Posted on Tuesday, 31st May 2011 by Iain Culverhouse
Much has been written about Arsenal’s defence this season and the desperate need for a quality centre-back to be acquired during the summer. However, due to the performances of Laurent Koscielny and Johan Djourou’s performances last season, do we just need an adequate cover option for when either of these two pick up an injury, or do we need to go all out and sign a big name centre-back?
Koscielny has impressed a lot of people in his first season at Arsenal, which rightly earned him a call up to the France squad…so he must be doing something right, especially considering the fact that just three years ago he was playing for Tours in Division 3. I still think the best is yet to come from the 25-year-old. With time and a bit more developing, Koscielny could potentially be a great player for Arsenal and France.
Djourou has equally been impressive this season, and done a good job filling the gap left by Thomas Vermaelen. It is also worth noting that up until Djourou was injured we hadn’t lost a Premier League game when he played. He certainly has developed over the years, and at only 24 years of age, the Switzerland international can only get better with time.
I truly believe that both have earned their places within the Arsenal squad, and should be credited for their efforts. However, I do think we require a centre-back until both players are ready to take the position on a full-time basis. It is also worth considering that we have struggled with injuries in this department this season, so bringing in a player would be a sensible decision on Wenger’s part.
I would like to see Arsenal with the depth to not have to worry about injuries, and if that means making a tough decision and losing a few players, who haven’t performed, then so be it. But we shouldn’t get rid of the players whose performances this season have been superb.
The signing of either Chris Samba or Gary Cahill would be superb this summer, purely for the fact that Arsenal need a big name signing to organise the defence, as I don’t feel either Koscielny or Djourou have that capability yet.
If I had to drop either Koscielny or Djourou from the line-up, then it would have to be the Frenchman – his mistake cost us the Carling Cup final, and evidently, downhearted our team morale.
I, along with every Arsenal fan, want the Gunners to end their trophyless run next season, and I also want to see a lot more of this in our next campaign:
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Tags: Arsenal, Chris Samba, Gary Cahill, Johan Djourou, Laurent Koscielny, Thomas Vermaelen
Posted in View From The Sphere | Comments (41)
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May 31st, 2011 at 3:12 pm
the amount of mistakes djourou made this season was shocking, could easily of been punished so many times. I would rather see the beast that is samba play next to vermaelen and have the other 2 as back up
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May 31st, 2011 at 3:14 pm
i think we only need a strong and tall defender that can handle set pices when we meet the likes of stoke, everton, bolton etc who are werry effective on set pices. cuse as we know we diddent let in a lot of goals from open play so thats not a issue thats why i think samba would be a great additions to our squad, plus he has that type of mentalaty that we lack and seriouly need. of the topic something tells me that we’l sign samuel eto this summer
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May 31st, 2011 at 3:18 pm
AMAZING video! makes me proud to be a fan of arsenal! ARSENAL AND CELTIC 4EVA!
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condo Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 3:25 pm
agreed! com on arsenal and good luck celtic aswell next season. you are welcome at the emirates anytime.
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james lindo Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 3:27 pm
like wise! great emirates tournament last year and you fans are welcome again! although i dont really watch the SPL i do still like celtic to do well in it and plus i hate rangers lol
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mrimbecilio Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 9:09 am
it is mine vid
, contact me on yt if you dont belive 
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Iain Reply:
June 4th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
**claps** it was a really well done video hope you didnt mind us using it?
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May 31st, 2011 at 3:21 pm
i love arsenal and celtic and this video makes me a proud supporter!!! i watch all the time in america but im from scotland with english parents and i even got them to start watching arsenal and celtic. up the gunners!
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May 31st, 2011 at 3:23 pm
This headline just made me lose my mind… ARE YOU SERIOUS?? Jesus, are you blind? You are like monsieur Wenger himself.. Open your eyes mate, its glaringly obvious, to ALL PUNDITS, ex Arsenal players, MOST fans and ME that we are SERIOUSLY missing a leader/fighter/battler in the centre of our defence, and if we do not get one, I guarantee you and everyone else we will not win a thing yet again..
WAKE UP PAL!!
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Iain Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 3:47 pm
I will explain the article was written from the point of view of would Laurent Koscielny and Johan Djourou be able to to be that player or do we actually need to buy another player in and if we do which one would go.
It is not a simple case of do arsenal need a centre back but due to the new 25 player ruling if we bought in a player who would leave.
Perhaps I will see if I can get it slightly re-worded to explain this
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May 31st, 2011 at 3:24 pm
yeah i think we need a new CB like samba! and we will have a better defensive record from set pieces! oh and btw to the people above im an arsenal fan but i like watching celtic too so…. yeah respect from a fellow arsenal/celtic fan!:P
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May 31st, 2011 at 3:28 pm
what a stupid headline ?
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gooner92 Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 3:32 pm
ano right? lol looks like a writer just got bored and decided to write this rubbish lol ofcourse we neeed a new quality CB!
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May 31st, 2011 at 3:28 pm
whats with all the talk of arsenal and celtic? haha aw well we do need a CB and a ST and a mid plus a winger! come on arsenal…..stuff it ill join in lol come on celtic too! lol
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May 31st, 2011 at 3:30 pm
CELTIC AND ARSENAL!= The good guys
HUNS AND SPUDS!= The bad guys
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May 31st, 2011 at 3:46 pm
I thought the headline was some kind of joke, a lead-in to an article about how desperately Arsenal needs a centre back. I thought the payoff was going to be that we need two. Koscielny and Djourou are not good enough to be starting centre backs on a team that has aspirations to win trophies. They make way too many mistakes, and, more importantly, lack the strength and temperament to defend at a high level, especially on set pieces.
If Arsenal go into next season with either of these two as a starting centre back, we are dreaming if we think they have a chance to win anything.
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May 31st, 2011 at 4:00 pm
we need a centre back with aggression
samba could be that signing or scott dann
someone that puts their body on the line
djourou and koscielny are too soft – yes they are good defenders but they dont strike fear into centre forwards like the john terry and vidic do.
to make us stronger at the back i would simple put vermaelen left back then either dann or samba to partner either djourou or koscienly
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May 31st, 2011 at 4:25 pm
Did you not see DJ at Stoke and Fulham – shocking !!!
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May 31st, 2011 at 4:28 pm
Yes we need another centre back,stupid!!!
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May 31st, 2011 at 4:45 pm
nice video… PROUD TO BE A GOONER and about the article yes we need a a quality central defender
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May 31st, 2011 at 5:01 pm
is the writter of this article seriuos? This si the problem we have at Arsenal, we got the AKB brigade and fans weraing rose tinted glasses. Witter of the article is even more deluded than wenger.
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May 31st, 2011 at 5:40 pm
The only fans wearing rose tinted glasses are ones
like yourself have have never played the game at any level whatsoever and have no clue how to run a football club called Arsenal a viable business not a loss making fans fantasy of which Trash.Uni
ted,Liverpool,Chelsea,Spuds are,grow up already?
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May 31st, 2011 at 5:43 pm
No we dont need a centre back….we need 2. Samba and Vertonghen with JD and Kos as back up and TV5 at left back. Also buy another RB, Jagielka or Van der Weil.
Sell Eboue, Squillaci and Traore and push Gibbs up the pitch, he aint good enough defensively but will make a good left sided midfielder/winger.
How about this for a deal Rosicky and Bendtner for Ashley Young?
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May 31st, 2011 at 6:17 pm
YES we need two centre halves these two have no strength and the mistakes made cost the club trophies success and millions of ££.
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May 31st, 2011 at 6:22 pm
Off course we need to sign a top quality robust centre half in the Martin Keown mould. Any one of you who think Djourou belongs in a top 4 teams defence is disallusional and misguided
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May 31st, 2011 at 7:15 pm
i disagree competely. they are good centre backs. did not not see them against man utd, chelsea, barcelona? they played superbly well. Koscienly against barcelona was sensational, he broke down the play, passed the ball well and won a lot of headers. i believe the back 4 have no protection in front of them. song has been disappointing defensivly seeing how well he did last season. and then you’ve got cesc and wilshere who are playmakers. then youve got nasri and arshavin who don’t track back and help there full backs. Diaby has continually said he wants to play like Paddy but everytime he plays hes getting forward. if you think JD makes mistakes have you watched Samba this season? personally i think hes been poor and i would value him at 5 million.
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xx Reply:
June 1st, 2011 at 3:30 am
SAMBA IS A BETTER DEFENDER THAN ALL THE EXCUSES FOR DEFENDERS WE HAVE AND THAT INCLUDES VERMALEAN AND SAGNA
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May 31st, 2011 at 7:27 pm
Not really, we need a holding midfielder more, since song and wilshere cannot defend on set pieces.
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May 31st, 2011 at 7:58 pm
dudes please!
arsene is not buying any defender with bartley ready for first team.when defenders make mistakes could be costly but when strikers fail to score the team will also fail to win. why didnt arsenal score 3 or 4 goals against fulham and aston villa?
i wouldnt mind a new defender, not samba he’s not good enough for arsenal. but we need a goalmachine more.
remember djourou and koscielny carried us all season,considering we played 3 games a week. the culprit here is squillaci, if bartley takes his position as backup and perform well to give senior defenders much needed rest we will be alright.
but it will be a crime if wenger doesnt bring solutions for our 2 donkeys, arshavin and bendtner.they let us down badly, arsenal season failed apart because we had to replay small teams in cup games. that caused tiredness and injuries to most first team players.i personally wish they could leave.
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May 31st, 2011 at 8:11 pm
I’m sorry but Djourou and Koscielny are very good players. There’s hardly any mention of Vermaelen or his absence. Had he been fit all season, either Djourou or Koscielny would have been great with him and have improved. Nobody foresaw Vermaelen being out for most of the season. The other centre-halves are there to partner Vermaelen, it wasn’t envisioned for them to be partnering each other, not for so long anyway.
To ensure against another Vermaelen injury or perhaps a suspension, another centre-half will be purchased, but remember the two golden rules of Arsene Wenger.
a) We will only buy the RIGHT player for the team.
b) We will only buy the RIGHT player for the team at the RIGHT price.
The centre-half will have to fit these two rules. I agree with much of what bc said above, but I wouldn’t move Vermaelen to left fullback unless there was at least one centre-half of his calibre partnering Djourou and Kosielny. I would deffo move Gibbs up on the wing. Ashley Young might be OK, but he dives too much for my liking, yet with him being a life-long Arsenal fan does suggest he’ll have heart and it could swing it for his signature. He’s quite a versatile player and fast. It would be funny having a Walcott on both wings with that pace if they both click with the team and get in form. With Wilshere, Fabregas and Nasri inside midfield, anyone up front would just be a bonus and unlikely to be necessary. It would be too funny, especially with a solid defense and Chezzer on his game.
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May 31st, 2011 at 8:28 pm
We don’t have a title winning defense with regard to both players and mentality. We should have bought Hangeland last summer.
This summer we need two world class centre backs – sakho, and an experienced, aggressive, pacy cb, maybe subotic, sell djourou and squillaci, we can’t continue throwing away seasons waiting for players to improve.
And yes, the midfield needs to begin making some defensive contributions, also sell song and denilson and bring in inler and parker. Otherwise just forget it, this team cannot defend.
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May 31st, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Djourou made all the mistakes this season loosin his marker in set pieces etc he has nothing but strenght on kosielny n kosielny would come stronger next season bring in mertesacker not samba he injury prone
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May 31st, 2011 at 9:42 pm
Yes they need midfielders that can defend all of dem attack we need players like toulalan,cambiasso and melo
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May 31st, 2011 at 9:55 pm
I think both Djourou and Koscielny have played well for us this season, but the fact is they have both done basic mistakes which have cost us vital points and trophies. I think we need an experienced centre half who is not only brilliant, but someone who is strong physically and someone with leadership qualities.
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May 31st, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Yes, he does.
Next question.
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May 31st, 2011 at 10:38 pm
We need 2…kos will improve..but djourou lacks the focus and temperament needed for a top premier league side.
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June 1st, 2011 at 8:32 am
“What can we do wiz 5 defender- Verma, Kos, Djourou, Scualeci and Samba.” What AW said in January transfer Window. The same thing will happen for the next season. What a shame idea is it???
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June 1st, 2011 at 1:34 pm
well kos & johan did pretty well ..if only the verminator was fit .. i dont think we gonner buy any centre back this season ..lets be sincere if we buy a new centre back where will he fit in ? we should buy just for the sake of it .. what we need r wingers in the charles nzogbia mould
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June 2nd, 2011 at 1:25 am
I think a much overlooked angle on this point is competition for places. As a professional player if there is no competition for your place, you will retain it whether you play well or not. At far too many points this season we had 2 fit center backs. This is unacceptable. Whilst I do think JD and LK are going to be brilliant defenders they need to be pushed there by other fit, quality center backs jostling for places. (NOT Sebastien Squillaci). With a bit of competition for places (as well as a new defensive coach) I believe our defence will get their act together.
Another example of where this lack of competition can be seen is in Fabregas’ recent performances. Knowing his place is secure as AW’s golden boy he will start regardless of form or fitness. He cannot be immune, he must be dropped when not playing well, but I digress.
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July 29th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
I think Arsenal should look closer at the treatment policies at the club, there is clearly some issues there that need looking at for many reasons we encounter almost every season.
Players get injured and that deprives the team of quality in some positions where previously Arsenal have had no solid replacement on a like for like basis, we need to buy so we also have at least a replacement in every position that is not just a compromise. Also try Theo as a full on striker, i think we could potentially ahve a Henry there in time, he will obviouslt have to finely tune his ball skills in and around the box but that will come with age.
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March 10th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
I agree tootight, I mean today if a country has the money and the desire they are going to get a nuclear weapon. Iran IS going to get a nuclear weapon if they desire, it is a matter of what they want to do.
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