It is very easy to criticize Philippe Senderos when he gets caught in an unfavorable position, a la 1-on-1 with Kanu or 1-on-1 with Didier Drogba. Most Arsenal fans forget the value of a holding midfielder that knows how to fall back and tackle when the opposition is breaking/charging offensively against you. In the Portsmouth game, Senderos played well and Kanu sold his act to the referee. The referee’s call was harsh and in most games, that red card call would have never been made. Anyway, Senderos had to track back because a certain defender allowed Kanu to be onside. Also, most importantly, where was the defensive midfielder?We need to be realistic: Tony Adams at his best would not have been able to handle the size, pace and power of a Drogba. I believe that Martin Keown, faced with a 1-on-1 situation with Drogba, would be forced into an illegal challenge or more than likely be beaten.

What we fail to see: since the beginning of the Wenger era the Arsenal back line were able/allowed to play high up in order to spring an offside trap, based on the fact that Adams and Keown had an easier time at their positions with Patrick Vieira switching to a defensive midfielder when Arsenal were pressed with a counter attack by the opposition. Vieira did two things, he pressed the attack from Arsenal’s midfield going forward, and was the first to fall back when the opposition had the ball. Vieira was a great tackler and eased the load on the centerbacks because he understood positioning.

This past Saturday, Gilberto played as a central defender and he was terrible. It reminded me of Roy Keane trying to play central back for Manchester United. When people speak of how great previous central backs were for Arsenal, they need to consider who was in the central midfield. Was it the likes of Vieira? Senderos will be successful if he has a good defensive midfielder in front of him.

Senderos is very good. There are only a handful of centerbacks that are excellent and better than Senderos (Rio, Terry, Vidic, Toure). Carragher, Carvallo, Ledley King, Woodgate, and Wes Brown are only successful with a spoiler or defensive midfielder in front of them. Everybody rated William Gallas highly before he came to Arsenal; however, Gallas has looked bad too. Gallas has been very spotty and still too short for that position. Remember in the Tottenham game, the Adebayor header to tie Tottenham was not defended because everybody on the pitch was shorter than Adebeyor. People blame Robinson, but in all fairness Robinson did not have the height to reach the ball.

In terms of defense, the relationship between the goalie and central back must be strong but it is most important for the relationship between the central back and defensive midfielder to be even stronger. Central defenders are called into a sweeper role when the central midfield is clumsy and loses the ball in a vulnerable position. To properly evaluate the centerback, we need to understand the midfielders’ part.

Don’t be quick to write off Senderos.