Manchester United’s legendary defender Rio Ferdinand has come out after our 1-0 win over Brentford on Saturday night and said that Arsenal look to be in with a better chance of winning the league than Manchester City, and he’s said that’s due to the fact we have the partnership of Gabriel and William Saliba as centre backs.
Praising the centre back duo and saying that their partnership along with the added security of Declan Rice in front of them, could be the winning formula to walk away with the title this Premier League season. The ex-England international said this to TNT Sports after the 1-0 win over Brentford “Me and [Peter] Crouchy were sitting here thinking about how good these two are, they want to be aggressive, they want to defend with that high line”
“They have the best defensive record in the league at the moment and Declan Rice is perfect in front of them in the middle at the moment. That little triangle is going to be key for them going forward and it’s how they’re going to be successful”.
“In today’s game having pace is how you get ahead of the other teams, especially at the back. It means you can play that high line and for the last two seasons, Brentford’s attack has given teams so many problems”.
“[Ivan] Toney, [Yoane] Wissa and [Bryan] Mbeumo, they’ve all given teams nightmares because of their pace and aggressive run-ins. Today, one of them gets past Saliba – who is there to mop it up? Gabriel. He gives it back to Saliba and they work it out between them. To win anything, you have to have a centre-back pairing that you can trust. They’re the reason why I put them above Liverpool in the title race and they’re why they can challenge City this year”.
And I can’t help but agree with him, defending wins you titles and with Gabriel, Saliba and Rice looking so solid when defending, we look to have found the formula that works for us and Arteta’s system. Gabriel and Saliba have formed a great partnership at the back and as the games go by their bond seems to be getting better and better. They look to both be able to read each other next moves and know exactly where the other one is at all times, building a bond that from the outside looks unbreakable so far this season.
And with Rice playing the holding defensive role, it gives them both more leeway to be creative and take time, making the squad look more stable at the back as a result and for the first season in a long time, our defence is almost as good as our attack.
What’s your thoughts on Rio’s comments Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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Their defending abilities is just one of the reasons why we’re at the top of the table
Arteta’s highly-cautious tactics is one of the biggest factors as well
Our game play in Brentford looked like an old football tactic, before Wenger popularized highly-attacking fullbacks, overloading and positional-play in England
Our fullbacks almost never overlapped with our wingers and we whipped plenty of long diagonal crosses as Beckham used to do in the 90s
The difference is Arteta used inverted wingers to make that kind of crosses and sometimes Zinchenko does it too, whereas Klopp used his fullbacks to do it
As I mentioned earlier, if it wasn’t for our defensive players we would be mid table, because the likes of Odeguaards poor form and poor clinical finishing of Nketiah and Jesus have not been 100% on form, we are reliant on good defending.
Rio’s narratives on Arsenal’s defensive pairing of W Saliba and G Magalhaes is quite in order.
However, in as much as the duo defensive centrebacks pairing are looking solidly strong for Arsenal so far in this season’s campaign. And with Rice now sitting in front of the defense-line as the team defensive holding midfielder, which looks to add more solidity to the team defence.
Nevertheless, real serious efforts SHOULD be made by Arteta and Edu to reinforced theTeam holding midfield department with a new top quality holding midfielder reinforcement signing very early during the next winter transfer window next January. Who SHOULD be of Thomas Partey’s caliber or better than his pending when the Gananian will be back for Arsenal to resigne playing for the team. But if he is not sold to help fund the signing of a new Dmf. So that Declan Rice will go back to his attackingly midfielder role in the team where he’s better at.
But would the Brazilian Dmf Douglas Luiz playing at Aston Villa fits the bill for Arsenal if they sign him next January window? Well! He could.
For me as a realist Liverpool has a better chance of challanging City because of their attack which is more lethal AND their expérience which WE lack as we’r still very young and we barly have a player above 30
Rio’s narratives on Arsenal’s defensive pairing of W Saliba and G Magalhaes is quite in order.
However, in as much as the duo defensive centrebacks pairing are looking solidly strong for Arsenal so far in this season’s campaign. And with Rice now sitting in front of the defense-line as the team defensive holding midfielder, which looks to add more solidity to the team defence.
Nevertheless, real serious efforts SHOULD be made by Arteta and Edu to reinforced theTeam holding midfield department with a new top quality holding midfielder reinforcement signing very early during the next winter transfer window next January. Who SHOULD be of Thomas Partey’s caliber or better than his pending when the Gananian will be back for Arsenal to resigne playing for the team. But if he is not sold to help fund the signing of a new Dmf. So that Declan Rice will go back to his attacking midfielder role in the team where he’s better at.
But would the Brazilian Dmf Douglas Luiz playing at Aston Villa fits the bill for Arsenal if they sign him next January window? Well! He could.
It is a big part of our defensive solidity for sure. But I think the pragmatic set-up Arteta has been using this season also has something to do with it.
Al fine and dandy DAISY, untilwe get key players injured and that for a long time I dont regard JESUS ads being kewy, goo dthough he usullay is. But as you say , Saliba, Gabriel ans Rice are ALL KEY PLAYERS . Any long tyerm injuryu to oneor mr of them and and realistic title chanc ne some may think w ehave wil disappoear straightaway We nevelook like scorng goals much thEse days so a succession of 1-0 wins would suffice, IF ONLY we could guarantee no key injuries.
But we cant guarantee that of course and that is WHY I believe we will finish probably third, possibly second, with only a remote title chance.
We have NOT the squad strength we still badly need. Bodies yes, but not ALL quality ones
Our attack is still too easy to blunt; merely double team Martinelli and Saka on the wings when they get the ball and we struggle to adapt and overcome.
Jesus and Nketiah are not reliable enough to counter this tactic, so we continue to struggle overcoming.
I think our defense is fantastic and perhaps the best in the league. Our midfield however, leaves much to be desired.
Rice is top notch, consistent, and our player of the year in my opinion. Odegaard continues to disappear in big games, and neither Havertz, Jorginho, Trossard, or Vieira is the answer to who partners Rice in midfield.
We need a better option in striker position, and a B2B midfielder or a DM so Rice can play B2B.
It’s true. That axis of trio gave Arsenal the top spot at the moment. Can’t believe this was achieved without Partey and Timber. With White, Tomiyasu and Zinchenko also defensively solid this season, our back 5 is as good as any top team. Imagine the trio was complemented with options of Partey, Timber, White, Tomiyasu, Zinchenko, Kiwior and Elneny when everyone is fully fit. We can shut down shop for 90mins.
-Ramsdale-
-White- -Saliba- -Gabriel-
-Tomiyasu- -Kiwior-
-Timber- -Partey- -Rice-
-Jesus- -Zinchenko-
Imagine a formation like this.