Arsenal must bolster defence
John | Aug 01, 2011 | Comments 0
It seems everyone apart from Arsene Wenger can’t see his side need to be bolstered by defenders. In the Premier League, more often that not, teams get found out due to their lack of defensive options but in the Champions League its criminal. Arsenal are a side with a huge amount of attacking presence, but when it comes to the defensive line, they lack leadership, fight and guts.
The Gunners lost ground in the title race, lost the Carling Cup final and exited Europe with errors all present in their play. European football brings the best teams together and sides have to be on the top of their games to have a chance of dominating, just like Barcelona have done over the last couple of years.
Their quarter-final with Arsenal certainly showed Wenger what he is missing. He needs a tall, battling, strong and solid defender to shore up the Gunners backline. The two legs against Barcelona proved this theory.
Credit to Arsenal for turning around a one-goal deficit at the Emirates to take a 2-1 lead to the Nou Camp, but, like they have done in the past, they are always strong at home.
As for away days, whether it’s in Domestic or European competitions, Arsenal lack the fighting spirit needed to grind out a result. Against Barcelona, the Gunners needed someone in defence to take the game by the scruff of the neck, bully players such as David Villa and Lionel Messi, whilst putting their bodies on the line for their teams.
That was not apparent and the further the season went on; Wenger’s side struggled to come to terms with impressive strikers and always had a defender making a mistake which was costing their team dearly.
Someone like Chris Samba or Gary Cahill deserve a chance to play in Europe and, after doing well against top Premier League strikers in the past, would do a great job for Arsenal. Wenger needs to stop looking at Belgium and Holland for defenders and start searching for English talent and the sooner he does the better.
When will he learn? It’s OK beating minnows at home in the Champions League but when travelling away from London, football betting pundits will agree that Wenger needs a defender to sniff out any danger and make top-quality strikers look ordinary and, until the Frenchman does that, Arsenal’s search for European glory will continue. Simple.
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