Arsenal v Man City – Coquelin keen to prove himself

Francis Coquelin has been a breath of fresh air during Arsenal’s prolonged injury crisis, performing higher than our expectations in the absence of Mikael Arteta and Matthieu Flamini, and he believes that his loan period at The Valley helped him to improve.

“It’s been a couple of exciting months for me,” the 23-year-old said on the official Arsenal website. I’ve been out on loan to Charlton and that was a good experience for me. Now I’m back at Arsenal and playing again, so I’m enjoying it.

“The Championship is a tough league. Maybe technically the Premier League is a little bit better but in terms of power, engagement in duels and challenges, I think the Championship is a very tough league. It helped me come back to the Premier League.

“The manager called me for a reason, gave me my chance and I’m now trying to prove what I can do on the pitch. I’ve been here long enough so I know everyone quite well. Everyone made me very welcome, so I think settling in was easy.”

Now Arsenal are preparing for one of the toughest tests of the season away ay Manchester City, and Coquelin is very keen to be involved yet again against the reigning champions.

“Every year they come with a very strong team and are challenging for the title,” the midfielder said. “They’ve bought a couple of great players as well so you know it’s going to be a tough game. Every player plays to play these types of games, so it’s going to be interesting.”

It now looks like Matthieu Flamini will be returning to the squad for the City game, but it unlikely that Wenger will push him to play for the whole 90 minutes in such an important game just yet, so I am confident that Coquelin will get another chance to impress against the very best…

Tags Coquelin Man City

34 Comments

      1. Arsene Wenger: Why does snoop dog carry an umbrella?

        Steve Bould: I don’t know. Why?

        Arsene Wenger: For drizzle

    1. Check Legie warsaw website..Already Bielek has given statement saying “My dream come true. I hope to be arsenal player soon’ something like this. Use Google translator.

  1. Coquelin has earned the right to play ahead of Flamini. I still want a top DM but Coquelin will make an excellent backup and should be starting before we get a new one (I should say “IF” we get one)

    Flamini can play against Brighton but keep Coquelin as starter as long as he plays well.

    1. Just like Ospina earned his right to play ahead of Szceszny so has Coquelin earned his right to play for Flamini/Arteta. I would not change the team who beat Stoke but I am a tad worried at Ox as he looks visible tired when he was subbed. Walcott on the other hand looks very fresh so I wonder whether Wenger may play Theo first and use Ox as impact sub. All is going to be played on the wings so our full back / winger pairs must complete each other perfectly. One thing is for sure, we can’t play Ozil & Santi in the same team Sunday. Unless you want to pair Santi with Coquelin and use it as a platform to launch on the break. It will be the fine things to balance for this game if we really want to come back with points. Really.

  2. Coquelin has always been a good player. Whenever he would be given a chance. He always played well. Only that AW never rated him. It will not be surprising for him to be dropped when everyone else come back. Wenger doesn’t work with competition for places. If you are in you are in if you are out you are out no matter how good you try to prove. With AW you can never think of Ospina taking the number one jersey no matter how good he is.

  3. As for a new DM, I’d prefer the likes of Carvalho, Kondogbia, Gustavo, Bender, etc. However, at minimum (if Wenger wants someone less than £15 mil )I will be satisfied with Sissoko or even Milner

    Though, I’m afraid of the reasons why Wenger wants Bielik. Bielik will be able to go straight to the bench even though he is 18. So, I’m afraid that Wenger will use that as an excuse NOT to get an experienced DM.

    Wenger will say that Bielik has started for former club so he can play now. Wenger will also give the same excuse for not getting a top striker. He willdat that we have Arteta, Flamini, diaby, Coquelin and Bielik so we have too many midfielders

    It should be about QUALITY, not just quantity

    ie Welbeck, Giroud and Campbell are good but not as good as Costa, Aguero, Dzeko, Falcao, RVP. Same with Coquelin and others are good but not if top quality.

    With Wenger saying money is not tight anymore, there is no excuse for getting 2-3 top class players that we need to challenge. I’m 100% sure if we don’t get a top cb, top DM and top striker by the end of the summer, we will Not challenge for 1st place. City have signed Bony. United and Liverpool will also strengthen. We need at least 2-3 WC players. £60-80 million will be enough and will be well worth it.

  4. So looks like to solve our DM problem we have signed a 17yo with no experience of the premier league,8m a year for making decisions like that ! Unless it’s one for the future and we make two top signings with a DM and CB Wenger will have done what he has done consistently well for ten years,F#cked the fans over and F#cked our chance of winning the league.

    1. No we are not signing a 17yo to solve our problem. What should you do when you see a 17yo wonder kid? Sign him up before other did. Why complaining when we did exact that, Wenger never said he will step into the first team. Quote from the player that the manager promised to let him TRAIN with the first team and play in the Reserves.
      Arteta out for many weeks so we are looking at Brozovic, a younger player with same profile, high potential, good work ethics (some said he has the stamina of Ramsey and as hard working as Sanchez). We will also get a CB – given Wenger still trust Merte and Chambers has similar profile to Merte, we will try to sign someone similar to Kos – I like Reid but trusting Arsenal scout team and Wenger on this – we did not sign enough players to plug all the holes but we did sign the right players, all spot on.
      Many reports (take it with a pilch of salt though) that everything is in order for us to get Scheiderlein in the summer. Given how hard he pushed for exit door last summer, he is French, and good relationship between us and Southampton, I can see this one happen. But surely not this transfer window as we are their rival for top 4 at the moment.

  5. So arteta out for longer now a shame but time maybe to say thanks and goodbye and take Flamini and diaby with you.and Wenger !

  6. I’m thinking Wenger will go with Bielek and Coquelin as DM players, that’s it and all he can stomach to pay for defending!
    I also guess he will buy his obligatory attacking MF player, (likely a skilful midget), he just can’t help himself.
    Rather than Gundogan, if he wants an attacking MF player go for Sisokko. We desperately need someone with his physical presence and versatility. I could see him covering at DM with a bit of schooling.
    Bielek, Sisokko and a CB, (young to mid twenties proven starter, no outcast bench warmers) and I’d be okay with that!

  7. Sky sports showing sol Campbell,legends of the premier league,that’s the type of CB we need to play alongside Kos

    1. @hafiz Rahman
      Mascherano is still the best DM out there at this time…He is the true”benchmark” for what a DM should be…Even though he rolls as CB for Barca.

  8. @yep not wrong!
    I was in Holland to watch Arsenal play PSV in the CL. I remember all the players come out of the tunnel and from where we were they looked small. Then Sol came out, he looked like a giant compared to the others.
    Oh for a CB like him! 🙂

  9. I think Coq is extra careful in that game. He is on 4th yellow and another one mean he will miss Man City game. Good that he managed that

  10. This is really a big game for Coq. This will decide if we need the CDM in the Jan window or not.

  11. I wish people would stop using the words “Coq” or “cock”. It’s disrespectful. I know people use abbreviations to refer to players but calling your own player a penis isn’t cool. Just my opinion

  12. Coquelin will surely prove himself but he alone can’t stop Mancity.If we expect a good performance against Mancity then all our players must turn up,defending as a team each player covering for the other.Defensive responsibility should not be left for koscielny,Mertasacker,Bellerin/Chambers and Monreal alone.Midfield shouldn’t be for Coquelin,Cazorla and Rosicky and Goal scoring responsibility should be for everybody,i mean any player can score goals it must not be Sanchez or Giroud.If all our players turn up there is no way we won’t come back with a positive result.

  13. Coq has been playing really good, it would be a mistake to drop him, aswell as carzorla and rosicky!

  14. @jeez. True, it’s like Wenger said the players were mobile and didn’t keep the ball long enough to be clattered. Good tactics for this game 🙂

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