What a pairing Mustafi and Koscielny will be!
Arsenal put in their best efforts as a team today in order to maintain a fantastic run of form, with a spectacular victory over London Rivals Chelsea. The Gunners beat the Blues 3-0, with three first half goals in a dominant performance. Watching Arsenal today was like a blast from the past and although the entire team as a whole should be praised for the collective performance, the pairing at centre back particularly stood out for me.
Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi performed brilliantly on the pitch tonight, both as individuals and as a partnership. They were seen to be strong in the air, quick on the pace and precise with their tackles. The pair worked well together to position themselves correctly against a difficult Diego Costa, who can offer plenty of tactics to get ahead of a defender. The pair were well prepared to get the better of him in the air and on the ground and worked well to team up as a matter of challenging him, rather than leaving one or the other vulnerable to his antics and capabilities.
Let’s not forget that Mustafi was a late signing in the window for Arsenal and so the two haven’t had too much time to get strike up a confident pairing. However from the way they played today, they looked like a partnership that has been strong for years. In fact, I find it a shame that Wenger seems to have found a fantastic partner for the ever consistent Koscienly, who has turned into an absolute world class centre back during his time at Arsenal, relatively late on into the Frenchman’s career. Koscienly has passed thirty now, meaning that over the next few years, it’s likely his capabilities will fall, whilst Mustafi on the other hand is only 24 years old. It’s a shame that we won’t see this partnership last for more than potentially a few more seasons, however lets relish in the present with the fact that these two are performing to the highest calibre, against strong opposition, here and now.
The pair done fantastically to block out the aggressive and in your face Diego Costa, who loves to use his physical strength to dominate his game against the opposition defence. The pair did not get wound up by his antics, as we have seen in previous seasons, nor did either of them pay attention to his frustrations on the pitch.
What a world class performance by the entire Arsenal team today, but specifically well done to our two boys at the back in central defence.
BY AH
Fantastic performance by the whole team, we starting to hit top gear and I think other teams should definitely be afraid of us. COYG
#Kostafi
Mussielny
Good article.
Our defense was our strongest point, and it wasn’t just the CBs alone. The whole team pressed aggressively and defended in numbers.
Every time we press like that, we win! #FACT. Thanks to Alexis. He has become the conductor/coordinator of our press from the front.
Props to the CBs though. They kept (the very dangerous) Diego Costa quiet and ineffective.
Not only ineffective but totally flustered. When Kosc bumped Costa and he took off chasing him and screaming at him like a child, only to see a yellow card, I was just as happy as when we scored.
I noticed a trend here yesterday, and it was very worrying to say the least.
Before the game started, Wenger got sticks from many commenters on here for the line-up he put out. I too wasn’t that convinced about playing Alexis as CF.
Surprisingly, it turned out that line-up was super-effective after all and Alexis opened the scoring from the CF position!
Surprisingly still, very few came out to praise the manager for proving us wrong. #BAFFLING.
Aren’t we suppose to critic the team when it’s doing wrong and praise them when they doing fine? Aren’t we Arsenal fans?
We have a great defence. Bellerin, Montreal, koscielny, mustafi and Coquelin look awesome.
Mert will be very important also when he comes back with his experience. Also Holding looks good as a backup
And of course Cech and Ospina are great goalkeepers
Defensively we rock
You forgot Gibbs. He averted an almost certain goal at the end.
@RKW is quick to call Theo a “whippet”. I get it! These players frustrate us at times.. many times, even. But when they do fine, shouldn’t we express appreciation?
I’d like to see someone like RKW who’s always called Theo a “whippet” come out to commend Walcott for his work-rate, defensive effort and goal yesterday. Prove your’e a true Arsenal fan!
Peace.
@synthiagoCazorla..HUMVN,Machine
I am not a fan of Walcott myself, but have no problem in acknowledging his recent upturn in form, which I do appreciate. But I would have to be a fool to let just a handful of games change my overall opinion of this player. Walcott has been poor for a long time, he hasn’t been worth anywhere near 140K a week, and has never full filled his potential.
If Walcott performs at a high level over a long period, then I would be happy for Arsenal to keep him, but the truth is that Walcott has only ever had one good season at Arsenal, and shouldn’t be an Arsenal player anymore. One also shouldn’t forget that he started last season well, and then completely tailed off, resulting in a really awful season for him.
Thirdman, a few weeks ago on this site the overwhelming opinion was that walcott was not wanted at arsenal. You have made a very valid point that he has only had a few good games and are beng consistent in your opinion. I suspect that the thumbs down are from fans who a few weeks ago wanted him out of the club.
My favourite bit of defending was when Pedro ran through with the ball and Bellerin just caught him up and got the ball back
@RVP
It reminds me of when he stopped Gomis(Swansea) the same way…Dude is scary quick.
Just watched a video titled “Kostafi vs Diego Costa”…Man. they owned his ace somethin fierce…
I think it benefits arsenal to have Mustafi and Kos pairing, because it allows them to press high in the attack with out having any major fear of pace beating them through the middle.
If arsenal can show the same intensity of what they have shown against Chelsea, i guarantee we would be the league winners, the other good thing is we have players competing for game time which can only benefit arsenal in the season long run, imaging a Coquelin coming off and a Xhaka stepping into his position