Has Sagna found his calling at centre back?
Arsenal’s versatile defender Bacary Sagna produced a stellar performance this weekend, his best yet for some time, after being deployed centrally in defence due to Laurent Koscielny’s last minute withdrawal in the warm up prior to the Sunderland fixture. This begs the question, is he now a viable option as an Arsenal’s centre half?
Paired with the slow but experienced Per Mertesacker the Frenchman added pace and determination to the backline that managed to keep out Sunderland’s persistent attacks in the final stages of Saturday’s match. He put his body on the line, made crucial tackles, distributed well and also defended fantastically in the air.
Arsene Wenger certainly has options in the heart of the defence with Thomas Vermaelen, Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker automatic selections when fit, however with Johan Djourou on loan to Hannover and perhaps unlikely to return, Sagna’s versatility will be welcomed by Wenger as his importance as a member of the squad grows.
Which leads to the next point – his contract will need to be renewed with his current terms set to expire in June 2014. Gooners were starting to grow frustrated with the natural right back but playing centrally over the weekend helped Sagna reinstate faith in him as an experienced defensive enforcer. With Jenkinson the only other ‘senior’ right footed full back renewing Sagna’s contract is now of the uttermost importance unless someone is acquired this summer.
His strong outing on the weekend played a big part in what Wenger described as a resilient and committed performance, and alongside a strong showing from Szczesny and Mertesacker, the defence is looking strong ahead of the vital Cup ties against Blackburn and Bayern Munich over the fortnight, with the options available giving Wenger some food for thought.
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i asked myself this same question also…if we have not wasted a world class cb at rb. Time will tell, but he’s sure an important member of this squad right now.
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His age will tell Wenger to move him to central defender position. He is better than Kocs and TV5 that bit harsh and clumsy in the penalty box.
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couldn’t believe he started there and did very well.
doesn’t change that he’s too short for that position though.
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Ok; with more practice maybe he can be made a regular at cb in those games whre the opposition forwards are of average height.
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Central defenders need to be tall, period.
Sagna did very well there, but it’s one game.
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He can follow d footstep of sergio ramos…RB To CB.He is not too short for a CB position. He could be our ball playing defender all we need is a very tall DM to cover for his height.
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Hmm… Maybe he could pull it off longer term as an alternative CB.. After all the great Cannavaro was vertically challenged but did not hold him back from becoming one of the all time best..
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We shouldn’t be carried away by his performance, let him maintain his right-full back position. It is really unfortunate we have a miser as coach who doesn’t like spending, if not when we are shouting he should by players because of this kind of situation he was adamant.
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He’s only slightly shorter than Cannavaro, and taller than Ivan Cordoba, who was an amazing centre back. He’s not necessarily too short, and he is pretty good in the air. You can’t judge from one game if he could really do the job on a regular basis, though, and I’m not convinced he’s as good a jumper as the 2 aforementioned players. One thing that stood out for me was a time when he went for a header with Fletcher, won the ball by judging the flight better, but only managed to head it into the striker’s back. It didn’t cause a problem, but I think it showed how he cannot always get high enough to really manipulate the ball how he’d want to. Most teams have a tall CF in this league, even if he isn’t a starter, and that could cause problems over a run of games.
Maybe if we started playing a 3-man defence, Sagna could do a job there more regularly???
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It looks like some of our defenders are injured long term so we will have to play Sagna as central defender on the next couple of games unless Koscielny comes back from injury. The Verminator and Gibbs will be out for another couple of games
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Questions are sometimes asked abt Wenger’s choice of defenders.
Could he have wasted a wonderful CB at RB? With an endless list
of useless CB sarting with Cygan to Djourou and getting rid of
lovely Bartley who flourishing at Swansea questions should be
asked once more. Sagna was brilliant on saturday that I think
he should be given time in the centre of defence.With experience
and speed we need him more than any time before. Three years contract
extension would be fine. We have money and a team needs more experienced old wiseheads
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