As any of you
who watched last night's friendly against Hungarian minnows
Szombathelyi Haladas will know, the pairing of brothers Gavin and
Justin Hoyte as our centre backs is not something we can rely on if we
want to prevent teams from scoring against us this season, so it's back
to the drawing board for Arsene Wenger in his plans to shore up our
defense.
The central area
of the back four was our major problem last season, as Kolo Toure
missed vital games while on duty with Ivory Coast and then missed more
when he came back crocked from the African Cup of Nations. William
Gallas, in my humble opinion, has lost a yard of pace, which makes him
something of a liability against fast Premier League strikers, while
back up Philippe Senderos has become infamous for his errors and seems
to suffer from real confidence crises.Other
options include Alexandre Song, who looks promising, and Johan Djourou,
who I have to admit I prefer to Senderos. Mind you I'll also defend big
Phil as he's saved our bacon on a number of occasions and too many fans
conveniently forget that.However,
the news today is that Kolo has contracted malaria and that limits our
options severely ahead of the new campaign. Quite what strain of
malaria he has, I don't know, but it can be a seriously debilitating
disease, and he'll certainly miss the first part of the pre-season
fitness sessions at the very least.So
surely Arsene Wenger must now be looking at central defense as his
priority. Havard Nordtveit might be able to play a half against Barnet,
but expecting him to step into the pace of the Premier League is a bit
too far fetched for me at present.Le
Boss hinted after the Barnet game that we would see more signings in
the next few weeks, so I'm hoping a big powerful centre back will be
among those. As things stand, our Swiss contingent - Djourou and
Senderos - are our tallest defenders, but with today's professional
footballers mostly taller than six feet, I'm hoping Arsene will be
looking to bring in someone with real presence to help the Gunners
defend our weak spot, especially at set pieces.With
any luck Le Gaffer will have someone in mind who can be similarly
successful to Bacary Sagna and slot straight into the Arsenal set up.
Gallas will be 31 next month and is therefore unlikely to have his
contract renewed when it expires at the end of next season. No doubt
we'll see Song covering more in defense this coming season, but I still
fancy him as a defensive midfielder.But
who should Wenger target? Are there any particular central defenders
you'd like to see at Arsenal this season? Or do you think that the
Gunners have sufficient cover in that particular area and that other
positions should be our priority? Share your comments here