I don’t know about the rest of the global Arsenal family, as we all prepare for whatever this time of year means to us, but one of the things I am hoping that the house breaker in the red and white suit brings me for being a good little boy is the news that Laurent Koscielny is fully fit and able to play in every game for the Gunner until the end of the season.
It might be a bit too simplistic, as the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott are all players that would have a massive impact in almost any team, but I firmly believe that having our French centre back fit would have made a huge and vital difference to our season so far.
For instance, we would have finished first in our Champions League group as there is no way Anderlecht would have recovered from three goals down at the Emirates with Kos the boss alongside Mertesacker. It is telling just how lost the giant German looks without his usual partner in crime to add the pace and aggression to our central defence.
We would not have collapsed at the back and let Stoke go 3-0 up by halftime. We would not have let Man United pick our pockets or Skrtel to have a free header to deny us a rare away win either.
I am not saying that Koscielny is the best player Arsenal have, just that he seems to be irreplaceable for us at the minute. If, god forbid, we lost Alexis then Walcott or Campbell or the Ox could step in. The same is true for Giroud(Welbeck or Sanogo) or Ramsey or Cazorla. But without Koscielny or a seriously good defender signed in the transfer window, Arsenal will keep giving away goals and not giving the attacking side of the team a solid platform to build on.
Do you agree that Koscielny is the most important player for Arsenal right now?
I think so.
Just recalled Mertesecker saying he was going to model himself after Adams. Ahahahahaha! BOZO!!! You wish, grandPer, you wish!!!
So, what, he’s a BOZO and is a poor CB in your opinion?
Diaby is Arsenal’s best player.
Although he has missed 350
games in his Arsenal career
he is still in the squad. Clearly he is
the player Wenger rates the highest.
Podolski a close 2nd, Wenger rates Poldi so high he doesn’t risk him getting injured by playing him….he’s good like that is Arsene.
He is one of the best at arsenal, but not the most important.
Could be….
Whatever gents, A MERRY XMAS TO ALL GOONERS, AOB’s..even (sOoPa aeon), AKB’s and of course JustArsenal!
Wilshere is our most important player. When he doesn’t play we win more often.
Lol! Agreed!
I think wenger should stop giving press conference, always says something stupid.
It takes 11 people to make a team
Invaluable
Koscielny
Sanchez
Walcott
Reliable
Gibbs
Debuchy
Chambers
Giroud
Players who can join top list if they improve and are consistent
Ozil
Ramsey
Ox
Gibbs and Chambers RELIABLE??????????? On which planet are you staying??
Cazarola has to be in reliable list
He is a figment of Wenger’s imagination
What is he?
19 years old, at one of the best clubs, in the hardest league in the world as a starter. He’s doing his very best and I think he’s been brilliant.
Wenger’s use/protection of him has been farcical however.
Yeah, Chambers is horrendous. Clearly a waste of 15M. What were they thinking. I can’t believe we spent that. He hasn’t done a thing for us. And at 19, I mean, he’s almost over the hill. Wow.
Seriously. As fans we reward quality players with our trust like Kos, Sagna(sadly gone). A lot of these players have been too inconsistent. Kos is def. one if the best
you are overrating Walcott to much
No, you are underrating Walcott.
Let me know the list of players who get 21 goals and 14 assists from wide this season. Because that was Theo in his season before the ACL tear; numbers that stand up to anyone (bar Ronaldo/Messi) in world football.
I do think we’d need to see a couple more seasons of that consistently before he can be considered invaluable. But your point is well taken. He is indeed potentially invaluable.
I think Arteta deserves the reliable tag. Not who we’d choose at DM, but no coincidence we typically look more composed with him anchoring the midfield. No other CM we have gives us as much stability. Need an upgrade still for sure, but I’ve a lot of time and respect for Arteta. Top man.
Good assessment overall. I think people forget how crucial Theo is to us, his output (goals/assist numbers) is world class.
reports in usa, poldi to Inter
Koscielny is the definition of unsung hero. He is a World Class centre back and in my opinion it’s out of him and Kompany for best CB in the prem.
Without a daubt.
Without Koscileny we can’t defend properly and can’t win the games we should be winning as a result. If Alexis gets injured, we still have great attackers that can win us games, so yes, Koscielny is the most important player to keep fit in our squad. The same argument could also be made for Mertesacker though, even though I think he’s not the quality we need anymore, there’s still no one to replace him either..
Unequivocally YES. You can measure a team generally by how strong they are down the spine (CB,CM,ST). Kos is our only genuine World Class player in any of these positions.
Huge miss, get fit asap Kos we need you!
And a big ol’ Merry Xmas to my fellow gooners
We can do without any players in the team, only without him we do suck Santa balls.
It is quite obvious, Mert becomes more confident he plays , which in turn gives the other players more confidence, i think it would be wise to carry in two new CBs, to begin gelling for upcoming seasons.
Mert who has many years experience has a CB should be organising the defense line, and giving support to the younger players, however from what i have seen he is the one that needs organising, its actually affecting the general function of the team itself
He doesnt become more confident, its only that Koscienly does a job of two.
Don’t be daft.
It is frustrating though just how much more effective the BFG is with Koscielny by his side. I’m really worried about Koscielny’s injury though. I can’t shake the feeling that it’s a lot worse than what we have been told and that Arsenal has a Ledley King type scenario (in terms of trying to manage the injury, not in the type of injury)
We always have one player getting hatcheted at any given moment – the less evolved always need someone to vent their anger on. Mert is the man of the moment. If anyone cared to look PMs performance stats have been comparable to LKs for a couple of seasons; one may have the edge in some areas that you would expect but makes up for in other departments. The balance and the foils make them a decent CB pairing. But I remember LK as one of the most derided and ridiculed Arsenal player of recent times. And I know some of the most crucial errors and sending offs in recent years have been by someone with the initials “LK” and not “PM”. And whilst not LK’s fault, I know someone who has managed to stay fit for most of the past 2 years and it is not him. LK is the better footballer. But to wipe out all past history and context and bestow God-like qualities on LK whilst denigrating PM with ridiculous personal abuse is sadly the only way some punters can engage in football discussion.
Pah!
Kos get’s carded and sent off trying to win back balls Mert missed or players who ran past him as if he wasn’t there.
Always said the man is a liability made to look good by Kos and his workrate.
As Gooners, some of us have very weak memories. i remember some of our fans lambasting Arsene for bringing in Kosh from France. Now he is the hero and Per is now the villain. We need to be careful how we criticize our own. My greetings to everyone.
When Kos 1st came to us and got that red, I thought “Is this Keown reborn???!???”
He has shown courage to lay himself on the line when needs to.
He has acceleration to make him agile while also having decent pace.
He has technique in his tackles and also capable of headering well.
He is partnered by a slow giant…
I always rated this guy but even I underestimated him, I didn’t think he was the ‘leader’ of the CB but seeing Per flop about like a fish out of water at times with Monreal next to him… Maybe it is Kos that does more of the organising?
I don’t know if he is the most important player in the squad but I would go as far as saying he is the most complete player we have in their own role while being the most consistant player when fit.
Mert was a nervous bundle throughout the liverpool match, there was nothing calm about his play and i think it affected the whole team. If kos was there i felt Mert would have been a lot calmer and we would have won the game.
I say he seems to can not operate on his own without kos, therefore we need to start developing two new CBs to replace, kos and mert eventually, this is not a criticism of Mert ability, but indeed a fact our season so far can attest to the problems we have been having. A team gains a lot of confidence, when they they have confident people in the middle of our defense