• ! ! ! IMPORTANT MESSAGE ! ! !

    Discussions about police investigations

    In light of recent developments about a player from Premier League being arrested and until there is an official announcement, ALL users should refrain from discussing or speculating about situations around personal off-pitch matters related to any Arsenal player. This is to protect you and the forum.

    Users who disregard this reminder will be issued warnings and their posts will get deleted from public.

Hector Bellerin: The B's Knee

Status
Not open for further replies.

Big Poppa

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: USA

Player:Saliba
In many ways Bellerin represents the archetypal "attacking player in a defensive player's shoes" we've become accustomed to in the last decade under Wenger.

The thing I feel with him though is that he has a stand out attribute. Pace. He very much reminds me of Kyle Walker when he first came on the scene. And their flaws are similar.

Here's the thing, Coquelin will be abused for getting a second yellow in the NLD and rightly so. Mertesacker will get abused for not seeing the ball out for Kane's goal and rightly so. But does anyone else notice a recurring theme?

These players are all dragged out of position trying to cover or REcover on the right side of our defence. It irks me a little that because of his two assists, it probably won't even be mentioned.

I was sure on the basis of 2015 that Bellerin was the best right back in the premier league, but if that's the case then it says more about the quality of right backs here right now in my view.

Is this a legitimate concern or do you think he's just going through a spell of bad form? If so, what could be behind it?
 

Tom9

Active Member
No comparison between Bellerin and Walker. Bellerin has brain, Walker is braindead.

Regarding Bellerin in general there are times where he has been court out and that is increased of late but the thing is he doesn't have the luxury of playing with our best wing man ahead of him or our best centre defender beside him. He is for the most part stuck on his own, especially given Per can't defend wide areas. Another thing to consider is a lot of play is happens on the left, which leaves space for Bellerin to attack but also leaves space for the opposition to double up on Bellerin.

Can't be faulted for either goal or the red card today, although we shaky especially early in the game and the yellow card he picked up was of a result of rather pathetic piece of play.
 

skip spence

Well-Known Member
Mm. Swansea's equalizer on Wed was also much down to Bellerin gambling far too much with his forward runs.

I'm not Hector's biggest fan.
 

Big Poppa

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: USA

Player:Saliba
Why should our centre backs be expected to mop up for him though? Nobody expects them to mop up for Monreal! He is a defender first and I just feel that we always tend to focus on the final incident rather than the build up.

If he's gonna vacate his position he has to make sure someone's covering him. Similar thing happened when Per got sent off against Chelsea. I don't see how he can be excused of such basic responsibilities.
 

Big Poppa

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: USA

Player:Saliba
People are always waaaaaay too harsh on fullbacks, lad got two assists today. So much of defending is about experience and I think Bellerin is a brilliant talent.

Point I was trying to make. He probably has more assists than Dixon got in half his career. Grateful and all that but his job starts with defending.

He seemed to have the balance right before his injury.
 

Country: Iceland
Mm. Swansea's equalizer on Wed was also much down to Bellerin gambling far too much with his forward runs.

The equalizer was faul on Özil. And the runner run into Mertesacker area, without Mertesacker doing nothing about it. Bellerin was only one who followed the runner. Mertesacker didn't even look at the player when he shot.

Never Bellerins fault.
 

Country: Iceland
Bellerin is not the strongest defensively but he is improving with every game. He is youngster in his second season as a starter.

And he isn't even that bad defender. None of the goal you guys are talking about is his fault.
 

Maxim

Well-Known Member
Why should our centre backs be expected to mop up for him though? Nobody expects them to mop up for Monreal! He is a defender first and I just feel that we always tend to focus on the final incident rather than the build up.

If he's gonna vacate his position he has to make sure someone's covering him. Similar thing happened when Per got sent off against Chelsea. I don't see how he can be excused of such basic responsibilities.

This is just the innate risk of having attacking fullbacks though...They do get up the pitch to join the attack and they need defensive players to cover their flank.

The real issue is when both are caught up the pitch, instead of just one at a time. If Coquelin just shepherds Kane towards the corner instead of flying in, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
 

infinium

Active Member
Bellerin is 20. HE IS GOING TO MAKE MISTAKES. The only people at fault are Debuchy, Chambers and Jenkinson for not being able to displace him as a regular. Great talent, cut him some slack.
 

celestis

Arsenal-Mania Veteran
Moderator

Country: Australia
Dude is only 19 , at that age he's going to have his ups and downs he can't even be rested because of Debuchy . He has come a long long way since that performance against Dortmund . So he does learn quick .
 

Big Poppa

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: USA

Player:Saliba
This is just the innate risk of having attacking fullbacks though...They do get up the pitch to join the attack and they need defensive players to cover their flank.

The real issue is when both are caught up the pitch, instead of just one at a time. If Coquelin just shepherds Kane towards the corner instead of flying in, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

I agree with most of what you're saying mate but this wasn't raised on the back of today. It happens time and again without anyone pointing it out.

People see bad first touches, mis-placed passes, missed chances, bad tackles and goalie howlers but I'm beginning to believe most of Wenger's struggles since 2005 have been due to details around when we haven't got the ball.
 

Big Poppa

Established Member
Trusted ⭐

Country: USA

Player:Saliba
All and well, he has his flaws sure. But please don't compare him to Kyle Walker.

I was comparing their pace amd positioning. Not their ability. Walker has been one of the most consistent full backs in the league this season but I would rather have Bellerin.
 

Maxim

Well-Known Member
I agree with most of what you're saying mate but this wasn't raised on the back of today. It happens time and again without anyone pointing it out.

People see bad first touches, mis-placed passes, missed chances, bad tackles and goalie howlers but I'm beginning to believe most of Wenger's struggles since 2005 have been due to details around when we haven't got the ball.

Fair enough. He probably does go forward a little too much, but I feel it's pretty marginal and he has the electric pace to get back. How many times have we seen him absolutely fly back to nick the ball away at a vital moment this season?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts+

Top Bottom