Today’s very narrow win over Crystal Palace has only highlighted the need for Arsenal to buy a top class backup for the DM Francis Coquelin. Last week we saw his dubious abilities of spraying the ball to begin an attack, and this week we could have easily been reduced to ten men if the referee Lee Mason had been brave enough to give him a second yellow TWICE.
No one can argue that the first yellow was deserved,but the second was so blatantly cynical that I bet even Arsene Wenger was certain he was going to play out the game one man down (that’s if he saw it lol). Mason then compounded his leniency by immediately booking a Palace player for a much less cynical foul.
By the time the third incident came around, even Coquelin himself was preparing to just walk off the pitch as he knew that his luck had finally run out, but somehow the ref was lenient once again. Wenger finally came to his senses and took Coquelin off the field to save him for another day.
If he had been sent off, the second half would obviously have been a lot harder for Arsenal to hold on to their lead, but also we would have been without our number one DM for the crucial clash against Liverpool next week.
Mikel Arteta did okay when he came on considering it was his first competitive game for over six months, but with his own injury record there is no guarantee he will always be available as cover. He certainly is unlikely to be able to play three games in a week if anything untoward happens to Le Coq.
And with Flamini left out the squad completely amidst rumours he is now surplus to requirements, it is blatantly obvious that the Gunners are short in the defensive midfield area.
I certainly hope that Wenger has got a surprise signing up his sleeve because any DM is practically guaranteed to pick up yellows on a regular basis and is more liable to injuries over the season….
Agreed and spot on a DM is needed! Coyg!
getting a top striker is more important
and bring back ospina now
I saw it vs Chelsea, then again against West Ham and today my fears have been confirmed: Coquelin has been pushing more forwards, not protecting the back 4 like a true DM does. Today, I saw Coq further up than Cazorla far too many times. This is alarming, and either Coq himself for slipping out of orders or Wenger for trying to fix something that aint broken is to blame.
Literally exactly what I was thinking today, why is he being allowed to do that 3 games in a row?? Wenger needs to do his job and instruct ffs
And what is going on in Coquelin’s head? He knows he is the only tough DM we have, if he wants to play a box to box role like wilshere/santi/ramsey etc etc then he’s going to find himself in the reserves because there are much better options.
The way he played today is the same reason i didnt mind song leaving, not doing his job
Omg literally 3 times he ventured ahead of cazorla because the plays dictated for him to do that. Cazorla was covering behind him those few times. The other 50 times cazorla went forward coq was there to protect.
That is simply incorrect.
Dont give a damn what some clueless fickle fans are saying about monreal! The guy really defended great today!
He managed one of the trickiest wingers in the league well. Crystal Palace’s strength is their wing play, our full backs were always going to have a long day.
off topic but this palace team is so explosive and pacey as well as being strong and solid, they are an established PL side and will be fighting for top 10 rather than fighting relegation
Le coq was just being his normal dont take any prisoners/ hard nose/ no nonsense self! Coyg!
Yea that no composure type self that should’ve been sent off which could very easily have caused us a loss. But let’s hero worship cos he’s “no-nonsense”. Sooner he’s replaced by someone of genuine quality this transfer window the better.
You honestly sound so salty I can’t believe it. Genuine quality? Coq is not genuine quality? He was back to being that pitbull in the middle of the park we need.
Please tell me who is this dm that is so much better than Le Coq that will take us to the next level? You already lost credibility by keep on naming illaramendi so please don’t say him again
What would I be salty about, are you an idiot?
I simply have an opinion that coquelin isn’t good enough because he needs one of our other midfielders alongside him to take the distribution duties off of him because he’s not capable. That’s the genuine quality i refer to.
I also find it funny how you’re talking about credibility when you can’t see the merits of having a player LIKE Sociedad Illarramendi who boasted defensive numbers as good as coquelin but came with the typical spanish technician side which meant he could distribute. Sorry your grasp of football is severely lacking. STYLISTICALLY (exactly the word I used) Illarra is a perfect type of DM.
We dont need a back-up to Coquelin. We need a player that can replace him in the first 11 that he can be a back-up to.
We need to stop playing Per, enough already. We all see it. Let’s try Gabriael, and if he is not good enough then we try Chambers, but no need to insist on Per, he is slower this year, with 0 and I mean 0 aggression.
Giroud scored a wonder goal, 99% of the games he wont score a goal like that. He will make an excellent sub, like Dzeko was for City. We need our own Aguero, I know there arent that many out there but I would settle for Cavani or Benzema.
And I’ll say it again because it just makes me hate Wenger even more, We could have had Vidal in this team playing next to Cazorla.
Play Theo or Ox on the wing ffs, and stop trying to turn Ramsey or Cazorla into a winger.
Wenger you are a real stubborn, old fart, who really has lost the touch.
Well said.
Agree, Coquelin is a backup, Giroud is a back-up, Per is a cock-up..
Spot on
it too late to purchase dm, Scnhiederlin purchase by Men Utd. Kododobgia purchased. Kyrochyiawa not want to leave. Carravallho injury himself!!!
And now we stuck to Giroud!? I’m so sad and worry!
yh i dont understand wenger sometimes he claims he waits for the right player to become available… but in the DM category there have been so many possible signings he could have made; kondogbia,schneiderlin krychowiak, carvalho, khedira, bender, gustavo.
the strikers that have moved around imo arent worth their price tags as upgrades to theo or giroud. 25m+ for bacca, martinez etc simply wouldnt be enough to win us a league.
but wenger seriously could have improved the team better than he has done and if he hasnt made a solid signing or two come the end of the window i will be furious.
You hate our striker with great stats and a world class goal today? You hate Mertesacker who is one of our best players?
Try actually watching the game objectively, instead of looking for the negatives to validate your flawed opinion about players.
No one hates him, but he should not be playing for Arsenal. He should not be starting for Arsenal at least.
“Great stats” what “great stats”?
True nothing against the players, we should focus on the real culprit, once more we are sitting waiting for this man to make move, meantime we lost 3 valuable points, and today well I take the win but frankly an own goal and once more no clean sheet, we are far from being contenders why…… because of the arrogance of this man who does not want to see that he needs to reinforce the team if he wants more than just 3 place and the Cup we took from Hull
he finished the last season with 19.. spent 3 1/2 months on the sidelines.
People keep saying 20/25/30 goal a season striker or whatever… How is 19 not a great goal return from a player who missed such a large chunk of the season???
For me it’s just crazy!!
Or is it the tap-ins and header excuse?? If we’re talking difficulty in finishing, the Palace goal was a 9/10.
9/10 ??
Jesus, Benzema and Lewandowski pulled off better in preseason. It was a good finish but world class it wasn’t, nice footwork form the big man but other than that he was poor today. Bring on Benzema for some real class
If you watched Aguero against Chelsea then you will stop lying to yourself and admit that Giroud is not good enough,he scored a great goal but then went missing for the rest of the game!
It was good to see Aguero needing 6 attempts to score 1 goal. After being brainwashed on here I thought the likes of him, Costa, Kane, Rooney etc scored at least 2 goals with every shot they take :). Imagine the flak the “lampost” would get on here if he had missed 5 “sitters” – the term often used to describe his missed chances.
Yea or you could look at it for how it is….Aguero managed to get 6 shots away today because of his movement and ability to find space.
Hardly impressive of Giroud to take fewer shots is it? Means he’s not in nearly as may goal scoring opportunities than players like Aguero. Yet somehow you’ve attempted to gloss over that.
you are Johnstown1, those fools don’t know or appreciate what they have in Giroud. Aguero missed all those chances nobody said a world,but if Giroud missed half of that, then is not good enough.pathetic fans
You need to watch the game more critically if you really think that Mertesacker is one of our best players? Maybe perhaps take up another sport that is easier to follow.
I must admit to intensely disliking the modern use of yellow cards. I don’t like any player getting sent off for 2 yellow cards – for us or the opposition. It detracts from the game/spectacle for often pretty minor infringements. When the game is so rife with simulation you can see how teams are drilled to essentially try and get a player on a yellow card sent off. I am equally amazed at how nearly every tackle/challenge carries the possibility of a yellow card – almost seems a 50/50 toss of a coin nowadays for any duel that ends up with a player on the floor. Yellow cards should be for reckless endangerment and/or obvious cynical play in a dangerous area of the pitch.
I think the tackle is being
phased out of the game
which is fine by me.
Saves all the argument and injuries.
Arteta should not on the squad. It’s embarrassing how slow he is. DM is a must especially with Wilshere always being injured.
A DM and striker will give the squad a good morale boost. We can be genuine title contenders, Wegner just needs to pull the trigger.
City just strengthen with a purchase of another cb.
I think walcott ans chambo is the rested for the liverpool game as they are not as fit as cazorla and ramsey.
You could see our key player realized they need to refocus after retaining fa cup as well as community shield.
Even apart from today’s incidence, Wenger has formed a habit of substituting Coquelin in games, especially when we need a goal. Not a very good sign.
Yes. That’s why I don’t see him signing a true DM. Wenger is very attack minded manager
I can’t even remember last time he signed a Top DM. I suppose Flamini, the first time. Arteta was never a DM specialist.
Wenger prefers getting young DM for academy and spending on b2b cm. That’s why I thought he would sign Khedira for free. But on other hand we have Wilshere, Ramsey, Cazorla
I wish Wenger would just get Krychowiak, Carvalho, Busquets, Bender or some other top DM. My wish was for Kondogbia but he was quickly snapped up unfortunately
First of all an Arsenal fan should not “hate” any Arsenal player especially players that try their best.
Second, Mertsacker arguably was the best defender out there yesterday or at least was as good as all the other defenders yesterday
Giroud is NOT WC but scores goals for us. We would not have won two FA Cups and reached CL tournament last three years without him. He has scored nearly 60 goals for us so far.
Mein got …. Possibly the most idiotic statement I have ever read about a football match …mas long as mertesacker starts for arsenal we are guaranteed to be an underperforming team … Hate no …just can’t stand his all round third rate football corrupts this team
Wenger is as stubborn as a flies in wounded flesh he’ll ounce again disappointe everybody like he always do