Arsenal: Defensive problems are not one player thick

Nottingham Forest carved open Arsenal to the tune of four goals on Sunday in the FA Cup third round. But the Gunners’ defensive problems are not because of one or two players, as some fans are suggesting. They are much deeper-rooted than that.

Arsenal, defensively, were slaughtered by an 18-year-old in their shock FA Cup third-round loss to Nottingham Forest on a sunny yet shunning Sunday afternoon. Let’s give Ben Brereton his due. He was excellent. Surging pace, strong hold-up play, and a confident penalty to boot.

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But he exposed the very issues that have plagued Arsene Wenger’s lumbering, lackadaisical, downright lacking side: An inability to play as a collectively sound and stable unit, defending as you would expect a professionally trained, practised, and tuned team.

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Many fans, after the 4-2 loss, were quick to highlight Rob Holding for his failures on the day. And, to some extent, their complaints do have some credence. Holding was very poor. His header directly assisted Eric Lichaj for a sumptuous volley for Forest’s second goal; his wayward left leg, which is especially misguided given the situation that he was in — in his own penalty area, unaware of the danger; his positional naivety, poor decision-making, and over-eagerness to win the ball was repeatedly exploited by Brereton.

But I find it difficult to pin the blame on Holding solely. While I accept that he certainly did not play well, there were many other flaws with the performance, from a collective standpoint, that transpired to work against Holding with an insurmountable effect. And what is decimating to Holding’s situation is that, unlike the individual moments of brilliance when attacking, defending is not an individualistic art. Football is a team game. No more is that necessary then when defending.

Arsenal, however, do not defend as a unit. They defend as if they are all separate ingredients, all having been chucked into a baking tin, thrust into an oven, the heat guessed, the time unknown, hoping to have a cake come out at the other end. It sounds ridiculous. That’s because it is ridiculous. And the proof, if you’ll forgive me, is in the pudding.

In the Premier League, for example, Arsenal have conceded 28 goals in 22 Premier League games. That is worse than every other top-six club, including Liverpool. It is a figure that is bettered by teams like Burnley and Brighton. It is a figure that yields a goals-conceded-per-game of 1.27, which is a season mark of 48 goals.

This is a team that, at least by the looks of it, does not work on the defensive techniques and tactics necessary. They look devoid of a plan. They look lost. They look as though they have been thrust into the Grand Prix at Spa having just passed their driving test. In a word, they look unprepared.

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And for that, I cannot solely blame Holding. In fact, I cannot even label him a lost cause or a waste of time or a player devoid of the previously conceived of talent. I just can’t. Because I don’t think there’s any defender in the world that would look good in this Arsenal team. And that is not the individual’s fault, it’s the collectives.