FourFourTwo UK – September 2019

4 Season Preview 2019-20 FourFourTwo

ARSEnAL

Arsenal’sdefencehasbeena particularly durable

fly in the Emirates ointment over the last decade.

It’s an issue Unai Emery inherited from Arsene

Wenger, and expecting the incoming Spaniard to turn

the Gunners into a miserly defensive unit in his first

season would have been unreasonable. But there was

no real sign of improvement either.

As the season wore on, Emery realised he needed

to field three centre-halves out of necessity. Laurent

Koscielny will turn 34 in September and his Achilles

tendon is shot. He remains Arsenal’s best defender,

his refusal to travel to the US all the more problematic.

CAn UnAI EMERY FInALLY

FIX THE ARSEnAL DEFEnCE?

PREMIER LEAGUE

2019-20

Sokratis Papastathopoulos has proved a decent, but

not transformative addition. Nacho Monreal is 33 and

showing signs of ageing.

Shkodran Mustafi, meanwhile, has earned himself

a reputation as the Wile E. Coyote of the Gunners’

rearguard. His tendency to accidentally run off a cliff

edge or stand underneath a falling anvil has cost the

Londoners on too many occasions. The decreasing

athleticism of Koscielny and Monreal, awkwardly

augmented by Mustafi’s clumsiness, meant Emery

required extra protection in defence.

If the backline lacks basic athleticism and, in some

cases, basic common sense, sitting Granit Xhaka just

in front of them does little to solve either problem.

Arsenal need to upgrade on the personnel available

to them in defensive areas, but they also need to

upgrade their athletic profile so players can recover

into space. The absence of Juventus-bound Aaron

Ramsey in midfield exacerbates this issue, as does

the presence of Mesut Ozil.

Lucas Torreira was a good start in this respect, but

he tired significantly in the second half of the season.

Frankly speaking, Arsenal need better, younger, more

elastic players in defensive positions. In attack, the

Gunners remain unbalanced, but at least they are

talented (to varying degrees). In Alexandre Lacazette

and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, they’ve got a pair of

strikers capable of propelling a misfiring team.

If Ozil can play to even 50 per cent of his ability, then

he remains a potential match-winner, even if the

Arsenal and Ozil love story has reached ‘acrimonious

divorce’ territory. The team doesn’t have this sort of

talent in defensive areas to cover their sins. They have

conceded 51 goals in each of the previous two league

seasons, and that number has to trend downwards

as a matter of urgency.

TIM STILLMAN @STILLBERTO

LAST SEASON

PREMIER LEAGUE 5th

FA CUP Fourth Round

LEAGUE CUP Quarter-Finals

EUROPA LEAGUE Runners-Up

TOP SCORER (ALL COMPS)

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (31)