Just Arsenal News

A Case for the Arsenal defence by Dan S

When Per Mertesacker twice inexplicably played Spurs onside to score against Arsenal at the beginning of March, few thought he would end up one of our heroes in the race for 4th. Nor Laurent Koscielny, who was on the bench at White Hart Lane having spent much of the season as our third choice centre back.

That result in the North London Derby left many writing off our Champions League hopes, coming so soon after domestic cup defeats and a first leg drubbing at the hands of Bayern Munich, few thought we had the spirit or character to put the run together we would now need to close the seven point gap between ourselves and Tottenham. .......Read the full article here

From the sounds of things, Per Mertesacker may have thought his Arsenal career would not last too long. The German international defender did not have the greatest of first seasons at the club, appearing in just 27 games in all competitions and winning few admirers among the Arsenal fans and the British press.

Arsene Wenger has spoken plenty of times about how hard it is sometimes to adapt to the English Premier League. He must have given the centre back plenty of reassurance and faith, because Per has been a whole lot better this season. It is now a case of who plays alongside him, although plenty of people still criticise him for his speed. I think he actually looks slower than he his because of his height, but football is not all about pace, especially for a defender. .......Read the full article here

It was looking increasingly likely earlier this year that Arsenal were going to continue the unwanted recent tradition of selling the club captain in the summer. In 2011 it was Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona, followed last summer by Robin van Persie to Manchester United. The rumours and speculation about the current captain, Thomas Vermaelen, have died down recently and, from his own words, it appears that he will still be at the club next season. .......Read the full article here

There was great deal of excitement and expectation amongst Arsenal fans around this time last year, because we heard that Arsene Wenger had secured the transfer of the German international Lukas Podolski from Cologne. The 27-year old has enjoyed a pretty good first season with the Gunners, but there have been concerns over his fitness and rumours of a problem between him and Wenger.

This has mainly been because he is almost always substituted when he starts a game, or only brought in later when Arsenal are struggling. Wenger has been speaking about Podolski, who is likely to be the centre forward against Wigan in the absence of our other summer striker signing Olivier Giroud. .......Read the full article here

The next time that Arsenal play, a week tomorrow against Wigan at the Emirates, a lot could have happened. Both of our main rivals for a top four finish, Chelsea and Tottenham, will have played two games by then and the Gunners just have to hope that at least one result goes our way. Our opponents Wigan Athletic will also have played two more games by then, one being the FA cup final against Man City on Saturday.

Even if things go against Roberto Martinez and his players, though, they will still have a chance of staying up when they arrive at the Emirates next week. Some people might think that will make things harder for Arsenal, but the BFG Per Mertesacker thinks that the last two games have proved that this is not really the case. .......Read the full article here

Bayern rumoured to want Koscielny by SS

New Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola has reportedly made a move for Arsenal centre back Laurent Koscielny. It is reported that the Germans have enquired into how much Arsenal want for the player. Guardiola has capped the transfer sum at £20 Million, which seems like a good offer from my personal point of view but manager Arsene Wenger has fended Bayern off and is refusing to negotiate, according to Goal.com.

Laurent Koscielny moved to Arsenal from French club Lorient in 2010 for nearly £10 Million, since his arrival he has had a mixed career in North London. He has made high profile mistakes and scored plenty of goals past his own Goalkeeper but he has also pulled off some amazing performances most notably against Barcelona in last season’s Champions League. .......Read the full article here

Why Arsenal should sign Micah Richards by LM

With the stories circulating about Bacary Sagna’s future, heightened by his poor performance in the draw against United at the weekend, Arsenal may be on the look out for a replacement right back this summer. If the rumours were to be true and we were on the market I do not believe there would be anyone more suitable than Micah Richards to be the man to fill the gap, especially as he is a Gooner himself.

Back in 2007, Richards was quoted to have said “I was a big Ian Wright fan when I was younger so I supported Arsenal. Wright and Patrick Vieira were my idols, so yeah, if the opportunity came to play for them one day I’d take it.”. .......Read the full article here

The Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny can count himself lucky that he got his starting place back from Lukascz Fabianski. It was only the rib injury to his Polish international team mate that let Szczesny back in. He could have been in the same situation as the Gunners captain Thomas Vermaelen, who has played just once since the derby defeat by Tottenham and that was because Per Mertesacker was suspended.

The two players were dropped at the same time and Szczesny has been very impressed with the way Laurent Koscielny and Mertesacker have performed as a defensive pairing since then, conceding just three goals in eight games. The keeper has been much better since returning, although the centre backs in front of him have made his job a lot easier. .......Read the full article here

Laurent Koscielny has been re-iterating what his manager at Arsenal said about him recently. Wenger said that the French defender plays better and enjoys his football more when he has a personal battle with a striker and is able to exert his authority, and Koscielny agrees.

“I need to have duels and win them,” admitted the 27-year old. “It’s better for my game because I am more confident, I can take little risks with passes and feel better and better during the game.

“The boss is right with this and it’s up to me to keep this all the time. .......Read the full article here

Arsenal’s defence isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be and is not the reason we are struggling by KJ

The general consensus amongst most football fans is that Arsenal are a good attacking side that are average at best at defending. That would be correct considering how over the last 5 seasons, our goals conceded at the end of each season has steadily increased:

2008/2009: 38
2009/2010: 41
2010/2011: 43
2011/2012: 49
2012/2013: 35 (with 4 games to play) .......Read the full article here

Arsenal were far from impressive against Fulham on Saturday, but did at least hold on for a massive three points. With both our top four rivals picking up points in tough fixtures yesterday, the next Gunners game, against Manchester United at the Emirates on Saturday, has taken on extra importance. Add to that the return of the former captain and Dutch turncoat Robin van Persie and the need to win, or draw at the very least, is greater than ever. .......Read the full article here

Fulham 0 – 1 Arsenal, a terrible performance but a win will do by KJ

An early red card for Fulham would’ve given off the illusion that this would be a formality for the Arsenal but we always do it the hard way and were lucky not to lose points.

We started the game pretty decently and had the lion’s share of possession. Steve Sidwell made an extremely rash tackle on Arteta that left the referee with no choice and he was forced into sending off the Fulham midfielder. .......Read the full article here