There were many raised eyebrows on Monday night when the transfer window closed without Arsenal making any further defensive reinforcements, leaving Arsene Wenger with just six senior defenders until January.
The first-choice back four of Mathieu Debuchy, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny and Kieran Gibbs seems rather settled, with Calum Chambers and Nacho Monreal providing back-up, but, beyond that, there is a worrying lack of experience to Arsenal’s defensive options.
To compound matters, Ignasi Miquel, a centre-back with some familiarity with the Premier League, was allowed to join Norwich City permanently. The decision to let Miquel go was the correct one, with the Spaniard still somewhat error prone at the age of 21, but it is hoped that his departure will enable Isaac Hayden to get at least some first-team game time this season.
Hayden, who is also capable of playing as a defensive-midfielder, is the captain of Arsenal’s U21 side and is adept at timing challenges whilst also being capable of initiating attacking moves with his passing range. In the event that Monreal is effectively installed as fourth-choice centre-back, Hayden is likely to be the next option.
Beyond that is Semi Ajayi, a 20 year old who joined from Charlton Athletic early last season. Physically imposing and a regular at U21 level, Ajayi is somewhat susceptible to quick attackers and, despite having trained with the first-team on several occasions last season, doesn’t seem ready to make a permanent step up at present, although he may well be involved in the Capital One Cup squad.
Perhaps Arsenal’s biggest central-defensive prospect is Julio Pleguezuelo, previously of Barcelona. Capable of playing as a defensive-midfielder or at right-back, Pleguezuelo is most comfortable at the heart of the defence and combines his impressive technique with an ability to thwart opposition attacks. Pleguezuelo featured in the first-team’s pre-season win over Boreham Wood, but, at just 17, it seems unlikely he will be thrown into the battleground of Premier League football this season. He could, however, be involved in the cup competitions.
At right-back, meanwhile, Hector Bellerin still seems to be part of Wenger’s future plans despite the acquisition of Chambers. If Chambers is to play the majority of his games at centre-back, then an opportunity may arise for Bellerin to provide cover for Debuchy as the campaign progresses. Excellent going forwards, the Spaniard has also improved defensively over the past couple of seasons and demonstrated glimpses of his talent during a short loan spell at Watford last season.
For now, Arsenal will have to make do with the considerably limited amount of options they have at their disposal. If Mertesacker and Koscielny were both to be out injured at the same time, then an unfamiliar central-defensive partnership of Chambers and Monreal is likely to be called upon, with Hayden the next in line.
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Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird
Isaac Hayden is my favorite player in the youth team(Along with Ainsley Maitland-Niles), good technique for a big man, a great tackler, and a really good passer, but his best position is as a DM since he grew up playing in midfield. I’m not sure he’s ready to play at Center Back yet because he still struggles defending crosses, but other then that I think Isaac Hayden could play and make a difference now (But in midfield).
He plays CB for the youth team and has done for a while now. I think he could do a decent job, well decent enough for someone that’s 4th choice.
“Good technique for a big man”
Fuck me, when will this old cliché die?
I have no doubt Pleguezuelo will make it from what I’ve seen of him but not for a couple of years yet I think with Per nearly being 30, Plguezuelo will probably not be considered for the 1st team squad for the next 2 seasons (except the league cup) until he’s 19, then maybe spend 19-21 playing abit more and learning from Per and Kos ready to play regularly when Per eventually does retire. I really like Hayden hes tall strong reads the game well solid technically, I wonder if in 5/6 years will we have Pleguezuelo at CB with… Read more »
I agree, he has put in a few strong performances at DM with the first team
Bring back Havard Nordveit.
I hear he’s doing fairly well at Borussia Monchengladbach
A Gladbach fan mentioned to me that he was their third choice DM. Hardly a ringing endorsement for a potential Arsenal signing.
Unlike some people I am not ruling out our EPL chances because we didn’t sign some bloke from portugal we don’t know about other than youtube videos .
Look at the names of CB/CDM that people keep whining that without those we are not good enough Manolas,Carvalho all not proven in big leagues .
For back up CB and Right back and Third CDM, let’s give that to academy , they might suprise us
Spot on. Why have an academy of emerging talent and not use it? How’s about rather than buying young talent from Southampton we focus on trusting the lads in the Arsenal Academy.
To be fair though I think buying from Southampton has worked out pretty well for us over the last few years.
B.O-O is a very promising LB as well…
While I admire your optimism, the fact is that you need youthful exuberance going forward and wise old experienced calm heads in defence, not the other way around.
I hope when these kids get a chance to play in the first team, they make the most of this opportunity and show us why the boss decided against signing more established players. Good luck and COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
Good luck to the young gunners. Hope they step up brilliantly when called upon.
Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Felipe Luis… Who else? But why isn’t anybody talking about their lack of depth at the back too?
Well, there’s someone called Kurt Zouma, and a couple others whose names (I think) are Nathan Ake and Andreas Christenson. And that’s it. If you look up the stats on their three backup defenders, you’ll that between them there is a grand total of four first team appearances, all as late subs. But no … only Arsenal has a depth problem on defense.
Well, to be fair only our defense ends up injured all the time….
Perhaps this will be the year Terry comes down with a terminal case of crotch rot and misses three quarters of the season.
wouldn’t it be wonderful if the crotch rot spread to whole of their team including the special cunt
it’s possible, considering Terry’s recreational pursuits.
Some young guy. malaga or something? Maybe we are in our own little bubble and Chelsea fans are in fact freaking out about their 6 defenders and old man Terry and Cahill’s knee.
sorry, wrong team. someone above me got it right: Zourma.
I like Bellerin and think he can be cover for Debuchy at RB. Would also love for Hayden to come through. He’s captained the youth teams at every level.
http://www.squawka.com/news/ridiculous-rumour-of-the-day-arsenal-target-mario-yepes-as-replacement-for-thomas-vermaelen/172304? IT’s HAPPENING!!!!!
It’s in the Daily Mail and the BBC gossip now. Brilliant work Blogs!
Some good choices and options for the defence and team the u21’s have impressed and are competitive in all comps.
I like some of our U21 prospects, but having watched Wenger over the years, I just refuse to believe that he has any plan in mind that involves working Hayden, Bellerin, or anyone else into the lineup. He rarely likes to experiment with new positions (we never saw the fabled Vermaelen as a DM idea come to fruition) or rotate the squad aside from in the Capital One Cup. I think he’s planning on playing the first choice back four every match until their legs fall off which might literally happen over 30+ games until we can sign someone else.… Read more »
agree with you on the point that wenger wouldn’t give the u-21 players chance n league matches
yes flamini could cover LB or CB in case of worse-case scenario,
but lets worry about it when we get there..
He’ll give them a run out in the LCup but they’ll have to play amazingly well for him to even consider them for the PL.
it’s for the players’ benefits as well – defending is far less forgiving than attacking, and if/when hayden lets in a few goals I doubt many people will still urge him to play CB in the first team.
If they’re not ready, they shouldn’t play. Having a solid and consistent back 4 is just much too important these days…
We don’t know what wenger tries in practise. We don’t know if vermaelen would have made a decent DM. In a way we assume that if u can play cb u can play dm but that is disrespectful of us (to all good dms). Wenger doesn’t want arsenal to lose. Wenger wants what’s best for arsenal. Wenger has been at arsenal for 17years. Let’s let wenger decide how the team plays. Let’s support our players. Let’s be fans. #inArseneWeTrust
I don’t remember Wenger ever saying he’d play Vermaelen as a DM it was just people bleating on the boards and forums about how he should try it out. Also you can’t one minute moan about him using players like Sanogo and the next minute say he doesn’t experiment enough! If he did make lots of changes then everybody would be moaning about inconsistency in selection and him not trusting xyz player as well as not knowing his best team. We do need another CB but he’s already not played his first choice back four for the games we’ve played… Read more »
Changing up your back four is generally to be avoided whereever possible. Especially when the change is to move in a young, inexperienced defender into the center. It’s just asking for trouble.
Central defense in particular isn’t an area where players really run themselves into the ground anyway so typically there is no reason to rotate your CB team unless one of them gets injured. You see more rotation of FBs because it is a much more physically demanding position in terms of getting up and down the pitch.
@ Ufuomation, because they don’t get injured as often as we do.
I think it is good we are moving towards a more dynamic attack. I dont mind big target men, but for all of Girouds hard work, at the end of the day, he is just a very limited striker. Compared to a different target man like say Ibrahimovic, whom even is an inch taller than Giroud at 6″5, Giroud are lacking alot of important striker traits like atk positioning, finishing and the ability to lose your marker, exploit space or take on defenders with skill moves to create space for yourself to finish. However, is Welbeck the answer? I dont… Read more »
Giroud is limited but he’s much better suited to the PL than Ibrahimovic.
That’s not a fair comparison. Ibrahimovic is one of the best striker’s in the world. That’s like complaining that Theo is just more limited than Cristiano Ronaldo. Giroud is less of an individual talent than Ibrahimovic, but he is still an important cog in our machine. He’s no Ibra but I think he makes others play better.
Whatever happened to Coquelin?
I was wondering that too, maybe he just hasn’t progressed as much as he should. Shame though, he looked promising
Should play him alongside Ajayi. Then we’d have a Coq with a Semi.
Funny we are in this predicamet at the CB position. Now we have to depend on mother luck to get to January with no major incident…fingers crossed.
For DM, what about Coquelin?
I know he had a poor loan at Freiberg (where he was used in every position bar DM…including as a keeper), but he had a great loan prior at Lorient.
Was always one of my fav academy players, but we stopped his loan to QPR and he does seem to have improved his passing even more so.
Surely can’t be worse than Flamini (similar, though technically better).
Flamini has experience of different leagues, styles of play and the CL while Coquelin has a name that means you can write Coq and giggle.
Technical ability means nothing if you don’t have the application and desire to go with it and obviously Arsene isn’t happy with with of his. I mean, Ray Parlour wasn’t the most technical midfielder (when you compare him to midfielders at the time like Vieira) but he did his job at the best of his ability and that’s all the manager could ask for and why he continued to get picked in the side.
Oh you sage. Do tell, how do you know Coquelin’s application and desire? Maybe his application and desire is the very reason why we didn’t sell him and why is loan to QPR was cut? See, I can speculate like I also know the inner workings of Wenger too. Also, the comparison to Flamini is that he was close to being sold to Birmingham before Diaby got injured and we kept him. Even then, Wenger still sought a new DM in Diarra, yet that didn’t stop Flamini from taking the opportunity and establishing himself. It was also the same for… Read more »
For that matter what about Diaby?
Sorry, I can’t thumb up anything you say king of Orchs.
Is it ‘cos I is black?
We’re not as shambolic and limited at the back as some may say. Not even one mention of flamini who could very likely play all four defensive positions. I’ll take it
I think Wenger some two weeks ago talked about being creative. So, this is what he meant? Lets just go one creative step further. How about playing JC as a CB and be creative with the alphabet. Its not a bad idea come to think of it…JC can’t find a striking role at the moment not with the terrific form of Sanooogoal!!!
Not sure what his tackling is like but if you really want him at the back, then the WB position would suit him far more than CB. While he would have to be the full creative outlet on that side, it would give you an extra defender in your weird little dream.
Was moussa sissoko unavailable? Saw him playing for France yesterday night and he was beast. Would do wonders if put in at CDM. Ah, if only…
Nice one Jeorge! Wet my appitite for the League Cup. Quite likely to field a young but dangerous side. Will Campbell get his chance to shine? Surely.
I rate Bellerin highly, and I’m keen for the youth players to take the next step and prove themselves. We should manage with our somewhat limited defensive options for now at least.
couldn’t agree more, from what I have seen of Bellerin (admittedly not as much as I could have) he seems to be growing into a very good player indeed
Yeah, the more and more I see of Bellerin, the more I dont think Jenko is coming back unfortunately
Jenks could come back at CB if he learns to jump and head the ball this year
Master Bates, reminding you that Matic played in Benfica when Chelsea realises he is good enough for the PL. And he IS. So does Carvalho.
Bellerin is lightning quick. He pushes forward very aggressively, but has no problem getting back in time to cover his defensive position. If he gets upfield, he likes to make central runs into the 18, something few RBs do. This can cause great havoc for other teams, especially when our wing then makes an overlapping run to the corner. (It can pull the opponents LB central, and their CB into the corner, leaving a mess in the opponents central defense.) He should get his chance. I got to watch him play from the front row VS the Red Bull, and… Read more »
Hayden as 4th choice CB isn’t the worst situation in the world, and he’s of an age he needs to break the first team anyway (if he’s going to). He should at least come before Monreal in my book, but who knows what AW is thinking. I quite like the idea of a Chambers/Hayden partnership in a few years time, but their collective inexperience would worry me before then. Early COC though, why not?
Bellerin too. He looks ready for the PL. My Watford fan mates raved about him when he was on loan.
I think we had a young CD come in when he was 17/18 a few years back – T Adams or something like… i think he did quite well when he was called upon looking at his record for us!!!!
Unfortunately it’s a very different game now and completely different supporters that want to win now or they’ll whinge and moan about it, so Adams wouldn’t get that chance now.
Isn’t recalling a loan player still an option, specifically Carl Jenkinson I seem to remember he was brought as a RB/CB. Obviously if fit?
Not sure we can call him back. Some of the youngsters have short term loan periods but I think Jenks is on a season-long loan.
Unfortunately he’s not fit either. Injured his hamstring in his first friendly for West Ham and hasn’t played a minute this season. I feel bad for him really, if he’s going to sit around and do nothing, he may as well do it in an Arsenal shirt. He probably does in secret when he gets home each night!
Have we forgotten Jenkinson already ? 🙁
It’s almost like he’s gone somewhere but I can’t remember….
Help. How is ‘Pleguezuelo’ pronounced?
Pleguezuelo.
Play-Gay-Sway-Low. I think?
Blogs, Seems the tabloids have picked up about your musing with Yepes.:D Rumour on a very short term deal. Don’t think any of the young prospects are ripe enough if Chambers at 19 is holding third spot. An older player will fast track Chambers since he is showing good aptitude in the position. With regards Bellerin, don’t know why anyone would think he was still auditioning for RB. IMO he is an upgrade to jenkinson who was as much as he was committed, one dimensional and lacking in technique. Bellerin actually carries a threat going forward too and does not… Read more »
All i know is Mert’s retirement from International Football couldn’t be more timely.
I have a soft spot for Coquelin, I watched him in the games he got a couple of seasons ago, and what I liked was his gameface and attitude. Seemed like he was always up for it mentally, and had a real competitive spirit to him. While I understand he was loaned out to develop and that did not go so well at Freiburg, when he was recently played he looked like he had beefed up and seemed as aggressive in his body language as ever. I know, he is not playing because Arteta and Flamini are ahead of him,… Read more »
we have 9 defenders/ defensive minded players positionally when you include the DM. Of 9, 3 are challenged pace-wise (Per, Arteta, Monreal), 2 are not disciplined in terms of protecting the defence (Debuchy, Flamini), 2 more inexperienced (Chambers, Coq) and not to mention Gibbs which will probably miss more games than we’d like, which leave only Kos as the decent defender. People want to compare our defensive depth with Chelsea but look at their defensive line, all strong, quick and disciplined and you can bet they don’t get injured too often. Depth is also about quality, not quantity. I really… Read more »
I vote for Källstrøm. Bring him back to add to the squad 🙂