Is Vermaelen Now Our 3rd Best Centre Back?

Hello, just wanted to get some opinions on our centre backs.

For me Vermaelen is a fantastic centre back (one of the finest in the league) but imo Mertesacker is close to overtaking him as our second best centre back. People don't realise just how good Mertesacker has been since joining us, he's made one or two mistakes, but which defender doesn't?

Imo he was signed as back up to Koscielny and Vermaelen, but he's too good for that. When we have a fully fit defence, Wenger has a very good problem to solve. Which two will he choose out of Koscielny, Vermaelen and Mertesacker to pair up in the middle of our defence?

Mertesacker's game reading is unbelievably good, almost as good as Koscielny's. His tackling is also brilliant and imo he's our only centre back who is dominant in the air. Koscielny and Vermaelen are good in the air, but not unbeatable, Mertesacker is (bar that game against Chelsea when he slipped and Terry scored).

What do you guys think our centre back paring should be?

 

TV is not getting the chance to show his level at CB because of the injuries. We do have three quality CB's and its a close call between the three. But we have all three so it does not matter.

 

Koscielney has had a fantastic season and will keep improving but i think that vermalen is undoubtedly our best centre back, and wenger brought in mertesacker as a first choice centre back not a back up, kos and vermalen are to similar and mertesacker gives us height at the back, but hopefully when all our defenders are fit im sure that wenger will go with vermalen and mertesacker because vermalen is our best defender and although kos is very good coming forward with the ball vermalen is the most solid defender we have, its just a shame that he keeps getting injured, same with gibbs.

 

no -he's number 1

 

Kos is the best CB we have

 

No. No and No.


Vermaelen is by far and away our best centreback.




Personally i think Koscielney is inferior to Mertesacker also.

 

A quality defence is all about balance...


With everyone fully fit I guarantee Wenger would pick ...

------------------Sczezney---------------------
Sagna---Mertesacker---Vermaelen---Santos

 

No he’s our best Centereback followed closely by Kos, Mert is not in the same league as those two

 

Could play Verm at left back?

 

I think Metersacker,Koscielny,Vermalen are same. Arsenal can use it depend on match,but do you think arsenal can play with 3 defender? We will have 3-4-3 or 3-5-2?

 

We should not be in a position to have to play all 3. I hope we can get to be able to rotate the 3 CBs.

 

Mertescaker ? Oh come now, be sensible. What has Mertesacker done to be classed as as good as TV ? Koscielny I can agree with because this season he has been outstanding, but Mertesacker ?

Some of you need to stop getting so excited and calm down a bit

 

The 3 will rotate depending on the game and what is required

If we're against tall strong slow attackers and balls into the box, Merte and TV for the height strength etc

If we're against quick small players defiantly Koss and Tv for the speed, tackling and interceptions

 

Mertesacker reads the game really well. His positioning is second to none and these attributes more than make up for his lack of pace.
Vermaelen and koscielney are both quality CBs too, I would say that they are both slightly ahead of mert, but not by much.
as for playing the latter out of position, I don't think verm is a great LB, he can do a job there, but CB is by far and away his best position. Kos is a good RB however and I also think he would make a good DM too.
personally, I still think we could do with another defender who can play across the back. I would go for vertonghen, he can play CB,LB and DM

 

He's done a hell of alot more than Koscielney has!!!


Mertesacker is only 1 year older than Koscielney and...

Koscielney has 1 cap for France, Mertesacker has 78 for Germany.

As a regular in the Germany side he has reached the Semi finals of the last world cup (Germany came third),the semi finals of the 2006 world cup and the final of Euro 2008.

Also and most importantly OUR DEFENCE CONCEDES LESS GOALS WHEN HE PLAYS.
- Last Season we conceded 43 league goals and Koscielney was a regular - Thats poor by any standards.
- We started the Season by conceding 14 goals in our first three games, Mertesacker came in and our defence improved dramatically.

Koscielney is a good athletic player but the stats prove we concede more when he plays and less when we play the Big German.

 

This is ridiculous.

Koscielny is our best centre back. He's only been capped once for France because he's new on the scene, he's been playing in lower leagues for most of his career. Mertesacker has been around for ages despite being roughly the same age Koscielny.

Koscielny's tackling stats are ridiculously good, we're definitely stronger with him in our team.

Koscielny is better than both Vermaelen and Mertesacker.

 

I'm happy to give Mertesacker time to adapt to English football, don't forget, it was Kos' first season last season and what an improvement he has made. But Merts has done nothing of note to me, he looks ungainly and slow and thats about it, I don't know where all this hype is coming from. You can't use his caps for Germany as proof of his quality for us, the English league is an entirely different beast.

I'll put it this way, I'm happy when I see Koscielny in the line up and Vermaelen too. I am sort of happy to see Mertesacker because he is tall, but he doesn't half miss some headers though .... Dempsey, Fulham, back post !! How the hell did Dempsey, a little halfling, out jump Mertesacker ? I think next season will be his though, give him this season to get familiar with us and the league.

 

I don't think you have thought this comment trough, last season Kos was always partnered by either squillaci or djourou, both pretty poor CBs if we are honest. I think its a bit unfair to suggest that because of last season and the number of goals we conceded that mert is better. Kos actually played very well at times last season.

 

Yes I have thought it through. That excuse does'nt fly, Mertesacker has been paired with Djourou, Vermaelan and Koscielney and has had to play in a team any fit WITHOUT FULLBACKS.

Not only that, I've looked at the fact our team concedes less when Mertesacker plays.

Not only have i thought it through I've trawled the internet on a sunday evening (really not sure why i bothered )..
(had to look at all previous results and add up goals conceded vs apps)



Koscielney has 66 appearances for Arsenal. In that time we have conceded 80 goals. (GOALS TO GAME RATIO = 1.21)

Mertesacker has 16 apps and in that time we have conceded 13 Goals. (GOALS TO GAME RATIO = 0.812)



So there you have it.
Saying all that I think Vermaelen is far and way our best centreback.

 

Playing with no fullbacks makes Mertesacker's job much easier. He gets more defensive protection.

And Vermaelen is not our centre back IMO. Koscielny is superior in almost every department.