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Arsenal's 10 best CBs ever

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
P.s. Gallas near enough forced himself out of Chelsea by threatening to score an own goal. You remember this right? He was far from 'let go'

I'd kill to have a centre back of Gallas' quality playing for us now.
 

Riou

In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over

Country: Northern Ireland

Player:Gabriel
Quite enjoying all these little threads tbh. Keeping me occupied.

Someone needs to make an AM end of season awards thread.

And the winner of n0nce of the year, once again goes to...

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If it was a real award though, @GDeep™ would be up there collecting it like...

 

Mitch

Blonde Brigade Grand Wizard
I would say:

1. Adams - 4 league titles, 3 FA Cups, 2 league cups, a cup winners cup, 1 x PFA young player of the year, 4 x PFA team of the year, PFA team of the century and inducted into the English football Hall of fame. Our greatet ever captain in the mold of the old stereotype cliche of a captain that we just dont see anymore. Unlike Campbell or John Terry, Adams was actually very good on the ball and would often take the ball and make driving runs up the field. Adams also got more than his fair share of goals for a CB. The most iconic being against Everton when Bould dinked a pass onto Adams who made a great run and finished it cool as anything to clinch the league title for us.

2. Campbell - So physically dominating and so quick together. Won 2 x league titles (including be an invincible) and was in the PFA team of the season twice with us (one with Sp**s). Sol in his prime was a better than Terry and levels above Ferdinand. However Sol did decline dramatically it seemed over night with us and was quickly moved on when he did.

3. Koscielny - such blistering pace which enabled him to be so good at anticipating and intercpeting opposition passes and to be such a strong last ditch tackler. Kos was argubably the best CB in league for a couple of seasons in his prime. Criminally undderated during his time here and had some of best individual peformances given by Arsenal CB including his peformances against Chelsea in 2016 2-0 win, against Bayern in our 2-0 win and against Barcelona in our 2-1 win.


4. Bould - I only remeber seeing his final few seasons with us and he was an excellent CB. Appeared to me as a no nonsense CB with calming, realible presence and hardly made mistakes. Bould prior to me catching his final few seasons with us was part of the famous back four that conceded a measly 18 goals in the 1990/91 title win.

5. Keown - Best man marker we have ever had (was all over opposition like rash) and probably most aggressive and physical CB we have had. Played at a high level even in his final seasons with us.

6. Toure - was one of two starting CBs during the invincible season and formed a good parternship with Campbell. Toure was also part of the make shift defence of Toure, Senderos, Eboue and Flamini that played the majority of our CL matches that season and broke defensive CL records (although Lehman played a big part). When Toure first joined us I remeber him being used on the wing, then CM, then RB and then finallly settling at CB. When Toure first joined us he was the size of Kolasinac and Wenger called him the most physically strong player he had ever seen. Toure lost a lot of size due to gettiing malaria and using his wife's sliming pills. In doing so I felt his peformances suffered and he declined dramatically in his final couple of seasons with us.

7. Mertesacker - Was prone to a mistake now and then or that his lack of pace was exposed at times. However what he lacked in pace he made up for in positional awareness, being a good reader of the game and being decent on the ball. Formed a decent partneship with Koscielny. Part of the team that ended our trophy drought winning the 3 FA cups. Per played in all 3 finals, was captain for later 2, scored against Villa and he was magnificent against Chelsea (best player on the pitch, his best performance in an Arsenal shirt and his last - what a send off!).

8. Vermaelen - Has a PFA team of a year selection unlike Bould, Keown, Kos and Per. People say he only got the selection because he was such an attacking threat and scored a large amount of goals. I thought this to be untrue, Vermaelen was very good defensively too in his first season and fully deserved his PFA team selection. Unfortunately after that season the Verminator was unable to replicate anywhere near that form again (a torid injury record played a part in this).

9. Gallas - Failed to replicate his excellent form with Chelsea for us. However the criticism of him at the time was OTT due to his public protest/soak. Gallas was actually the better peforming CB out the partnership with him and Toure at the time(Toure had dramatically declined).

10. Sokratis - a good first season but a poor second season.

O' Leary and Mclintock were before my time but obviously by reputation they would make the top 10 very easily by all accounts.

Other notable CBs

Linighan - I remeber his final 2 seasons and thinking he was a solid back up CB with good reputation but was never going to establish himself ahead of Adams and Bould. Scored a winner in extra time in the FA cup final with a broken nose (got elbowed by Bright earlier in the match but Linighan got the best revenge as Linighan out jumped Bright for the goal). This made Arsenal the first English club to do a double (won a league cup earlier in the season).


Upson - Was a ok back up CB who was decent for lesser teams when he left us.

Djourou - Had a short period were he produced 8 world class level of performances in which I dont think we conceded a single goal and people thought Djourou was turning into a WC CB. Unfortunately this was not the case and Djourou returned to usual averrage or below average level performances not before long.
 
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#254

Well-Known Member
Could someone make a thread for a top 11/squad we could have signed but didn't to add on the boredom killing.
 

El Duderino

That's, like, your opinion, man.
Moderator
It's a hard call this one.

I get why people would not want to put Kos there, though I do think he deserves a spot personally.

Can't really put Vermaelen there, think he was very much a Mustafi like beginning where he quickly (and rightfully) became a fan favourite, but his form nosedived after that.
 

truth_hurts

but Holding’s hair transplant was painless
Vermaelen was crap. Scored a few early headers, put a tackle in, but Mustafi was far better.
 

GDeep™

League is very weak
  1. O'Leary
  2. Adams
  3. Campbell
  4. Keown
  5. Bould
  6. Toure
  7. Koscielny
  8. Vermaelen
  9. Mertesacker
  10. Saliba/Gallas
The top 6 walk into any squad and hopefully Saliba will hit those heights as a minimum. Quite a struggle to pick a real top ten at CB.
How have you got Vermaelen above Per? Per and Kos at one point were one of the best partnerships in the PL. Thomas in general, was poor.
 

GDeep™

League is very weak
Adams
Campbell
Keown
Toure
Kos
Per
Gallas
Sokratis

I’m struggling to list them after 6, they’re all rather poor. After Per I’m really making up numbers.

After Campbell went you can argue we never had a top CB again.

Incredible over the last 20 years only Per and Kos would qualify as good CB’s for us.
 

TromsoGooner

Obsessed With Looking for Eric
Would definitely put both Per and Koscielny above him but I think some are bit harsh on Vermaelen. Not great but for a while he was a very decent defender, at least before injuries really started to hit him.
 

Country: Iceland
Adams
Campbell
Keown
Toure
Kos
Per
Gallas
Sokratis

I’m struggling to list them after 6, they’re all rather poor. After Per I’m really making up numbers.

After Campbell went you can argue we never had a top CB again.

Incredible over the last 20 years only Per and Kos would qualify as good CB’s for us.

Yeah should maybe just have been top5 list.

Sokratis belongs to bottom5 list.
 

L3T5 PL4Y

Flair Accuser
Yeah, pretty I think its easier to name a whole host dreadful cbs we've signed. I'm holding out hope this summer that we get this mess sorted but not too much.
 

GDeep™

League is very weak
Yeah, pretty I think its easier to name a whole host dreadful cbs we've signed. I'm holding out hope this summer that we get this mess sorted but not too much.
This regime signed Sok, Luiz etc who have been terrible. Wasted 20M or so I don’t have much hope, unless Arteta is targeting the players.
 

L3T5 PL4Y

Flair Accuser
This regime signed Sok, Luiz etc who have been terrible. Wasted 20M or so I don’t have much hope, unless Arteta is targeting the players.
Think both Luiz and Sokratis are okay for the team as well as good dressing room presence but we need better. Could be that we went for Luiz because most of our cash went to getting Saliba over the line while we needed an experienced player who could pass from the back. The issue is our fullbacks are **** as well while our midfield is a mess which makes it difficult for CBs.

I really badly want us to sort out the CBs and fullbacks for good if the window opens and I'm willing to for the unknown but exciting young players for midfield and attack for that reason. Unless we sort out that part of the team for good, we'll always continue to come short in difficult times. This summer is a good chance to do just that if we dedicate funds.

And I'd prefer Arteta to have his own targets though I have no idea if he is any good at it.
 

Mitch

Blonde Brigade Grand Wizard
You can’t make a top 10 list unless you have been watching us for 40-50 years.

People putting Vermaelen, Luiz, Saliba in their top 10’s makes it a tragic list.

To be fair our rivals arent much better off during the same time period. Also think interesting to see how Arsnal fans having sucj difference in opinion on several guys between 5-10.

Utd: Stam, Vidic, Johnsen,Pallister, Bruce, Ferdinand, Berg, are Wc to very good but after that your picking from the likes of Evans, Jones, Smalling McGuire, O' Shea, Brown, Baily and a spent Blanc.

Chelsea's Terry, Carvalho, Gallas, Desaily, Cahill, Alex, Ivanovic (was better at RB,), Clarke, Lebouf and Luiz.

Pool: Hypia, Van Djik, Agger, Babbel, Skrtel, Carragher, Matip, Gomez, Henchoz Scales or Babb.


Sp**s: Campbell, King, Alderweireld, Vetoghen, Sanchez, Corluka and Woodgate. After that i am struggling to pick between such low level defenders as Dawson, Kaboul, Vega,Chiricheș Gardner and Dier.

People complaining Vermalen being able to make our top 10 CBs in that period but he would make Chelsea's, Utds and Pools top 10 and would be pushing for Sp**s top 5.
 

Mrs Bergkamp

Double Dusted
Dusted 🔻
O’Leary above Adams, interesting.

Wish I got to watch David play for The Arse, looked a very cultured centre back on the clips I have seen of him...most of my memories of him, are him being a bit of a **** to us as Leeds manager.
He was very good. The number of games he played for us speaks for itself and iirc, not too many of those appearances were charity subs. He was the first dominant CB I can remember at the club and back then, Englush clubs were allowed two "foreign" players and he and Limpar were it. George Graham had to be pretty creative and tough at times to try and get both in the team. My memory fades but he was that good.
 

Mrs Bergkamp

Double Dusted
Dusted 🔻
How have you got Vermaelen above Per? Per and Kos at one point were one of the best partnerships in the PL. Thomas in general, was poor.
I put him in because he arrived here first! He started pretty well but fell apart when the much maligned Gallas got injured. Another who promised much but disappointed. Every player from 7 onwards apart from Saliba gets a "wish he'd been better...." comment against his name.
 

Marjorie

Thread Monopolizer
Top 8 only, from those I've seen

Adams
Campbell
Bould
Keown
Toure
Koscielny
Mertesacker
Gallas
 
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