Arsenal: Calum Chambers deserve his chance after Liverpool

Arsenal saw feast and famine against Liverpool, but with the same problems plaguing them, isn’t it time someone else gets a chance? Say, perhaps, Calum Chambers?

Arsenal’s draw against Liverpool brought out the worst in a lot of players. Some players we’ve been relying on for years, some have only recently come to relevance, but no matter the position, nearly everyone was terrible.

Nowhere was it more terrible then in the defense. Rash mistakes and piss-poor positioning left the Gunners back four exposed far too often, almost to the point of it being downright inexplicable.

This is a bigger problem than what we can fix right now. There are just too many moving parts that all seem to be moving in the wrong direction. But sometimes, small steps have to be taken to obtain a larger purpose, and the Gunners have the capability to take one decent-sized step towards a solution.

Arsenal’s defense has had two major problems this year – individual mistakes and lack of presence. Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal are both smaller defenders and don’t boast a lot of strength or quality in the air.

They are both also prone to proactive defending, where they push up the pitch to meet attacks head on. But this can often leave them vulnerable in behind.

The ideal personnel swap would be for a defender that has strength and poise in the air as well as a reactive defensive style, where he sits back and absorbs attacks rather than meeting them head on.

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I have just inadvertently described Calum Chambers.

Honestly, between Chambers and Rob Holding, giving either a chance sounds good to me, but Holding is similar to Koscielny in his defending style. Chambers has always been more the Per Mertesacker type, whose primary asset is his strength and reaction.

If the objective is to stick with the back four – which it really shouldn’t be – then we need a pillar back there, which Chambers can be.

If the objective is to swap back to the back three which it really should be – then we need the same thing, because Shkodran Mustafi is always going to be the center and he is aggressive enough in behind then midfield that he needs defenders in behind him.

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Whatever the case, given that it is the defense that is having the problems, it is in the defense that we should try to identify solutions. Chambers deserves a chance.