I don’t feel guilty for that. I mean that even if I hate Bentdner, I would surely won’t mind if he scores 25 goals next season(if he stays, of course).
Djourou has given the Arsenal defence the much-needed stability and has been a revelation. He’s also got the best out of Koscielny. Koscielny’s performance take a major dip when Djourou is not there. That’s also something that’s good about Johan. His performances this season also deserve a starting place next season.
So where does that leave Vermaelan. Yeah Vermaelan. How long it’s been since he’s played. It would have felt much longer if it was not for our much improved defence. But DO NOT forget that Vermaelan is better than both of them. Far far better. So it’s no point suggesting a Djourou-Kozzer partnership. One of them has to make way. But that’s where the problem is. WHO?
One thing I know for sure. The partnership that Wenger puts out next season should stay there for as long as they are good. If it’s Djourou, then let it be so for the next 6-7 years. The same goes for Koscielny. Or should Wenger buy Cahill? I don’t think so. He surely wouldn’t fit the bill. I’d rather prefer Vertonghen from Ajax as he also can cover for Song. The thing is, provided the fact that we’ve got 3 great defenders, we only need a backup. But an able backup. That’s what we’ll get in Vertonghen. Also, he won’t get frustrated sitting on the bench as his arrival would mean that Song could also get some rest which he rarely does presently.
If I were to choose, I’d partner Vermaelan with Koscielny. Koscielny has a much bigger scope of improvement than Djourou and also the fact that his performance improves with the player he plays with means that he’s my choice. But it’s very close as Djourou is almost just as good as him but he is injury-prone. Like it or not, he is. That means that with Djourou, we’ll not have the same back-line for a lot of time.
Or perhaps we should play all 3 together???
Shubham
The thing is TV and Kosc are similar in many ways. You can’t play two similar type of CBs. It has to be TV-Djourou. Both complement each other. One is tall, strong and dominant in air. While the other is a good reader of the game and doesn’t make mistakes like Kosc. And it’s also a possibility that all three of them could play together. TV and Djourou can play the holding role as well. But I still feel Wenger has to sign a new CB. Someone tall & strong who can hold his own against strikers like Crouch, Drogba, Rooney etc.
I agree with the post and not the comment below it. What would you call Rio and Vidic? Different? Complement each other? Hell no. They both are the same. Those two has the best defence partnership among all teams in England. One of them gets abcent, United concedes.
A CB needs few qulities in general, Strength, Height, Vision, Aerial Ability, and need to tackle spot on so they would not give away penalties. Out of Djorou and Koscielny I would partner Koscielny with Thomas. Trust me our defence next year would be solid. It meant to be solid this year only if Vermalen was available. Unfortunately we didn’t. Let’s hope he is back. We have now got 6 players who is not that Injury prone. Thta’s Wilshere, Nasri, Song, Koscielny, Vermales and Wojech. I know vermalen and some of the other players got injured too during the season. However their recovery was real quick. Vermalen was the same last season. This season he was unfortunate. That would be the key for the next season.
I often put my self in Arsene’s position and I think what I would do. To be honest, squilacci aint going to get in to a good squad since he is old. So he is the best last back up we can get. Thomas and Koscielny is our top partnership. We should bring in Ignasi Miquel from junior ranks since he did really well this season. I see djorou leaving in a couple of years. Since we can cash in on him
and get a better young defender. Hopefully English.
Our defence would be solid for sure next season. But I do think we need to replace Squillaci with Vertonghen or another utility defender. Djourou is injury prone. What if he gets injured the week after the transfer window closes. I know anyone can get injured like that. But chances of him are more. Vermaelan & Koscielny are both great ball readers but Vermaelan is much more passionate. I expect them to form a formidable partnership . But to improve our defence, our attack needs to work harder. We play possession football and hence if we don’t win the ball back quickly, it becomes very easy to counter us. Personally, I don’t rate Miquel and don’t think he’ll make it at Arsenal.
But we do need 4 good defenders at our club. We currently only have 3. Btw, looking at Arsene, it seems like he WILL buy some proven players this Summer. Along with that, he should promote some youngsters who have the will to do good like Lansbury,Miyaichi, JET(maybe), Frimpong(surely), Bartley and co.
Also I sense the departure of some of our first-teamers.Don’t know why, but I’m getting this vibe that 2-3 players would depart. I hope one of them is Clichy cause despite being an Invincible, he’s failed to impress and if only Gibbs was less injury-prone, he wouldn’t be in our First XI. Next year will be a big one for Gibbs.
Also, I think we need a proper centre-forward as we don’t have enough currently and Nicklas is crap. United have Rooney,Berba,Javier, Owen and Welback and Macheda returning from loan. We also need such variety in our strikers. Other than that, we don’t need anyone.
@Chabbz
Rio and Vidic same? Sorry that’s not true.
Rio is a ball-playing defender and Vidic is more of an agrarian defender. They both complement each other well. It’s amazing that you missed out this… If you don’t believe, get it clarified from someone whom you believe… But make sure he knows a bit of football…
I don’t agree completely on the fact that Rio and ferdinand are similar. Nor would I say that they are completely different. Yes they do complement each other.
But believe me Vermaelan and Koscielny would become better.
The problem is to sort out our attack against defensive-minded teams