Arsenal: Per Mertesacker, Rob Holding clashing cultures

Arsenal will be in desperation mode when it comes to their defense in the FA Cup final. Per Mertesacker and Rob Holding are a veritably clash of cultures.

Arsenal will be grasping at straws trying to fill the gaps against Chelsea in the FA Cup final. With Laurent Koscielny‘s foolish red card and subsequent failed appeal, the Gunners are without a captain and their best defender. With Gabriel blowing out his knee, they are without their best Koscielny impersonator.

With Shkodran Mustafi following concussion protocol, the Gunners are without their second best defender. Meaning they they have to turn to defenders No. 3 and No. 5 to fill in three defensive slots. Which, in case you weren’t following, means that they will be stretching to utilize the 3-4-3 that has come to be the benchmark for their success.

With just two center backs and Nacho Monreal, Arsenal will have to run with Rob Holding, Per Mertesacker and Monreal if they decide to invoke the new formation.

In this formation will come a full sale clash of culture. Arsene Wenger has a huge decision to make in terms of who will be the anchor in the center of the three. Do you run with the future and led the sturdy Rob Holding take the reigns, serving as the glue of the back line?

Or do you let Per Mertesacker, who has played once all year and has very little experience in the 3-4-3, but is the actual captain, take the helm?

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This question is about much more than just how to address the match, it will say a ton about how Wenger wants to move forward with a sputtering team. Will he continue to cling to hopes that the past will rectify him or will he leave the past behind and let the future carry the club?

You can make the case that neither is ready to take the central role. With Koscielny and Mustafi both out, though, either you revert to the back four or you put faith in someone that doesn’t necessarily deserve it.

And that is the essence of this culture clash. Mertesacker, slow, at the end of his tenure and still the unlikely captain, will probably get the nod, and that will set this defense up against the pressure. The big German handled the pressure of his sudden role admirably, but it’s hard to imagine that he will snap back into his 2014 form.

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Flanked by Holding and Monreal, he will have the help of the a young, up and comer and a re-purposed left back. It may not fill you with inspiration, but maybe this clash of culture can be more of a cauldron of cultures. That sounds better anyway.

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