Laurent Koscielny – Analysis Of ‘Bosscielny’ + Rating Out Of 10

Guest blog post by @totallyArsenal for o-posts.net:

Hi Gooners. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be writing my views on every Arsenal player to have played over 20 games this season and will give my own rating out of 10 for each. Today, I look at French centre back Laurent Koscielny.

Laurent Koscielny:

Laurent Koscielny joined Arsenal at the beginning of last season and many fans thought he would never be where he is today. After a slow start to his Arsenal career he eventually formed a partnership with Johan Djourou after Thomas Vermaelen got injured.

In the first few months, Koscielny was starting to warm to the fans until the February 27th 2011. Arsenal finally got to Wembley in the final of the Carling Cup and faced an average Brimingham side. Despite being below par for much of the game, our first trophy in six years was within touching distance until the 90th minute, when a mix up between Koscielny and Szczesny let the ball slip free to Obafemi Martins who scored the easiest goal of his life and gave Birmingham the Cup.

A lot of fans were venting their anger in Laurent’s direction but by myself, I thought, this could go two ways. It could either ruin his career or it could make him come back twice as strong. And it turned out to be the later as he improved in every game until the end of the season and had one of his best games to date against Barcelona, keeping Lionel Messi in his back pocket.

This season, the 25-year-old has been the spine of Arsenal’s defence and has even managed to grab himself a goal and an assist. His goal happened to be Arsenal’s first of 2012. The talented defender has been up there with Kompany and Lescott this season and has made 78 tackles in 29 games so far this campaign. 20 more than Kompany (58) and 30 more than Lescott (48).

What I like most about Koscielny is that he is so underrated and strikers don’t see him as a threat but when they face him, they struggle as much as they would against the likes of Puyol. A lot of people joke about him on Twitter saying he is keeping people like Messi, Ba, Aguero, Suarez, Holt and Drogba in his back pocket. Gooners even renamed him as “Bosscielny”.

Let’s be honest, Koscielny is by far the most improved player of the season. His partnership with Vermaelen has been vital in our run to 3rd place and many Arsenal lovers would say he’s been just as good, if not better, than Vermaelen this season. I hope they can continue their partnership next season.

My rating for Koscielny this season: 8.5/10