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Abdou Diallo

dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
@dashsnow17

From the 18 months I've seen, Mustafi isn't very good. Barring a big improvement I don't that he should be a starting centre back here. He makes noticeable mistakes nearly every week, and as a defender he doesn't have any standout qualities. Maybe he'll improve but if he doesn't we'll see a similarly leaky defence in future. Our defence in the last 18 months has hit a new low - while that doesn't all fall on his shoulders he certainly hasn't helped it.

Ah, well I respect your opinion. Perhaps we just have different tastes, but I think he's had many stand-out moments. When he's on it, I think he's exceptional and a very physical defender. I also think he'll grow to have good leadership qualities. I just think he needs to add more consistency to his game.

I totally understand that he's a polarising figure, but then many CBs divide opinion. The way I see it our defence has been shocking these past 18 months and so all the more reason to keep the good elements of it, hence why I think we need a partner for Mustafi instead of a replacement.

A good CB with experience to take over from Per and a good mobile DM will help improve our defence more than replacing Mustafi imo.
 
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CurryFlavoured

Established Member
@CurryFlavoured

Who would you bring in at CB?
I don't know. Like I said a pacy/powerful defender like Koscielny or Varane would probably benefit us most. I don't watch enough football to know who the next Koscielny is though. Jonny Evans is probably better than our current centre backs but I really don't see him improving us a lot.

The thing is, since Koscielny signed Wenger has been going for similar centre backs - Gabriel, Mustafi, Vermaelen signed before him but again he was similar. I think that Koscielny is a rare case.

The bigger problem is the way we set up though. I hope that our next manager can; a) shorten that gap between midfield and defence, and instruct our midfielder to not drift forward so much and b) not play as high a line where our centre backs almost become playmakers at times.
 

dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
I don't know. Like I said a pacy/powerful defender like Koscielny or Varane would probably benefit us most. I don't watch enough football to know who the next Koscielny is though. Jonny Evans is probably better than our current centre backs but I really don't see him improving us a lot.

The thing is, since Koscielny signed Wenger has been going for similar centre backs - Gabriel, Mustafi, Vermaelen signed before him but again he was similar. I think that Koscielny is a rare case.

The bigger problem is the way we set up though. I hope that our next manager can; a) shorten that gap between midfield and defence, and instruct our midfielder to not drift forward so much and b) not play as high a line where our centre backs almost become playmakers at times.

Agree with your last points about basic changes to protect the defence. I think a good DM would do wonders, but also some simple instructions. I very much doubt we'll get rid of the high line while Wenger's here though. The high line is ok (it has a function after all), we just need CBs and a DM which can cover ground quickly.

If it was possible to do, I'd love Harry Maguire here. People will laugh but I see a bit of Mats Hummels in him. Hummels is a tad more handsome of course, but Maguire has a similar swagger in his play that reminds me of Hummels. They're both absolute units but also very good with the ball, both have big personalities too.

Would be quite difficult to get him out of Leicester, not to mention I'd also like Ndidi from them, but there's a deal to be done there and I think the two of them would be just as beneficial to us as a big name attacker.

No idea who to bring in to replace Cech though. I'm lost on that one.
 

dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
Allison is all the rage right now. Real Madrid or PSG are likely to get him though.

Yeah he's very good, but has PSG written all over him.

I really don't know. Kasper Schmeichel for a few years? Hm. Jack Butland, is he actually good though? Hm. Same goes for Timo Horn. Then it's just very young prospects like Alban Lafont & Andriy Lunin. We're sure as hell not gonna pay Arrizabalaga's release clause.

We'll find out in the fullness of time just how monumentally stupid it was to let Szczesny go. We know it already, but we're yet to really feel it.
 

dashsnow17

Doesn’t Rate Any Of Our Attackers
Trusted ⭐
What about Jan Oblak or Sergio Rico?

Sergio Rico I don't know if he's good enough for us. Oblak is probably too good, some say he's the best GK in the world right now ahead of de Gea. Oblak is the unattainable dream.
 

SingmeasongSong

Right Sometimes
@dashsnow17

From the 18 months I've seen, Mustafi isn't very good. Barring a big improvement I don't that he should be a starting centre back here. He makes noticeable mistakes nearly every week, and as a defender he doesn't have any standout qualities. Maybe he'll improve but if he doesn't we'll see a similarly leaky defence in future. Our defence in the last 18 months has hit a new low - while that doesn't all fall on his shoulders he certainly hasn't helped it.

On the contrary I think Mustafi is a quality defender which is proven by his stats wherever he's been,
HOWEVER, he does not fit into each and every system.
Something that can be observed with a lot of defenders at our club who immediately go to **** as soon as they got here.

It's mostly a thing of our risky high line on the field whilst leaving big holes for potential counters as well as often lacking that DM who covers some of those areas.

The biggest asset of Musti, but in regard to us also his biggest downside, is his eagerness to go into risky tackles which would allow us to hit the opponent on a counter whilst if he fails in that it's more or less 1on1 against Cech.. That's why he looks the worst in a 3 men defense as our only CB.
 

Toby

No longer a Stuttgart Fan
Moderator
Next to the all-action Mustafi, Arsenal need an experienced CB who's good on the ball and has great positioning. Like Mertesacker, but more mobile - think Hummels.
I've just seen Diallo last weekend in the Mainz - Stuttgart game. Stuttgart pressed the Mainz CMs and CBs in a way that build up was forced on Diallo, who looked out of his depth, constantly hitting long balls up the pitch.
I don't know if an inexperienced CB who's identified by opponents as the weakest ball player in his team, so they try and force building play up on him, is what Arsenal need.
 

The_Playmaker

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
Next to the all-action Mustafi, Arsenal need an experienced CB who's good on the ball and has great positioning. Like Mertesacker, but more mobile - think Hummels.
I've just seen Diallo last weekend in the Mainz - Stuttgart game. Stuttgart pressed the Mainz CMs and CBs in a way that build up was forced on Diallo, who looked out of his depth, constantly hitting long balls up the pitch.
I don't know if an inexperienced CB who's identified by opponents as the weakest ball player in his team, so they try and force building play up on him, is what Arsenal need.

I personally think that having a centre back who is good positionally is pointless when the entire defence is exposed time and time again. If we are going the route of having two attacking full backs and two attacking central midfielders with three forwards then the 3 players who are going to be exposed, the dm and two centre backs need to be athletes.

Our centre backs are so slow. Chambers, Holding and Mert are incredibly slow, with Mustafi faster, but not faster than Koscielny who isn't even as fast as he used to be. Imagine having two centre backs with pace, recovery runs and strength to deal with the break aways that we constantly leave ourselves exposed to.

I think Mustafi has potential, but he needs an fast dominant defender alongside him. If he had that, he would be less inclined to be the dominant defender.
 

Toby

No longer a Stuttgart Fan
Moderator
With mobile I practically meant fast. And fast/mobile and good positiong/good reading of the game isn't exclusive. A CB in our system can only profit from having a good reading of the game and therefore good positioning, as it would allow him to anticipate dangerous situations, even with a high line. Especially in that case, I think, someone who anticipates where the danger is gonna come from and go to goes a long way to cut off counter attacks and minimize space for opposition attackers, even if exactly that might be the main weakness of the whole system.
Arsenal's CBs have to be athletes, I really agree, but being able to organize those around and having good positional awareness is also needed. Too often one defender breaks away because of a lack of that awareness and only then creates space, too often are the defenders lured out by clever passing into challenges. Two athletic headless chickens won't do the defence any good.

The top CBs who have that combination are not attainable for Arsenal, but there are surely other options to look at. But to me, Diallo isn't one.
 

Mudi

Well-Known Member
I don't know why but seeing the clip, he reminds me of a young Vincent Kompany back in Hamburg/Anderlecht.
 

Aevi

Hale End FC
Moderator
There is no news with this bump, so apologies for that, but there is finally some good footage of him...


Main takeaways are that he is strong, good in the air, and capable of some very crisp passes. I'd definitely be happy with signing him, my impression is that he is better then Chambers. He's reputed for being mature beyond his years as well, so I think he'd be able to step up to the challenge of playing here.
 

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