cahil/samba vs djourou

Cahill..

Samba isn't coming.. that deal is long since dead imho..

I like samba

Samba would add Strenth to our Defence + he wouldn't mind setting on the bench for a long time

Unlike Cahill who is not willing to set on the bench for god knows how long

yeah but Cahill is similar to what we already have...i don't think he is better than any centre half we have bar Squillaci

Djourou. The new CB signing is not benching anyone. We also have Kos who in Europe will be used a lot.

Of course, this all depends on Vermaelen's position, on if he's going to be LB or what.

That would be my CL team, with Cahill replacing Koscielny in the PL.

I really dont see why everyone wants Djourou to start along side verminator, what happend to kos? is Djourou really better than kos? or is it because Djourou is stronger than kos?
According to me Kos has done very well and is better game reader than Djourou. I know that he made one great mistake against birm but we should look at his overall performance. He has been great both in CL and PL.

Djourou is better suited to the PL because of his physique.

Not that Kos is bad, none at all. They can rotate, anyways.

Shit, when did we last have good enough CBs to be able to rotate them?

I can see Wenger starting Koscielny and Vermaelen as first choice, he has a man crush on Koscielny

Djourou did well last season overall. We defended much better with him alongside Koscielny last season, rather than Squillaci.

Djourou has talent. He is a good all-round defender but his form dropped after injury against man united in fa cup when we thought he would miss rest of season.

Cahill and Samba are more experienced and more physical, better in the air. I would prefer these two alongside Vermaelen.

I actually think Koscielny will be 3rd choice, Djourou 4th choice next season if a good cb comes in.

gunnerlistick wrote:I can see Wenger starting Koscielny and Vermaelen as first choice, he has a man crush on Koscielny

He just wants him to develop as he has real potential.

I really don't know what Wenger's going to do, though. With how predictable he is...

Guys here is an intresting analysis I found in the internet. Speaking fom a statistical point of view, Cahill would not provide a whole lot mroe than what we already have.

Samba: Skill sets and stats
Chris Samba is the archetypical Premier League defender. Big, an aerial presence, and, a bit slow. For Blackburn Rovers, the lack of pace in a defender is fine, as they don't generally play a high line, but for Arsenal it is more of a problem. Samba is a pretty good tackler, winning a higher percentage of tackles last season than any Arsenal centre back bar********* Laurent Koscielny*********. He also reads the game fairly well, making 2.1 interceptions per game, which is a figure bettered at Arsenal again by only*********** Laurent Koscielny********* (for the purpose of this exercise, Thomas Vermaelen, having played only 4 times, is left out), and his percentage of aerial duels won is higher than any other Arsenal player. *********His passing, though, is atrocious, completing only 64%******** of all passes (only the goalkeepers at Arsenal have that low a figure). Furthermore, his lack of pace would mean he'd get caught out just as Sebastien Squillaci, Mikael Silvestre, Pascal Cygan (the list goes one) were. All of the above were caught out by a lack of pace (and perhaps with Cygan, positioning), which would mean that to accommodate Samba, Arsenal would have to change their defensive strategy, which would put out the other defenders at the club, creating more problems than the amount of solutions solved.

Cahill: Skill sets and stats
Gary Cahill is similar to Chris Samba in that he's fairly tall (6'2), decent in the air (but not as good as Samba), and a solid Premier League defender. Cahill has more pace than Samba, and is about the same in tackling (again, only Koscielny is better). Cahill, however, is somewhat let down by his reading of the game; he got ripped apart by Stoke in the FA Cup semi-final, and, as the cliche goes, looked like a dear caught in headlights. Furthermore, the amounts of interceptions per game are less than all centre backs at Arsenal and are third among centre backs at his own club, Bolton Wanderers. So while he may be a better passer of the ball and quicker than Samba, he appears to be worse at reading the game and would adapt worse to Arsenal's high line; in summation, he is a little worse than what we already have, while Samba would at least add a different approach in height.

After reading this, asking for 17 million, and 15 million for these players is just retarded. We should kick ourselves for being drawn into the media hype. Wenger should look else where I think- or do with what we already have, and use the potential samba/cahill money on other positions that need attention! (positions like defencive mid, left back, world class striker, actual wingers, Use to money to tie Nasri up with a bumper deal, hire an assasin to kill Xavi....SOMETHING, anythign but waste 15-17 million on Cahill and Samba)

lol don't get me started on cahill...he is not even strong in the air. i watched some Bolton games Zat knight wins everything in the air and he is the imposing figure while cahill cleans up behind him

Look both managers have come and said Arsenal has not made any bids for either player so the Media really fooled us.

Fans keep saying who would play along side TV but tbh he gotta earn his place back, I know he oozes quality but one year on the sideline could do more harm than good. Before Djourou injury, I really like Kozz - Djourou partnership which is not perfect but very solid and only can get better, they compliment others very well. Kozz and TV are so alike, that partnership on paper spells disaster already unless they both tweak their games.

For me, the three are at the same level atm, who is in better form will be selected. One year ago though, TV will be starter no doubt. Whoever comes in, unless they are new Nesta will fight for starting place as well.

Given history of Arsenal injury, they will all have plenty of play time ( Just ask Toto last season)

Yeah.. I dont think both Vermelen and Kos will pair at CB.. It should be either of one with Djurou who is a different type player..
It would be interesting to see Verm at LB too..