Gabriel and Saliba - our best defensive partnership ever?: Page 2 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Gabriel and Saliba - our best defensive partnership ever?

Mirth

Sicario2 but equally Wenger’s teams didn’t protect defenders as much as Arteta does.

Sol Campbell’s the best Arsenal defender I’ve seen (missed the Tony Adam’s era). At his best he could do everything.

flobaba

Mirth we had Vieira and Gilberto Silva in that midfield. Come on bro.

Klaus

Sicario2 Exactly, that team was better position by position than anything we've ever fielded since. Defence was certainly no exception. Sol Campbell was probably the best centreback in the world for 3-4 years in an era of absolutely legendary defenders. No one we've fielded since then has been fit to lace his boots. Any partnership without him in it is automatically disqualified.

Mirth

flobaba our wingers today act like auxiliary full backs.

Our fullbacks are ex-CBs that act like auxiliary defensive midfielders

Our strikers are expected to press like lunatics.

Our two number 8s are recognised for what they do off the ball than on it.

We hardly commit bodies forward compared to the Invincibles.

JazzG

Sicario2 It is all relative though, players are fitter and generally better than they were 30 years ago but you need to compare in that era.

These two are defo gonna go down as an all time pairing for us, need to win some major trophies with them as well now.

Qwiss

Mirth yeah I find this discussion really interesting but the idea that Toure and Campbell had more protection doesn't wash.

Rohit I remember Henry in an interview talking about how Wenger told him to stop trying to defend and save his energy for attacking.

Meatwad

Mirth
exactly.

flobaba

Peak Kolo Toure/Sol Campbell.

Ashley Cole/ Lauren.

Gilberto (the invisible wall) /Vieira.

Who needs more protection than that? Where are the weak points? Yes we played differently with more fluidity, but those individuals were basically the best defensively in their positions in the league.

Big Willie

flobaba as were the CB pairing. I'm probably Gabriels biggest fan and I love Saliba but come on, those guys were in a team of greats and more than held their own. Our CB pairing now is for me the best in the business currently but you can't compare across generations like that. If you bring through Sol with the training facilities and regiments we have now he'd absolutely smash it.

Mirth

flobaba I'm confused. What are you contesting?

I just said that the Wenger teams were reliant on individual talent to be excellent defenders and Sol Campbell's the best I've ever seen in an Arsenal shirt.

Meanwhile our current system is geared up to protect defenders over allowing attackers to take risks. In other words, I'm not clear if Gabriel would look as good in the 2004 team but Sol Campbell would just as good, if not better, in this current version. Allowing for external factors being equal, of course.

Rohit

Wenger teams were far more open. I love Gabriel and Saliba but best ever? Not yet in my opinion. I don't remember Pires toiling like Martinelli does or Henry defending from the front every opposition attack. Our current CBs get more protection from the team as a whole.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

Prime Sol is our greatest ever CB and my favourite ever signing. The cheek of it.

GooneriC

Qwiss Wish we could free our attackers , poor Saka

lorddulaarsenal

Tony Adams is our greatest centreback.

Burnwinter

lorddulaarsenal Adams and Campbell. Koscielny among others also deserves a mention as a great defender, even if not our greatest. Fans today would be salivating if Saliba and Gabriel were doing some of the stuff Koscielny did. We've been blessed.

invisibleman18

They are great but probably need to win something big to enter this discussion. As others have said, we've had partnerships win the league conceding only 18 goals and go 49 games unbeaten while winning the league etc.

lorddulaarsenal

Yes peak Koscielny was top tier.

Bosscielny

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert

lorddulaarsenal electric pace as well, which I didn't know he had until his second season or something. He was great for a few years.

Gurgen

But I will never forgive him for that Griezmann goal

HomeSteak

Gurgen as good as he was, he always had stupid moments in him.

Mirth

HomeSteak he was someone who needed a manager like Arteta.

« Previous Page Next Page »