Best CB partnership

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

so stats means that BFG- Verm is our best?

Guess this question has been answered today... We can rule out TV and LK being the dream partnership. Mert's gotta be involved, no question about that.

Mertesacker-Vermaelen

that's it

Koscielny - Mertesacker should be our CB partnertship IMO.

I thoroughly enjoy how much love Merts gets these days after so many people wrongly labelled him as a defensive liability during the summer

Basically, I'd say Koscielny is the most talented, Merts is the most intelligent, and Vermaelen is the best leader and the best offensively. The thing is, since he's our captain, leaving Vermaelen out isn't really an option, even though the other two are slightly better defensively IMO, so the decision becomes between Koscielny and Merts as his partner, for me. The correct decision varies from game to game, but as a general rule of thumb I'd actually go with Mertesacker atm since he has less of a similar approach to defending with Vermaelen in comparison to Koscielny and the two compliment each other.

Gibbo is fit so we are back to Square one. Koscielny or Vermaelen someone needs to get dropped

Koscielny-Mertesacker

It's the best Pairing and few will disagree

I think Koscielny will go back to the bench and he won't moan since he is a quite guy who just gets on with things. We just have to pray Vermaelen grows a pair and rediscovers his form.

urbaNRoots wrote:Mertesacker - Koscielny

Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Gibbs

Our best defence partnership by far.

Agreed

Had my doubts over Kos' early season form but now I'm convinced.

Kos-Merte should be our primary CB pairing with Verm playing as a LB in big games or in games where we need additional aerial prowess.

Sagna/Jenko at RB seems more reliable than any other position imho.

Koscielny and Vermaelen all the way.

Mert is just too weak.

I wonder what does Vermaelen have to do to get dropped. He's done it all and still starts

Vermaelen has been average this season but he has picked his form in recent games. Mertesacker has been solid but his recent form is worrying. Koscielny on other hand was Arsenal's best defender last season but he hasnt played many games because of his injury problems and when he did start he looked out of form.

If i had to choose i would choose Kos-Verm because of the way we play.

Koscielny has been poor this season, but you have to consider that he hardly got a stream of matches to find consistency.. Metskr was our best defender this season but he has now lost his form.. Verminator was poor initially but has been back to form in the last one month..
atm, our best defender is Verminator..
and i too will go for the dynamic and aggressive Vermelen-Koscielny partnership..

We've seen last season enough of Koscielny - Vermaelen to know that it doesn't work, mainly because both are too similar - both defend aggresively and leave too much space behind. It's always better if you have one aggresive defender (Koscielny) and one that stays back to cover for him (Mertesacker).

I honestly think, because all the CB's are a similar level but one of them very different the other two (Merte of course) you should do a game by game basis rather than just having your "best partnership" and sticking to it.

Most teams have at least one spare CB of a high level so you cant leave out 1 of them consistently anyway so the idea of a partnership is dying in my opinion.

I think the PL offers a very diverse set of a opponents you face week in week out and your selection should reflect that.

For example, you play West Ham and Carroll up front...how scared of you of leaving space in behind? Very little, Carroll isnt fast. But yes, your afraid of his size and ability to win aerial balls.

So logically, you play the guys who are good in the air and dont worry so much about him getting in behind. Challenge him physically while focusing on winning his flick on's.

If your facing lets say....Aguero, hes good in tight spaces, he can move, he is mobile..no threat in the air. You want to play the most mobile guys you can, you dont want him isolated against players who are not good at covering ground laterally or vertically.

Eventhough none of the 3 defenders are in top form this season, for the first time in years we have 3 good cb.. All of them have had minor injuries and suspensions and the third defender has already got enough chances.. Happy that we didnt have to see much of Djurou, makeshift like Song, etc like last season..
Still at times i feel this has not allowed them to settle into a good partnership.. So i feel we will be better benefited by selecting one of Verm-Metskr or Verm-Kos and sticking with it than rotating..

The answers in this thread change with the form of the players . None of us really know for sure...

I guess this debate has been answered now

Kos and Per.

I was one of the few on this forum that believed in Mertesacker at the start. Where are all the haters (fans and foes alike) to tell us Mert is slow and weak and not good enough? Who's going to argue with 17 games undefeated?

props to koscielny for regaining his form too. has returned to Bosscielny after being horrible when first introduced to the lineup this season

The thing with Koscielny is that if you play him in one match, then play him again after 2-3 weeks. He will be poor. Like error making poor.

If he plays 4-5 games in a row. He is World Class. Easily.