A lot of the Arsenal fans on here can't remember what it was like to have a good defence, so they overcompensate.
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I suspect there may be a theme here.

We've had a lot of good defenders after Campbell in actual fact but have never been a good unit up till last season.

Kolo
Gallas
Vermaelen
Kos and Merts
all signed after Campbell and were not bad defenders by any means

Chambers up next.

Cesc Fabregas - Best player in the league easily.

Aguero, Di Maria, Falcao, Hazard, Silva, Toure, Sanchez, Mata, Matic, Courtois, can battle it out for the rest of the 4 spots.

comment by Inventor (U6157)
posted 5 minutes ago
tbf I think Jones is alright injuries messing him up atm

I'd play him DM for England protecting Jack and Henderson

Smalling and Evans especially are awful.

Evans is still treated by some of you as a defender with promise but is almost 27 when will he come good or has he reached his incredibly low level now?

Expect him to be the next product shipped out
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Evans is crap. No one on our board rated him

comment by Inventor (U6157) posted 1 minute ago
tbf I think Jones is alright injuries messing him up atm

I'd play him DM for England protecting Jack and Henderson

Smalling and Evans especially are awful
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Jones is best at CB, and he's been one of our best performers for us there this season so far. Injuries are really frustrating with him though

Smalling is decent, in no way should be compared to Evans. He's good in the air, strong, quick, and isn't rash in the tackle at all for a young player. My criticism for him would be that he looks panicked on the ball, and comes off as nervous sometimes. I still have hope for him though, and didn't Wenger try to get him in a swap deal?

Evans looked great in his first season with us but has slowly declined. He's good against small quick strikers that aren't very physical, but big players absolutely bully him. This season he has been horrendous, and seems to have picked up a new skill of underhitting backpasses at least once a game

comment by Darren The King Fletcher (U10026)
posted 5 minutes ago
In fairness, our defenders get more criticism because they're expected to be at a higher level than they are.

Arsenal haven't had a really top drawer cb since Sol Campbell so naturally Arsenal fans will compare what they have now to what they had in between Sol and their current defenders.

Kos and Mert in the United side would get a lot more criticism than they would at Arsenal because we are used to our defence, and the defenders, being on a higher level in the last ten years.

A lot of the Arsenal fans on here can't remember what it was like to have a good defence, so they overcompensate.
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Epic

All average at best

Inventor perfectly proving my point.

Though he's a bit deluded, he thinks Arsenal have a shot at winning the CL.

Kompany is easily the most overrated player in the league. He's a brainless oaf who goes around barging into people. I don't understand all the adulation that he receives.

Evans is crap. No one on our board rated him

.................

Actually there are quite a few on our board who rate him.

I have no idea why. He has massively regressed from where he was 5 years ago.

"Kompany is easily the most overrated player in the league. He's a brainless oaf who goes around barging into people. I don't understand all the adulation that he receives."

Perhaps you should watch him more often then.

Admittedly, fellow professionals, pundits and managers might all be wrong and you right, but chances are you could do with just watching him a bit more.

Just my opinion. You can think that I am wrong, but I have seen Kompany play enough times for me to be able to formulate this opinion with confidence.

Melts

In my opinion there are two people who, when absent from the City line up, it is very easy to tell, because City just are not as good as when they are in it.

Vince is one, Ya Ya the other.

comment by ||The Great AFL©||™ (U11952) posted 1 minute ago
Just my opinion. You can think that I am wrong, but I have seen Kompany play enough times for me to be able to formulate this opinion with confidence
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I'd love to hear your opinions on the likes of Cahill, Koscielny, and Jones

And VC, I'd add Aguero to that list but definitely agree

I have to say though, that the quality of centre backs in general these days really isn't good enough.

The irony of opposition fans calling Arsenal fans deluded simultaneously calling Kos a poor player, how many times do you actually watch him over 90 minutes or is it just MOTD? If he played in a team that actually tactics people would actually realise how good he is.
Yaya
Hazard
Cesc
Di Maria
Can't decide on the fifth.

Spot on VC. Silva is the other one that we miss.

I think you need to take into consideration the formation we play AFL and look at even the game at the Emirates last week and how many interceptions Kompany made before they turned into possible chances.

I don't understand where all the hate from Kompany has come from.

I think he was better under Mancini, the set arguably owing to that, but the change in opinion in a matter of 12 months from people has been really drastic and I'm not sure where it's come from as he had a very good season last season.

Isle

I think they get by a bit better without Aguero than they do without the other two.

Melts

Silva for me can be very hit and miss for me. Very similar to Mata in that when he is on song, brilliant, when he isn't on song you don't know he is there.

DiMaria
Aguero
Cesc
Silva
Hazard

comment by Isle of Manc - Year of the Januzaj (U18323)
posted 25 seconds ago
comment by ||The Great AFL©||™ (U11952) posted 1 minute ago
Just my opinion. You can think that I am wrong, but I have seen Kompany play enough times for me to be able to formulate this opinion with confidence
-------------------------------
I'd love to hear your opinions on the likes of Cahill, Koscielny, and Jones

And VC, I'd add Aguero to that list but definitely agree
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Cahill is an extremely average player. Put him one-on-one against any decent attacker and he's shuffling. He would be horribly exposed playing for a team like Arsenal.

Koscielny is a very good player who is sometimes prone to lapses in concentration. The most agile, quick and aggressive centre back in the Premier League. Sometimes has to do two jobs as Mertesacker can be a liability at times.

Phil Jones is basically how I described Kompany. However, at least Kompany is good, very good, just not as good as people make out. Combine the worst traits of Koscielny and Kompany, and you have Phil Jones.

comment by Godleebarnes (U9902) posted 2 minutes ago
The irony of opposition fans calling Arsenal fans deluded simultaneously calling Kos a poor player, how many times do you actually watch him over 90 minutes or is it just MOTD
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I actually watch a decent amount of all our rival's games. And I'm not calling him poor, just average. He's a player that looks really good on the eye, so it's easy to overrate him. But in terms of consistancy as a defender, I don't think he's anything special

Darren,

We've completely changed the way we defend and I think people look at is getting exposed when we started playing the high line and press. We reverted a bit and Kompany looked great again.

VC, I very rarely see silva go missing, when he does, that's when we tend to lose - he is our main outlet from midfield to attack. Out of all of our players, he is the one that I most miss. Part of the issue we have is we could do with someone else to share that responsibility a bit more, Nasri is more....safe in his play.

I would like to know what makes Kompany so special in the eyes of some of you?

The Great AFL you are clueless.

Ask any Chelsea fan their opinion on Cahill and they'll hardly have a bad word to say.

Phil Jones gets a bad rap on here but he's been impressive at CB the last 6 months or so. One of our best performers this season.

I'm not sure you've seen either of those two play very much