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There's been much worried talk about the spine of
the Arsenal team this year. The centre-forwards
(if indeed we have such a thing) not putting the
ball away enough (Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie
notwithstanding - they've not played enough and
when they haven't the others have been failing to find the
net); the absence of Patrick Vieira and the failure
to replace him; and most significantly the sometimes
naive defending.
Ok, so we had a good run of clean sheets recently, but
it counts for little when you give away soft match-losing goals like
against Wigan and
Everton recently,
to long balls that should
have been easily dealt with in a one striker vs two defenders
situation.
One possible solution is to buy experience, "proven quality", but you can never
be sure that such a player will fit in. Arsenal quality can only be proven
by playing for Arsenal. Another, which has served us well in the
past, is to bring young players through and drill them in the
right way to defend. We've got some extremely promising youngsters
and if we can give them time then we could have another famous five
on our hands before long.
And who better to train them than the best Arsenal defence of all time,
arguably the best top-flight defence of all time.
For the last few of months, Martin Keown has joined the
Arsenal coaching team to help develop the defensive nous of
the younger members of the squad. Arsene Wenger has been talking
about Keown's role:
"He has been with me now for three or four months, because I have a
very young squad and needed more experience in the dressing room so
they would not be uncertain or insecure because they lose a game or
two. He is a reassuring presence. People who know the culture of the
club and who are winners, we want them to get that culture into the
young players and help push them forward. Martin is doing his coaching
badge, and I said 'come in and you can get experience with us'. On
the other hand he can help, because he is an Arsenal man."
Steve Bould is also working with the young Gunners, and with
Tony Adams taking a measured approach to learning his trade
by gaining experience across Europe, perhaps we can look forward to
a time when the 3 of them are reunited at the club. Actually, along with
many fans, I'm a little less sure of the last of the 3. Still a legend,
but a little more 'up-front' about his West Ham allegiance than I'd feel
100% comfortable with. No
worries there with Keown, at least.
Perhaps it's too late to re-train Sol Campbell, but Philippe Senderos
and Johan Djourou are young enough to learn from the masters, and it'd be
nice to think that the emergence of the latter with his no-nonsense
solid defending in recent appearances might be at least partly due to
the influence of Keown and Bould.
One day, perhaps we can hope to see the pair of them stepping forward as one
from the Arsenal bench, with one arm raised. | 
