Arsenal: Calum Chambers the man standing on the rubble

Arsenal’s defense has been a disintegrating mess this year, but if there has been one redeemable individual, it is Calum Chambers, and that shone again.

There was one thing that all of Arsenal’s starting back four against Atletico Madrid had in common, and that was that each and every one of them had, at one point or another, had their continual usage on the team questioned considerably this year.

That’s not a good feeling, when there isn’t a member of a starting defense that you can look at conclusively and say ‘he won’t mess up today, he’s better than that.’

Hector Bellerin has been a shade of himself all year, looking slower and less dynamic than ever before. Shockingly so, as I’ve come to terms with him leaving. In fact, it wouldn’t bother me at all if he did so over the summer.

Nacho Monreal had a streak of pure gold, but on either side has been either ‘good enough’ or woefully inadequate, plagued by his diminishing speed.

Laurent Koscielny has been bothered by injuries all year, which hasn’t helped, but in the process, he has made countless individual mistakes, not least of all the one that gave Atletico Madrid a goal in the first leg.

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And while I think Shkodran Mustafi is getting a raw deal from the fans, he has been the most error prone of them all, as his inexplicable ability to mentally check out against teams in big situations is just bizarre.

Everyone makes mistakes, but between these four, you can almost guarantee that someone will screw the pooch at some point in proceedings.

Which contributes to me likening them to a heap of rubble. And, as the title outright says – Calum Chambers is the man to stand atop it, rather proudly, I should add, because all year, Chambers has been a reliable defender. At worst, he gave up an own goal against Ostersunds. At best, he is consistent. That’s all he needs to be.

Look at how well he handled being thrown into the second leg. Rather stupendously, I might say. Multiple last-ditch tackles and blocks to save almost certain goals from making this game a lot less tense and a hell of a lot more depressing than it might have otherwise been.

It is a complete systematic failure that has caused this defense to fall to pieces. But that doesn’t mean that everything about it is bad.

Next: Arsenal vs Atletico Madrid Player Ratings

What this all comes down to is this: Arsenal’s defense as a whole sucks, but Calum Chambers doesn’t.

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