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Is This The Real Problem At Arsenal Rather Than The Lack Of Signing A Defender?

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The knives are still sharpened at Arsene Wenger as more and more people speak about the lack of quality in the defence at the club. The Gunners were humiliated by Liverpool and were a tad lucky to score three goals against a side that could have been more clinical up front and did take the foot off the pedal after they had scored four.

Fingers were rightly blamed on Wenger for not having enough cover for the defence as Laurent Koscielny, Gabriel Paulista and Per Mertesacker missed the game due to various reasons and the Gunners had to play with youngsters Rob Holding (who had only joined Arsenal in the summer transfer window) and Calum Chambers in the heart of the defence.

Liverpool might not have targeted the duo but some of their defending was rather shocking and calls for a big signing in defence have grown louder from all sections of the media and the fans. There is a much bigger issue than that at the moment and that is the way Arsenal defend, it does not matter if they even bring in Aymeric Laporte or Raphael Varane, the defending aspect of their game is a major concern, even more than the lack of signings at the moment.

When Steve Bould took over as assistant manager from Pat Rice, there was genuine belief that that former Arsenal and Stoke defender could use some of his experience and make the defence of the side better.

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It did work to an extent as Arsenal were conceding fewer goals and were tough to beat during Bould’s initial days as the assistant, but all that seems to have evaporated in the last two seasons and Arsenal are back to their best or worst if you want to call it that.

While the Gunners play sensational football on certain days and can slice any opponent to shreds, they still struggle to deal with quality attacks and it isn’t just their central defenders that have problems but also their fullbacks and defensive midfielders have major issues.

This is a more pertinent problem at the club, it seems the art of defending as a unit has been forgotten and every player wants to attack barring the two central defenders. A bit like Alberto Moreno, players just run off as soon as they see a little bit of space and one of their teammates with the ball.

Arsene Wenger might be one of the greatest managers ever to have set foot in the Premier League or even in the history of management, but he is extremely stubborn and can’t see things which are obvious to many.

The rationale behind defending has been forgotten at the club and unless Steve Bould and Arsene work together, nothing can be done and the club will still leak goals or crumble under the pressure. The requirement is to go back to the good old days of defending and ensuring that nothing gets past the defence first and then worry about the goals.

The old saying is true “attack wins you games, defence wins you titles”, Arsenal might be a great attacking unit but they have to learn to defend first and the earlier they do that, the better it would be for the Premier League side.