Youth over Vermaelen

Belgian David Luiz.

That is really unfair on David Luiz, he's a much better defender than Vermaelen.

comment by DubbedinEnglish (U19529)
posted 1 hour, 45 minutes ago
"In a season where we finished 7th and Arsenal finished 4th, we conceded 2 goals more than them over the course of the entire season. I regularly see Koscielny and Mertesacker lauded as great defenders whilst the likes of Evans, Jones and Smalling get ridiculed."

Yeah. Because this is rational and resonable, right? It's quite obvious your opinion is based purely on statistics rather than observation.
You're correct in saying it's ok using stats in balance with observation. But unfortunately for you that isn't the case.

Neither of your defenders are a patch on Mertesacker and Koscielny.

"I would say Kos is better then Sakho, yet Sakho started for France. At the same time I would say Mangala is better than both."

Mangala is a slightly better version of Sakho. He isn't better than Kos.
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You've managed to completely misinterpret what I said. Try revisiting my previous comment.

But also, I think judging defenders based on goals conceded is about as rational as you can get.

Not really. So if Thiago Silva's team concede a lot of goals he isn't that good?

But his team don't concede a lot of goals because he is that good, so it's a moot point.

I gave an example. A good one too. If you can't comprehend it tis not my fault.

Judging an individual player on the failings of a team is just idiotic. Kinda surprised to see you taking part Darren.

Haha And you think Thiago Silva keeps all those goals out singlehandedly?
Wow. You've fallen man.

comment by DubbedinEnglish (U19529)
posted 44 minutes ago
Not really. So if Thiago Silva's team concede a lot of goals he isn't that good?
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Christ. You're so bogged down in defending the reputation of your players you consistently miss the point I'm making. Haven't I already said that I rate both Koscielny and Mertesacker? I've already said I think they're better than our defenders, so what point are you getting at?

I was merely making an observation that both teams conceded a similar amount of goals last season and asked a question off the back of it. Of course there are other reasons why teams concede goals beside the quality of the defenders, hence why I asked the question.

But even at that, you'd have to be an idiot not to believe there's generally a correlation between the quality of a team's defence and the number of goals they concede.

No but he has a huge influence on it.

If you replace him with Bramble they'd concede more goals.

Arsenal have had pretty much a consistent back four whereas we've had our whole defence decimated yet we don't concede much more than you.

So why is it that our crap defenders and your world class defenders concede a similar amount?

It's evidently not our midfield protecting the defence.

Like I said, it's a case of Arsenal's defence not being as good as made out and ours not being as bad as made out.

Alright mate.