Best CB partnership

I know this has been done before, but now there is soo much competition i believe for the CB spot.

It's never been as hard to pick our partnership as it has now.
TV is our captain, and he is vocal
Koscielny came off the back of a fantastic season
Mertesacker is really hitting form, and has been rock solid this season.

So what do you think is our BEST partnership?

NOTE: RG if you think this thread has been done one too many times, then just close it...

Having three quality CBs will boost our chances for this season.

As Toure said 'Defense wins you titles'...

Thats true.


Right now, Per is irreplaceable, hes having the best form of his career, working really hard to keep that place.

Vermaelen is our captain and the organizer at the back. I still think he should improve in some areas but thats not a big deal when we defend as a team.

Koscielny is probably our most important defender atm... One for now and for the future. I hope he doesnt lose his confidence staying on the bench while Per and Verm are rocking our defense.

I voted Kosc and Vermaelen regardless... they are my favorite pair.

BFG- verm is ma vote

Kos and Vermaelen is a strong partnership but I think Vermaelen and Per is more balanced personally.

I don't believe there is a "best" partnership in terms of quality. Vermaelen, Koscielny and Mertesacker are pretty much all as good as each other and you could pair any of them together and still get a really good partnership.

The "best" partnership would be one most suitable to the team we're facing. If we're playing against tall forwards, we may need Vermaelen's aggression and Mertesacker's height. If we're playing against a really technical forward, we may need Koscielny. And so on.

For now, Mertesakcer/Vermaelen has done very well and I think we should stick with that against Chelsea on Saturday.

As long as all three of them remain content with rotation in between them I'm happy with anyone as long as Djorou isn't in the mix.

Voted for BFG-Verminator just because of the sheer games in between them this season.

Per-Verm

but a bit kos-per has no votes[quality wise-of course verm is captain]

But Torres is still in Kos back pocket

Mertesacker - Koscielny

But as Vermaelen is the captain our starting CB's as of now will be Mertesacker - Vermaelen, it's harsh on Koscielny who's been our best defender last season when everyone was bad but I wouldn't drop Mertesacker now that our defence has a good record.

aleumdance wrote:http://arsenal-mania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=212402

good to see I am not the only one the reads arsenalmania

BFG- verm is ma vote

Acutally i didn't get this topic from reading them. I have read there stuff in the past though. Interesting to see that they're on the fence between Per and Verm, and kos and Verm - while Per and Verm is winning by a landslide here....

How can you guy choose?

I cant do it, too hard for me.

The Verminator wrote:

aleumdance wrote:http://arsenal-mania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=212402

good to see I am not the only one the reads arsenalmania

BFG- verm is ma vote

Acutally i didn't get this topic from reading them. I have read there stuff in the past though. Interesting to see that they're on the fence between Per and Verm, and kos and Verm - while Per and Verm is winning by a landslide here....

sorry mate, did not mean to offend

Best partnership is the one where the most inform Center backs are playing

we have 3 Defenders who are in their best forms. Which makes it hard. However Vermaelen can't be dropped because he is our Captain

It's between Mertesacker and Koscielny. That's like deciding which is your favourite kid.

I guess Mertesacker-Vermaelen is the one we should stick with

anyone remember when Djorou and Koscielny was a Boss Comparison in 2010/11

what happened to DJ?

Got injured and never recovered the form. But i heard All the coaching staff are really impressed with his recent form.

aleumdance wrote:

The Verminator wrote:

aleumdance wrote:http://arsenal-mania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=212402

good to see I am not the only one the reads arsenalmania

BFG- verm is ma vote

Acutally i didn't get this topic from reading them. I have read there stuff in the past though. Interesting to see that they're on the fence between Per and Verm, and kos and Verm - while Per and Verm is winning by a landslide here....

sorry mate, did not mean to offend

???!! No need to apologize. i'm not offended in anyway....but thanks for the apology anyway?

The Verminator wrote:

aleumdance wrote:http://arsenal-mania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=212402

good to see I am not the only one the reads arsenalmania

BFG- verm is ma vote

Acutally i didn't get this topic from reading them. I have read there stuff in the past though. Interesting to see that they're on the fence between Per and Verm, and kos and Verm - while Per and Verm is winning by a landslide here....

I try to read some of their stuffs and it gives me a headache, I hate their set up.

it's a really shit forum. Full of Idiots

verm-per = Vampire --> they suck the blood out of strikers

All of you understandably are letting your love for the players cloud your judgement. Allow me to give a neutral perspective.

Mertesacker: Yes he is slower than Clarence Seedorf on Valium and yes despite his towering height he barely has any aerial ability for defence (although commanding at times) or attack. Yet he makes up for it with his highly accurate reading of the game and exceptional positioning. The Man City game was a testament to his intelligence as he was there to recover most stray balls. In the discipline area he is easily the best considering it will highly rare to see him acquire a Red let alone Yellow. He is not one for last ditch tackles and rash dives in challenges mostly because his game allows him to overcome those challenges with his intelligence. Also a good distributor of the ball along with organizing the defence well with his positioning.

Vermaelen: Arsenal's Daniel Agger in literally all aspects. Although many pundits describe him closer to Chiellini from his playing style, uncompromising attitude, Keown-esque marking, and bleeding his club colours while berating others for not doing so. The man is a sheer presence in the back with his physicality which contrast his superb composure on the ball. We all know he is the best with the ball within the CB rank. His leadership is the key reason for his selection as he is highly commanding of the back line with his vocals and already has gleamed leadership trait with or without the armband. If Arteta is the leader in the midfield Vermaelen is the general in the back line as Arsenal seem to have a bit less vigour in the back without him. Obviously, he is the CB with the best goalscoring chances along with taking it easily aerially.

Koscielny: Believe it or not, Laurent Koscielny is not only Arsenals best CB but their best CB by a mile. That how highly I rate the CB who just less than 3 years ago was plying his trade in Ligue 2 of France (A testament to Wenger's eye for talent). Now Koscielny has bloomed into Arsenal's best CB in technical terms of defending. I've long since called him the French Nesta due to his supernatural composure reading the game and having a stylistic grace about his ability to make defending look easy. He is just an astoundingly intelligent defender. Like Nesta he easily has the best discipline (not in cards like Mertesacker, but positioning) as you will never see him cross the halfway mark and like Nesta you would see him distribute fine passes from his boundary. Arsenal's closest CB to being World class and undoubtedly world class imo.


Best partnership?

Koscielny-Vermaelen.

Don't get me wrong, Mertesacker is a marvelous CB and actually is Germany's best CB along with Hoewedes (Hummels and Badstuber are NOT) as I can't fault Merte with anything really in defence except his ability to cost his team with one fault which isn't really his fault.

His pace.....

His complete lack of pace despite his ability to position himself does unfortunately rear its ugly head as its just been too many times he has had to compromise the defensive line while being beaten by a smaller and agile player. Not only that his lack of pace compromises the overall ability of Wenger's preferably mobile back line while you would have the perfect blend of physical attributes and composure if Vermaelen and Koscielny partner up. It just makes better sense.


My view always has been make it a 3 man backline with Vermaelen playing a SW role. Arsenal have shown tactics very similar more to Prandelli's Italia as I'm surprised no one has pointed this out. Going by that I'm sure he would experiment with that while Sagna etc play wingbacks.

The compromise of our high line has actually worked in our favour so far this season. You can't keep a good, solid defensive shape with a high line, after all, and it hasn't prevented us from playing the quick, stylish football that we're known for.

I can't ever see us playing with three at the back. Our fullbacks are just not good enough in the attacking third and playing with an extra centre back isn't worth the compromise on the flanks or in midfield.

GoonerJay29 wrote:The compromise of our high line has actually worked in our favour so far this season. You can't keep a good, solid defensive shape with a high line, after all, and it hasn't prevented us from playing the quick, stylish football that we're known for.

I can't ever see us playing with three at the back. Our fullbacks are just not good enough in the attacking third and playing with an extra centre back isn't worth the compromise on the flanks or in midfield.

Gibbs and Santos are better in attack than in defense,but AFC doesn't have a very attacking RWB.Further,Gibbs and Santos need to rev up their attacking skills a notch,to play as WBs,I guess.

But a 3 CB strategy is something I would like AW to try,in the near future when we play all these inconsequential matches

Metskr has been excellent this season.. Bould tactics of defending as a team also had its impact..
From what we have seen all the pairings among the three are defensively excellent..
So i go for the offensive side.. I believe Arsenal is an attacking team.. And all our players should be technically good and quick to play the possession style of football.. Also taking the goal scoring from setpieces into consideration.. So Koscielny and Verminator gets my vote ahead of Metskr..
So we can rotate and play Metskr against midtable and lower teams who play with physical and taller strikers.. And play Kos against the big teams with fast tricky strikers..

I guess this could depend on the opposition, although I lean towards Merts-Koscielny, since they compliment each other extremely well. They are both very intelligent defenders which is a rare thing nowadays, but Koscielny has the speed to backup Mertesacker, plus both are decent enough in the air. In those CL games of past season I always looked forward to their performances, because even with shitty midfield cover and no fullback support whatsoever, they always held their own.

Verm has iffy positioning, although his leadership skills and pure balls factor make up for it, he seems a bit too similar in style to Kos, IMO. If it were best player for best player, it would be Kos-Verm, but in actual defensive balance I lean towards Kos-Verm.

But hell, with how good Merts-Verm has turned out, I'm left stumped with who should be third choice. I'm just glad there is finally some great defensive cover and experience.

A 3 man backline would be sexy to watch, but I feel there'd be missing a midfield enforcer.

DAT BROMANCE.

Some interesting statistics from blazingcannons.wordpress:
EDIT: btw these stats are based off last season...

Stats -------------------Koscielny------Mertesacker-------Vermaelen
Age -----------------------27-------------27--------------26
Appearances --------------33 --------------21---------------29
Goals------------------------2--------------0----------------6
Yellow Cards-----------------9--------------2----------------7
Red Cards ------------------0---------------0----------------0
Successful Passes----------1446-----------974--------------1252
Unsuccessful Passes--------265------------119--------------219
Pass Success %-----------84.5------------89.1-------------85.1
Successful Passes/Game----44-------------46---------------43
Aerial Duels Won -----------62-------------29---------------54
Aerial Duels Lost ----------39-------------17---------------43
% AD’s Won---------------61.3------------63--------------55.6
AD’s Won/Game-----------1.87------------1.38-------------1.86
Interceptions--------------91--------------35--------------67
Interceptions/Game---------3-------------1.6--------------2.3
Tackles Won---------------59------------12----------------39
Tackles Lost---------------26-------------5----------------8
% Tackles Won-----------69.4-----------70.5-------------82.9
Tackles Won/Game--------1.78-----------0.57-------------1.34
Fouls Conceded------------33-------------9---------------33
Fouls Won-----------------26------------12---------------24
Touches-----------------2218----------1286--------------1900
Touches/Game------------67-------------61---------------66
Overall Rating-------------7.17----------7.42--------------7.45