Ezri Konsa
Ezri Konsa
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Narrow victories built on a single late goal often rest on the foundation provided by the defensive unit. Centre-backs who deal with a high volume of aerial challenges and second balls allow the side to remain in a position to take the points. Those contributions become more noticeable when the attacking play is limited and the opposition creates the greater share of opportunities.
Managers who highlight the quality and physicality required to manage that threat also note the difficulty of maintaining concentration throughout. Substitutes who enter later in the game can change the problems that need to be solved. The combination of those elements is what turns a tight contest into three points once the final whistle has gone.
Praise for a defensive partnership is framed around the prediction of a large number of balls in the air and the consequences that follow each one. The ability to stay on top of every action is described as particularly demanding in the Premier League. Those remarks follow a match in which the clean sheet proved decisive.
Mikel Arteta has claimed Arsenal would not have won at Nottingham Forest without two players. The manager was full of praise for Gabriel Magalhaes and Ezri Konsa after the 1-0 victory secured by Noni Madueke’s late strike.
“The win was not possible without them, because they have so much quality and physicality, having to constantly deal with what we predicted to be 50 balls in the air,” Arteta said.
“I don’t know how many they had, but it would’ve been very close to that. And it’s not only that, it’s what happens after that ball and the consequences from that. To be on it constantly, every action delivered is very tough. When you think it’s done, Wood and Hudson-Odoi come in and they start to have a different problem. Now you are man-to-man with the two centre-backs. But that’s the Premier League, and the quality of it which makes it the best league in the world.”
Gabriel and Konsa completed ten clearances between them and blocked four shots. Those numbers underline their importance on an afternoon when Arsenal’s only shot on target came in the 80th minute. Konsa has stepped up since his arrival from Aston Villa, while Gabriel continues to lead the defence in the absence of William Saliba.
Arteta’s assessment focuses on the physical and technical demands of the role against a direct approach. The clean sheet allowed Arsenal to stay in the game until Madueke’s intervention. The defensive partnership is presented as the foundation that made the result possible.
The comments come as Arsenal continue their response since the Brighton defeat. Whether Saliba’s return alters the current pairing remains a longer-term question, but the performance at the City Ground highlighted the value of the current centre-back combination. The three points were secured on the back of that defensive solidity.