Arsenal: It’s not Sokratis, it’s not David Luiz, it’s not Shkodran Mustafi

Arsenal’s defense is in a tight spot, in case you haven’t been paying attention for the last eight years, and the list of culprits is growing… or shrinking. But we need help.

Freddie Ljungberg‘s first match in charge of Arsenal placed him in a similar seat as Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery, both literally and figuratively. Seated next to one piece of our last good defensive pairing (like, five years ago), Ljungberg was treated to a defensive horror show.

It all started to positively too, with Shkodran Mustafi and David Luiz taking an active and optimistic place on the pitch. But then the first goal came, a product of passive and inept defending, and the second followed, a product of more of the same.

A few years ago, Shkodran Mustafi was supposed to be the solution to our defensive problems. He still isn’t. A few years later, Sokratis was called on to be the solution. He still isn’t. This year, David Luiz was called on to be the solution. He isn’t.

That’s three very highly regarded centerbacks, two of whom have tremendous experience in winning things and being a part of a top class club, and one of whom carried tremendous promise and a decent track record himself.

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All three of whom have failed to inspire this defense to anything even near resembling safety and security.

Had it not been for Bernd Leno, Norwich City may well have scored another handful of goals. He was again left on an island while his defenders struggled to figure out who was doing what, and when to close down the opposing attackers (spoiler, they never answered that second question).

Maybe we all already knew this, but Freddie apparently needs to learn it too. His three most senior centerbacks have no business fixing this defense. That means you can either continue to fail with them, or you can turn to the likes of Calum Chambers, Rob Holding and/or Konstantinos Mavropanos and see what happens. If you fail with them, at least you can chalk it up to helping them get their Premier League legs underneath them.

There’s really no point in continuing to fail with the three others. We’ve seen enough. Maybe Luiz still has something to salvage, but again, what’s the point?

We need long-term defensive solutions. Maybe that’s William Saliba, but it needs to be someone or something, and half our defensive corps is out of the question.