- Danny Murphy tells Sky Sports he’s not impressed with Arsenal defensively
- Defensive record so far this season would back his argument
- Still a real imbalance to the Arsenal side after January window
- READ MORE: ‘Losing all credibility’ – Arsenal fans shocked after legend’s reaction to Mesut Ozil contract
For all the excitement surrounding the signings of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang last month, Arsenal still have a serious problem.
While they now boast one of the best attacking units in the Premier League on paper at least, the Gunners failed to bring in defensive reinforcements during the transfer window and that could leave them badly unbalanced.
Arsene Wenger’s side have conceded 34 goals in 25 league games so far this season, the joint-worst defensive record of the top eight sides in the standings and almost double the number that Man City and Man Utd have let in.
In turn, if they harbour ambitions of competing at the top of the table, then they will have to tighten up at the back. For guest Sky Sports pundit Danny Murphy, he’s far from impressed that we’re still talking about how poor Arsenal are defensively.
“Right now when I watch Arsenal play, it’s a joke for a top club to be so disorganised,” he told The Debate on Sky Sports, as quoted by The Express.
“We’ve talked about it until we’re blue in the face. Defensively they’re all over the place. Wenger’s recruitment in defensive areas is poor. The defenders themselves aren’t that bad but they’re just not coached.”
It’s difficult to disagree with him particularly given the figures above with this season alone in mind, and while they will be expected to score plenty of goals between now and May with Mesut Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette at Wenger’s disposal, they’ll have to find a way to keep them out too.
Murphy also makes a valid point in that Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi, Nacho Monreal and others aren’t bad defenders. However, for some reason, they’ve not been able to keep things tight at the back with injuries, poor form and general unorganised play causing major issues for the Gunners and it’s a major reason as to why they find themselves scrapping for a top four finish again.