Arsenal's 'right' defence: a transition

As he looked up, he found Patrice Evra in front of him, beside him was Robin van Persie and the only option to play the pass was his team mate, Per Mertasacker. He looked at Per and passed the ball but he did so with less conviction: a loose ball. Robin van Persie snatched the opportunity, ran past Mertesacker and just as he was looking to cross the ball in, he was tackled. Before anyone could say ‘cheese pepperoni’, the referee had blown his whistle and his right arm was pointing firmly to the penalty spot.

Of all the Arsenal players who were disappointed, one stood out: Bacary Sagna. This incident summed up his entire season. For a player who has got on to the PFA Team of the Year twice, his recent performances have been a dire opposite. Sagna was lauded by a lot of people for being extremely consistent in his performances. At one point of time, many argued if there was any other better right-back in Europe. Now, with age catching up and having suffered successive broken legs, Sagna is fading away as a strong performer.

Bacary Sagna: not anymore the right-back he used to be.

His fall started last season when he broke his leg while playing against arch-rivals, Tottenham. Once he came back, he broke the other leg while playing Norwich after a poor challenge by Bradley Johnson, ironically an Arsenal Academy drop out. During his time away, young Carl Jenkinson stepped in and surprised the footballing world with his performances.

His understudy, Carl Jenkinson’s strongest strength is his pace. Insiders claim that he is quicker than Walcott and for a defender, that is special. Last season, he put in performances that were average. At the start of the present season, he put in some incredible performances and gained plaudits from fellow professionals. One standout performance was Arsenal’s outstanding 0-2 win over Bayern Munich. There was a moment in the first half when Arjen Robben broke free and sped away with the ball. Carl chased him down, won back the ball and cleared it. His pace made the usually quick Robben look very poor.

Carl Jenkinson: The future Arsenal right-back.

He hasn’t been extremely good defensively, like Sagna, but on the attack, he’s proved to be better than the Frenchman. Sagna crosses by wrapping his foot around the ball and this technique lets his down most of the times. His crosses are poor and they either come in to the near post or go past the far post. Carl’s final cross is better that way. He whips in the ball and he seems to find the centre of the penalty area each time. With Olivier Giroud leading the attack, a good crosser of the ball is needed and that’s exactly what Carl is turning out to be.

Now that I’ve said this, by no means do I want Arsenal to sell Sagna. The Frenchman’s greatest strength is his ability to tackle and defend, in every definition of the word. Away at Sunderland, Wenger was short of answers for the centre-back slot and he gave Sagna the chance to fill the void. Not so surprisingly, the 30-year old excelled in the game. We, eventually, won the game 0-1 and all thanks to a strong performance from our centre-backs, Sagna and Per.

Given that we might lose Djourou and Squillaci this summer, hopefully Wenger goes in the market for a new right-back instead of a centre-back. Sagna should be given a chance to play at centre-back and Carl could fill his void on the right.

Jenkinson has proved he’s good at the right-back slot and Sagna has too, at centre-back. It’s probably time that they both played together.