Maybe they do things differently in France, maybe the Arsenal and France international defender has a character as spiky as his hairdo and is always falling out with his friends and calling them names. In fact, the disciplinary record of Laurent Koscielny would back that theory up, as it was revealed the other day in a Daily Mail report that our central defender tops the list of Premier League penalties conceded since 2010.
Koscielny has spoken about his unwanted record, as reported by ESPN, and the way the 29-year old Gunner responded to the news was fairly tongue in cheek, mentioning the Guinness Book of Records and suggesting that his unfortunate habit only matters in a close game.
Koscielny said, “It’s true that I’ve given away a large number of penalties. I don’t know if there’s a category for that in the Guinness Book of Records.
“Between Arsenal and France, I must have played 200 matches and given away eight penalties. It’s true that that’s a lot. If I could give them away when we are 4-0 up it would be better.”
So taking his jokey statement into consideration, I think we can safely assume that his other claim, that Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho are actually friends is not really true. Like I say, they would certainly have a funny way of showing it, with insults flying and them pushing each other around on the touchline as happened at Stamford Bridge a few days ago.
Koscielny said, “There’s a long friendship between them.
“It’s one of those things that happens in a game. It came about after a firm tackle by Cahill on Sanchez, and the coach was annoyed because Alexis had had the same thing done to him three days earlier against Galatasaray and the defender had only been booked. That’s why Arsene lost it a bit.”
It does make you think about our poor disciplinary record as well, because it often seems that Arsenal are more sinned against than sinners, but we seem to get the wrong end of more decisions. Do we need to be a bit more smart in the way we commit fouls? Now that is something that Wenger could learn from his Chelsea counterpart.