He is done at this level. Absolutely finished.
That was genuinely the worst performance I can remember from him since his first season at Arsenal.
I had a feeling this game would have come way too soon for him, especially as he wasn't really tested against Qarabag, but he was way off the pace.
He's 33-years old and had just come back from an 8 month lay-off against a motivated, rejuvenated Southampton team. I honestly think 18-year old Zach Medley wouldn't have even performed that atrociously. He was at fault for all 3 goals
Emery made some big decisions today which backfired horribly on us, but that discussion is for another article.
I don't think Kos should play for us again IMO.
January transfer window can't come soon enough. We desperately need defenders. Especially because of the unprecedented amount of injuries we are getting right now.
Laurent Koscielny
posted on 16/12/18
He was a shoe in for the world cup as a STARTER for France.
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No he wasn't you idiot
posted on 16/12/18
I think personnel wise, we are ok.
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Injury wise, we are not.
Thing is I don't actually disagree with a lot of your post, but Koscielny shouldn't be near the first team. Not now, not any point in the future. He's been a great servant to the club, but at this age and with his injury worries, he won't solidify us defensively.
We really need to be looking at getting a better centre-half in. Probably two if we can.
posted on 16/12/18
Cba with any of our defenders bar Sokratis tbh. All have big weaknesses.
posted on 16/12/18
Possible he's done at this level, but way too early to tell. Heavy legs and lack of sharpness can realistically account for the three goals.
Yes, he was beaten for all of them but the rest of the time weren't coming back from a lengthy lay off, but yet they still kept letting Southampton players run at us and pick out those crosses with ease.
Kos was bad today yes, but the performance was a symptom of our problems, he isn't the cause of them. We've been poor defensively for a long time now and ask too much of our CBs as it is, let alone when they're coming back from an injury like that in a make shift defence that's got little protection.
posted on 16/12/18
Bit over top going in so hard on him for this game. No defender would look solid after a bad injury and not having played for months.
But you’re right he was shocking. He seemed completely unaware of any Southampton attackers when they were in the box. which can’t be exactly be written off entirely because he’s not match fit. If he was getting done for pace, you could cut him more slack. But his awareness was totally gone today. I’ll let him off a bit as he’s obviously not as sharp as he probably could be. But I think he probably is done, and should just be 3rd/4th choice this season. We need CBs very badly in January. Kos can’t be relied upon, and neither can mustafi.
posted on 16/12/18
He was shocking for all 3 saints goals. If he got outpaced or some CF did him with some skill i'd say ok hes abit rusty but it was 3 crosses into the box and 3 times he lost his man with faking ease.
The last goal in particular was some dross play all around. He had 1 man to mark. He even looked at him and then still didnt bother. Yea Leno also made a mistake but if he didnt go for it it was a free header and most likely a goal.
posted on 16/12/18
comment by 5-2 (U10698)
posted 6 hours, 28 minutes ago
Looks like we found out today what was the problem with our defence throught the years. It was all Koscielny.
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Yea because Koscielny has been playing all season for us. The amount of goals we have conceded after this amount of games is surely an Arsenal record. The defending is shambolic.
Kos was horrendous today but anybody with a bit of sense was fearful that was gonna happen when he was playing in a back 3 with Lichtsteiner and Xhaka. 33 year old crocked Kos was still the quickest player in our back 3 which says a lot. And then he played in a back 4 with the above players still on either side of him. After his first game in 9 months against a rejuvenated Southampton team that always beat us anyway.
No way should Kos be playing for us anymore though. Not on a regular basis. Against pub teams in cup competitions I’d play him but that’s about it. Unfortunately our current defensive crisis gives us no option but to play him.
posted on 16/12/18
Bats, genuine question - do you not think a player like Zak Medley would have been a better option than a 33-year old centre-half who'd come back from an 8-month injury? People may say its hindsight and it may have been risky throwing him in the deep end, but a lot of people had reservations about Kos prior to this because of how long he'd spent out of action.
Let's be honest. One game back against a horrendous Qarabag team with nothing to play for was not going to be preparation for a match like this.
If Medley starts, I am almost 100% convinced that 2 of those 3 goals are not conceded purely because of his height and the fact he would be a lot fresher.
Kos's positioning and general lack of sharpness was way worse than I anticipated.
posted on 16/12/18
In hindsight I would have played myself as I wouldn’t have been much worse than Kos today.
Unfortunately it was a gamble that did not pay off for Emery but he would need to have balls the size of grapefruits to bench our club captain for a teenager that AFAIK has not played for this first team yet
posted on 16/12/18
Btw everyone was complaining about Ozil not playing again today but he was embarrassing when we came on and somehow played worse than Iwobi
He’s reaching Alexis at United territory where it’s no longer a case of getting the best out of him but finding the best way to get him out of the club