11 May 2019 14:58:29
A lot of people saying that Maguire would be an upgrade on any of our current centre halfs. He's good, probably top 4 quality, but I personally think he's been overrated by the standard hype train that follows young English footballers.
That said, its a bit harsh on Papa and Holding. Holding was our best defender by some margin before his injury and probably would have cemented a permanent place in the starting XI if not for it. For is age he's showing great maturity, reading of the game and leadership and still has future captain written all over him.
Papa has been class in this second half of the season, and has formed a decent partnership with Koscielny. The problem is that the defence still aren't working as a unit and then you have turkeys like Mustafi coming in and just making a mess of everything. It makes players like Papa look bad when he's not actually done anything wrong. He'll be very good for us next season.
11 May 2019 16:21:10
Holding has great potential no doubt but he still young learning the game. Papa has been decent enough although not the most mobile and is a card magnet so needs a speedy guy alongside. Like you say though a defence as a whole unit is only as strong as it's weakest player so while we still have the likes of Mustafi in the side we are going to struggle and need upgrades as a priority. Maquire is maybe overpriced but could make a big difference in our side alongside Holding or Papa. Look at the massive difference just having VVD did to the Liverpool defence. Not forgotting Kos will be in his final season so needs replacing really aswell.
We still need better defensive cover from midfield though also as Xhaka is pants on the defensive side and although Torreria has had a good impact I am not sure he is really a disiplined enough either as Defesive sheild. Then to add we have lazy attacking players like Ozil, Miki and Iwobi who offer little defensive assistance. We are just still too over attacking balanced throughout the squad so it will take time and money for Emery to address.
11 May 2019 16:32:59
I would love to see Maguire in a 3 CB partnership for us in a 5 2 1 2 formation with attacking fullbacks apposed to defending wingers, Maguires is excellent with the ball and can pick a pass from distance turning defence into attack in a heartbeat.
Our defence needs far more protection from our central midfield 2 and the whole defensive side needs a lot lot more discipline and organising properly,
Ozil Lacasette and Pea will produce goals but just not enough to cover up defensive frailties consistently over an entire season.
Rule number one has to be don't concede.
11 May 2019 17:19:54
Not saying Maguire won't make a difference, but as an English player in the Premier League, he'll be disgustingly overpriced, and likely not show an overly impressive return on that investment. As a utility option, I think Tierney is the most sensible bit of business as he's a solid attacking and defensive fullback and can also slot into central defence, which in a 3 with Kolasinac as an attacking wing back is ideal.
11 May 2019 17:42:46
Agree Roy Maguire is out of our price range, for me Connor Coady looks a decent alternative who looks very comfortable on the ball every time I've seen him.
In truth you don't need the best 3 individual CBs to form an extremely effective unit Just 3 half tidy ones who know understand and are capable of doing what's asked of them by someone who is capable of organising them within a complete defence team within a team.
I don't want to see us become boring boring Arsenal again and I don't think we have to be that to be successful but we do like all other successful teams need to become difficult to score against, and let's face it we haven't been that for a very long time now.