Ian Henry
As the Sky signal went off in the pub just before the second goal against Chelsea went in I mused to my drinking companion that the Christmas period would be defined by how well the top managers used their squads. Like many I suspect I was heartened to see Arshavin benched for the first of our holiday games; I was less enthused with the return of Flapiflopski, but was delighted with the appearance of Djourou on the pitch. A proper defender is Johan, our quiet, uncomplaining rock.
When the texted team news for the Wigan match came through two days later, my heart sank – eight changes, only one being enforced, namely Cesc missing out following a booking versus the Chavs. But, as our esteemed editor and others have asked, why so many changes? Three or four maybe, but eight? Anyway, it was off to drinks with the neighbours and reliance on the vibrating phone in my pocket.
A Koscielny conceded penalty (harsh say some) and a Squillaci own goal had me consuming rather more mediocre red wine than I had planned. Was anyone surprised? I wasn’t. And no, I am not only referring to my neighbours’ choice of wine. Some weeks ago, I wrote a very critical piece on our French centre backs and quite frankly I never have much, if any, faith when the two of them are on the pitch. I probably shouldn’t say it but the best thing for the team would be for one of the French centre backs to pick up the kind of Achilles or calf strain or metatarsal injuries which afflict Vermaelen, Diaby or Gibbs. That way another, hopefully a proper, seasoned centre back would have to be bought.
Am I being too harsh? I don’t think so, especially when you look at the numbers: in the 19 league games so far, we have used four centre back parings, Vermaelen & Koscielny, Vermaelen & Song, Squillaci & Koscielny and Squillaci & Djourou. Let us look at their results:
Vermaelen and Koscielny: 2 games, 1 win, 1 draw – and that draw was against Liverpool when the goal was conceded by our Spanish waiter being beaten at his near post. 2 goals conceded.
Vermaelen and Song: 1, game, 1 win – admittedly against Blackpool who played much of the game with 10 men. No goals conceded
And now for the interesting part:
Squillaci and Koscielny: 10 games, 3 wins, 2 draws, 5 defeats, 11 points out of 30, or a 37% points return ratio, 1 clean sheet and 17 goals conceded
Squillaci and Djourou: 6 games (including Fulham – see below), 6 wins, 3 goals conceded, 3 clean sheets (including Fulham).
Let me put it another way:
All of our defeats have come when Squillaci and Koscielny have been the centre backs.
The Squillaci-Koscielny partnership has been responsible for 77% of our total goals conceded.
The only clean sheet when the French maestros have been on the pitch came against West Ham, which was – amazingly – almost our only 0-0 of the season.
We have won less than one-third of the games when these two have been on the pitch.
And, we have a 100% record when Djourou has been on the pitch. I know that won’t last, but having the Swiss giant there certainly seems to help.
Please note that in the above analysis, I have counted the Fulham match as a Squillaci-Djourou game because more than half of the game involved JD being on the pitch, but the goal conceded to Fulham counts against Squillaci and Koscielny as it went in when these two brilliant communicators collided.
As we know, scoring goals is, generally, not this team’s problem; it is stopping them that is its bête noire (well la défense is, er, French). Things have progressed somewhat in that we know have the slightly-better-than mediocre Flapiflopski in goal, rather than the hapless Spanish waiter. But what is the manager’s problem at centre back? The French pairing doesn’t work, presumably not something down to being unable to communicate with each other. Sure, all the goals will not have been down to them entirely, but they are largely down to them, eg against Spurs, Fulham, Wigan and Newcastle to name but four matches where I would attribute all of the goals largely or entirely to mistakes by the centre backs.
To back up my point about the problem being the pairing of Squillaci and Koscielny, look at the three Carling Cup games this season – three wins and in all three games the pairing is Djourou and Koscielny; and guess what? There were two clean sheets. Yes, I know we lost twice in Champions League without Koscielny, but we have such a poor away record in Europe that any of our centre back pairings would struggle.
I doubt Vermaelen will be back properly this season, and equally I can’t see the manager not persisting with his flawed belief in the French centre backs, unless injury befalls one of them. I know I shouldn’t hope for an injury to an Arsenal player, but unless it happens, whenever Messieurs Squillaci and Koscielny trundle out onto the pitch together, the best thing to do is to bet on Arsenal conceding. Because, you can be almost sure it will happen.
Happy New Year, and hopefully, “Wilkommen in Arsenal Herr Mertesacker!”
