Lord Koscielny: More Important Than You Think

Arsenal’s self proclaimed, “New Season” has gotten off to the best possible start by defeating Swansea on Saturday afternoon. By no means was it a vintage Arsenal performance; the score line of 1-0 was in fact very flattering to Swansea. The media pundits would have you believe that we scraped out a win, which is true in some sense. However, if we had taken all our chances the score would have been much higher.

Our debutants of Arteta, Mertesacker and Benayoun all looked dashing in the red and white, while their performances matched how they looked. Mertesacker looked assured at the back, barring the early chance Graham had in front of goal, which Szcznesy saved brilliantly.

Arteta seems to be the correct buy from the performance he put in. Right from the off Arteta won the ball in the middle of the park and dribbled a long way before sending Ramsey through. Ramsey was poor with the finish and wasted the good chance made by the Spaniard. The point stands however that Arteta could be midfielder that has been required for so long now.

While Arteta does not offer the kind of thrilling name that Fabregas or Nasri did when listed on the score sheet, his hard working play compliments his excellent passing variety fits in very well to the current Arsenal side.

At Arsenal, we’ve always been known to produce some of the best young talents available, talents that included Ashley Cole, Cesc Fabregas and Jack Wilshere. However, since the days of the Invincibles our side has been befallen with players that can’t seem to be able to win when it matters. Poor form in the closing months of spring have ruined many Premiere League title campaigns, while last year’s debacle in the Carling Cup final shows a lack of focus.

Arteta is a proven Premier League player that simply knows how to do his job and do it well. That kind of mentality may begin to rub off on our immensely talented youngsters and the change in attitude may be the reason trophies begin to arrive back at Highbury.

Now, you’re probably wondering why I titled my article, “Lord Koscielny.” Simple, his play will be very important to our success this year. With TV5 battling fitness issues, he will be a first choice CB, so much of the responsibility of maintaining the momentum from Swansea will fall on his defensive shoulders. I personally believe our Frenchman will be up to the task.

He had a rough first season at the Emirates; with TV5 being hurt Kos was paired with the ever-switching duo of Johan and Squid. Neither are the type of organizers that Kos plays best with. While Kos played fantastically against Liverpool and Barcelona, he struggled against mid-tabled opponents like Bolton. His most high profile error was obviously the mix up between Szcznesy and himself in the Carling Cup final.

This season though we have seen a confident and strong Koscielny, one that bosses with back line and makes very key interceptions. The first leg of the Udinese tie is the perfect example of how effective the Koscielny-Vermaelen partnership can be. While Koscielny was part of the beating we took at Old Trafford, he was hardly to be faulted for the entirety of that defeat. Both he and Johan were caught moving slowly on their offside trap, but Arsenal has always had problems with their line. Koscielny’s positional play will improve with the intelligence that Mertesacker brings to the team. While Koscielny adds his great knowledge of being able to read open play situations.

This season, according to Whoscored.com, Koscielny has a 92% pass completion and has won 91% of his aerial duels. With numbers like these, I think it shows that our #6 has finally completed his adaption to the English game, expect a big season from Koscielny.

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