“Arsenal don’t need a defensive coach. It’s like teaching Wenger how to suck eggs.”

but is it really like teaching wenger to suck eggs? wenger has had huge help from our old schoolers right up until 2008. the last three years have been the first years that wenger hasn’t had their help, and the defence has got worse and worse. you have to ask the question, ‘would wenger have had so much success with us without the influence of amams, keown, bould etc” or would he have failed like so many other foreign managers that have failed in the premiership??

sure, wenger is a great manager, but he owes a lot to the back 5 that he inherited and that went on to mentor newcomers to the team. Without the defensive aid that was always there for him, his attacking football would probably never have made the impact it did.

we are only now recently seeing, for the first time, wengers defensive expertise being put to the test, and it’s failing miserably. without that back five wenger may not have made much of an impact on the english game at all.

Please stop lifting articles/analysis from Le Grove. Give them credit or cite references if you intend to use it elsewhere.

It’s a no brainer…that you’ll be caught in this day and age!!!

On defensive coach, i never realized we didn’t have one.

On the Bolton game, the worst fear is a player breaking a leg at the behest of Kevin Davis aka Jeepers Creepers. KD has gotten away with murder and is only second to Joey Barton.

from 2005-2008 we had martin kepwn playing an integral role in coaching our defence.

Since then, i think it’s fair to say, things have gone progressively downhill until we find ourselves in the shambolic state we have today. Sounds like someone needs help in that area and doesn’t like to admit it to me.

This is the first time wenger has not had the hand of any of our old school backline, and look at the results, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that wenger is not the games most gifted manager when it comes to sorting out a defence. he has his own way, which is obviously not very effective.

would we have conceded 8 goals at old trafford with keown still coaching? 4 horrendous goals at blackburn? highly doubtful. Things may not get better till he accepts he needs help. i imagine bolton will be looking forward to playing us this weekend, more than ever.