Arsene Wenger believes Thomas Vermaelen is on a par with teammates Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny and claimed that picking between the centre-back trio poses him the same challenge he had when Martin Keown, Tony Adams and Steve Bould were on the books at the start of his Arsenal tenure.
The Belgian international made his long-awaited comeback from injury against Sunderland at the weekend having spent much of pre-season struggling with a back injury.
Although his absence hasn’t overly affected the balance of the defence, Bacary Sagna doing a fine job when called upon in the middle, the club captain’s return still provides a boost as the fixtures start to pile up.
“It is fantastic to have him back, as a character and a player. Everyone is happy that he is back,” Wenger told Arsenal Player.
“He has gone through a difficult period but he is a great player, and will show that now that he is completely fit and available.
“He is naturally a left-sided player, more than anybody else. His natural position is there and I like to have a central defence where you have a right-footed player and a left-footed player. That is why I always build around Thomas.
“For the rest, he has all the attributes of a good centre back because he has the physical qualities and the technical qualities and the experience to read the game.
“He is a natural player, but sometimes you cannot be too complicated. It worked until now and we have another candidate as well in Sagna. Every game he has played there, he has done extremely well. So we have four good centre backs.”
Reflecting on the potential selection quandary ahead, assuming Vermaelen shrugs off his occasional suicidal lapses in concentration, the boss went as far as to reference the central components of the Gunners famous back four of the nineties and noughties.
“Yes, it is a bit like that,” he continued. “The one who didn’t play [the decision] was not justifiable.
“In the end we played the three together in some games, but when I moved to a back four we were always in a position where you had to make a choice.
“I rotated and at some stage every time I made a decision [about who] was left out, I thought ‘it is not right’.”
Arseblog News welcomes the return of the skipper and trusts he can regain the confidence that saw him shine in his first two-years at the club.
Adds depth no doubt.Really hope one of our creative players recover really quickly.
*all
Excellent to see the Verminator back. Cover in all positions at the bank is a necessity
You are right. Definitely need to cover all positions at the bank. Wenger does not want anyone getting at all that lovely cash he is mounting up to spend on a new striker in January.
Rumor is Vermaelen counted the money involved in the Özil deal while the Teller was getting treatment (lunch).
What the fucks up with that picture?
Someone appears to have discovered the blur filter on photoshop would be my guess.
Next thing will be lens flare, Arseblog going Abrams…
That goal, against Newcastle. Still sends shivers down my spine thinking about it.
Welcome back Tommy, I hope we start seeing your name amongst the goalscorers again. It’s been too long.
Yes, I also remember the orgasmic commentary by Gary Neville when The Verminator scored.
I hope he has a belter of a season!
This is the best sort of headache Wenger could wish for. Welcome back TV5.
More of this, please: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y6_sxmn6_s
I would rather see less of that and more defending. The reason he kept getting caught out last season was because of his little jaunts up the pitch. Great goal though!
Hopefully, with the midfield that we have this season, he won’t need to go forward as much and can focus on defending.
you mean more of this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN49puvhobY
He seriously looks like the dude from Season 1 of Spartacus… and I love it.
Yes quite agree, all very well seeing that when we’re winning 3-0 but it was and is very very hard on the nerves when we’re just hanging on 1-0 and desperately need those 3 points. It’s not so much the fact that he does it that’s bad, it’s more that he has in the past at least, done it at some very inopportune moments!
Great goal, but Abu Diaby though, eh, eh?… running, dribbling, passing? Surely that’s why the video was made in the first place.
With games coming thick and fast hopefully our CBs would be rotated in a balanced and timely manner to keep everyone on the toes and minimise fatigue
Vermaelen’s assassin like stare leads to Rooney wetting his pants. Can’t wait for that.
In the recent past, I’ve felt trepidation in the build up to our games against manu, akin to knowing youre about to discuss something thats hard to justify.
This season however, I cant wait. May we banish the demons of the traitorous scum and his pack of diving cunts for good.
…unless rooney’s on our side!
This period on the sidelines has probably been good for TV. I expect him to return to his brilliant best. The good thing about our the excellent Centre backs is their professionalism and team spirit. Neither will moan if left on the sidelines for a few games. All are team players who love the arsenal
Thing is though, I remember when he came back a while ago, talking about how he had a better overall view of the game after watching so many games from the stands, knew what he was doing wrong and that he was a better player etc. And as we all know, it didn’t work out like that…I think it was down to maybe trying too hard, much like Rambo had the problem playing as the no.10-ish role, so I anticipate that he IS ready to stop passing the ball to traitors to score and scything players down on the edge… Read more »
Happy he’s back but Mert must remain first choice with Kos and Verm competing for that LCB spot.
Agreed. Per offers something that the other two don’t; Poise and positional awareness. Vermaelen and Koscielny are very similar; they both play on the shoulders of defenders to nick the ball away from their toes. Kind of attacking defenders. This unfortunately tends to be why they give away more penalties. Per is more about anticipating danger before it arrives. Per prevents danger, Vermaelen and Koscielny react to danger. This is why Mertesacker and Koscielny complement each other’s games. We haven’t really seen enough of Vermaelen alongside Per but I expect that partnership would work similarly. Vermaelen and Koscielny together need… Read more »
Dear blogger,
I really want you to do an analysis on our injuries in the past three or five years. A comparative study on the number of injuries and length of injuries between the major clubs in premier league. I really think Arsenal players have suffered most number of injuries and longer lay-offs when compared to other clubs.
Or you could write one yourself? Like all the best DJs, not sure he takes requests…
welcome back tv5 u were long over due man,,,,podoski,arteta,the ox,santi19,diaby, if all these guns come back and we have a full squad, i dont see the reason why tv5 cannot lift that premier leaque comes many next as long as OG12 keeps doing what is born to do, score for arsenal.especialy now that the assist master,ozil, is based at the slaughterhouse.abbattoir,emirates. once born a gooner,will die as gooner and guys we must now rally behinds the guys to bring us titles ,that wenger u dont what u are doing and the boo,boo,boo,boo must stop gust ………….. cheers,cheers maseille is next… Read more »
i understood very little of that… but whatever… fuck yeah.
That’s the sort of headache a manager should pray for. Wenger should expect more selection headaches when we have a fully fit squad. Imagine dropping 2 of arteta,Wilshere,Rambo,Flamini Or 3 of Carzola,Podolski,Ozil,Rosicky,Ox,Theo. Quite exciting
But we’re Arsenal, we never have a fully fit squad, so sad
I think he can form a formidable partnership with kos. He, just like any defender, will make mistakes. Can you imagine the reaction if it was TV who was pushed by Altidore (controversial moment in the Sunderland game? Us fans shouldn’t crucify players when they make mistakes. We should be critical first. His confidence will be low in his first couple of games back, I think, and he may make mistakes but we should still cheer him on.
Ahh… his debut season…. mmmmmm~
We shouldn’t be too quick to write of players, as I think a lot have done with Vermaelen. If someone’s going through a bad patch the supporters should be there to help him out, we know what he’s capable off. Ramsey is the perfect example, although sadly I guess he did it more in spite of the supporters than because of…
Glad to see him back.
He was good competition back when I was a first choice CB at Arsenal
If you know what I mean 😉
I remember in high school I jumped at the chance to get the number 5 jersey cause it was the Verminators number… Really hope he gets back to form cause he was bloody excellent IMO…
The prospects of a fully fit Arsenal squad are giving me a semi…
Lets see some of that old Verminator attitude!
Great to have him back but not sure he deserves to still be captain. Let Per keep the armband I say.
Glad to see that Vermaelen is back. On his day he is one of the best centrebacks we have. And isn’t this the kind of headache that Arsene would want? He can call upon 3 quality centrebacks and an unorthodox yet just as capable centreback in Sagna. It sure as hell makes a difference from the previous seasons when we had to call on the likes of Silvestre and Squillaci to cover in defense. I also feel that making Vermaelen captain was too much too soon for him. He has the leadership qualities but assigning the captain’s armband is additional… Read more »
C”mon Verminator! Hopefully the fact that it’s a World Cup year means he’ll step up his performances when called upon.
Marseilles to be obliterated by Arsenal’s deliciously rakish fitba
I’m really looking forward to seeing how he’ll return, he’s got to fight for a place in this team now and I think that will motivate him. If he takes on some of Per’s calmness he’ll be quality.
Him and the combination of Aarsanjamez Ramcazerezil (Aaron, Santi, Jack and Ozil) will be brilliant.
On the same day as Arsenal splash out on a new central defender…
Yes today Arsenal beat off stiff competition from Bristol City (rovers?) and Leyton Orient (Baines?) to capture the signing of Charlton Athletic defender Semi Ajayi on a free transfer.
so now we have 4 new players at an average of 10.5 million each – All is well again…
Arsene has a Semi over a free transfer.
LANS
indeed