Date: 28th May 2015 at 5:45pm
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Benedikt Höwedes came to the world’s attention with some competent displays for Germany during their successful World Cup campaign in 2014. The Schalke 04 Captain played every minute of every game for the 4 time world champions on their way to victory. Conversely, Per Mertesacker was dropped after Germany’s poor display against Algeria. Germany decided to play a high line that day and Mertesacker’s lack of pace was exposed by the likes of Islam Slimani and Sofiane Feghouli.

Joachim Loew took the brave decision to drop their centre back with 100 plus caps for the benefit of the team. I believe Arsene Wenger should look to do the same. Mertesacker has been a loyal servant for Arsenal in the last few seasons and his commitment to the team and cause can’t be questioned. He’s often been a leader and criticised the team’s performance when necessary, for example, he didn’t hold back after Arsenals 3-1 loss to Monaco.

“When we drop sometimes everyone has to be involved to defend. You can’t afford for just five or six players to defend, or just the back four. That is what we lacked especially in the final third and in the last 20 minutes”.

He made a valid point but his performance that day was poor and I feel it’s time for the German to move elsewhere or play a bit part role in the side next season. Mertesacker’s lack of pace often means that Arsenal has to play a deeper line which hinders the team.

Benedikt Höwedes on paper seems like a good choice to replace Mertesacker in partnering Koscielny at the back. Höwedes is a regular for Germany, a leader at Schalke 04 and he is in the prime of his life at the age of 27. However there are a few issues. He was used as a left back for Germany during the World Cup as Loew favoured Hummels and Boateng centrally, he’s struggled with injury the past two seasons making 19 league appearances last year and 20 so far this season and his injuries have included tearing an adductor muscle and tearing both thigh muscles.

Arsenal has had a serious problem with muscular injuries in recent seasons and adding more injury prone players isn’t desirable. Another concern is that Bayern Munich is very aggressive in buying the best players in the Bundesliga, for example, Neuer, Goetze, Lewandowski, Dante, Klose, Gomez, Rafinha and Höwedes is one of the very few that haven’t been picked up. Statistically Höwedes is not impressive and he isn’t highly regarded in Germany. Bild ranked Höwedes as the 55th best defender in the league which seems a bit harsh and Kickers rated him as the 26th best.

I think Höwedes could be a game changer for Arsenal but the key word here is ‘could’. He is an improvement on Per Mertesacker but only slightly however if Arsenal are to go that extra step than maybe they have to take a gamble on someone like Höwedes.

 

2 responses to “Why this centre-back could be a game changer for Arsenal”

  1. tstt says:

    Arsenal’s game is to defend high up the field, that is why Per Mertersacker would not be as suitable as Höwedes. Besides the latter can play as a left back a position that Arsenal is short when Nacho is injured because Gibbs is a mono foot footballer as he seems to fear kicking the ball with his right foot, and as a result 90% of Gibs’ passses are backwards, mostly in the wrong direction as they disrupt the attacking flow of Arsenal.
    Whether Höwedes or Mat Humels and P Cech would strenghten Arsenal a great deal.

  2. Mike says:

    Would rather go all out for Mats Hummels and send Per to Dortmund. Koscielny, Hummels, Gabriel, Chambers is a great group of central defenders to choose from.