Koscielny limped off today in France’s game against Germany, he was replaced at half time by Rami and has left Wenger worried due to a lack of options at the back. France were leading 1-0 at the time but went on to lose 2-1 against Germany, the game saw fellow Gunners Sagna, Mertesacker and Podolski all start and no injury reports for those 3 thankfully.
With Koscielny injured Arsenal are left with Mertesacker and Vermaelen as the only two fit first team centre-backs with next in line being reserve team player Sebestian Squillaci and younster Ignasi Miquel. Koscielny’s injury leads the decision to let Djourou go out on loan without bringing in a replacement look all the more questionable. Djourou may not have recovered his form of the 2010/11 season but is surely a better option then Squillaci, who played 9 minutes in the Premier League last season and Miquel who has not played in the Premier League since early last season and is still relatively untested at this point.
If Koscielny is out for the full 3 weeks it also raises the issue of who will play LB against Bayern Munich with many suggesting Vermaelen would be shifted out wide as Monreal is cup-tied, Gibbs injured and Santos a weak link. It leaves Arsenal with only 6 fully fit defenders in Monreal, Santos, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Sagna and Jenkinson and questions over whether Arsenal should have brought more defenders in the January transfer window.
Hopefully the injury will not be as bad as first suspected otherwise Arsenal will be very thin at the back in the up and coming weeks..
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Looks like Santos will start against Bayern… Oh noes!
Np about adding you on the article always like to reference good sources. Yeah santos against ribery would be interesting…. If interesting is the right word
What a joke wenger has become!
Even if Koscielny does recover it does question why Wenger thinks we can go half a season with only 3 fit CB;s, though 2 years ago Djourou and Koscielny player every game post Christmas I think everyone knows basic rule of 2 players per posistion so 4 CB. I really hope it just keeps him out of the weekend as koscielny despite making the odd mistake is a quality CB he has pace, power and the ability to carry ball out of defence. His passing range is far superior to Mertesacker.
Re. ‘His passing range is far superior to Mertesacker.’ This is not true. Koscielny is faster than Mertesacker and arguably better in one on ones but the german’s positional sense is second to none, his aerial dominance is obviously superior and his passing accuracy is far better than Koscielny’s. Koscielny almost always opts for a short pass to the nearest player and usually takes a first touch to do so whereas Mertesacker specializes in making an interception and finding a midfielder with one touch. You can compare their passing stats from last season here, although it is this season that Per has really improved his interception rate: http://blazingcannons.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/laurent-koscielny-vs-per-merteacker-vs-thomas-vermaelen-a-statistical-look/
In my opinion, I have noticed that when we play with Mertesacker teams press the ball until it gets to Mertesacker then they leave it as he slows down our tempo, he lacks the ability to pick up ball and move forward and drew an opposition team member in to free up space for a midfielder. I don’t think Mertesacker is as good as people make out in the air, yes he is tall but against tall and strong strikers ala Carroll he gets outmuscled and is found wanting. Positionalsu he is far superior to Kos or Vermaelen hands down and he does make some great interceptions with his long legs of his. As most bloggers says I feel he is the perfect foil for Kos/Verm but I think Wenger chooses to play Kos and Verm often in big games to try keep our tempo high. I see your point though and you do have stats to back you up which weakens my argument but still feel Koscielny helps our forward play more then Mertesacker and is a more complete defender due to his pace. Mertesacker is obviously a master as we play a high line at Arsenal and rarely is he caught out or his lack of pace shown which is due to his fine posistioning
This shows that Wenger Arsene is really a big FOOL.
Asshole!
I dont no what to say about wenger nd arsenal bord
Then say nothing!
Not a big deal! Miguel will make the bench, THe captain will be back. No worries Arsene is got you covered…
The dreaded “then” v “than” clanger! When did it get so hard to distinguish between the two? C’mon man!!!
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