A massive big up to the Coq, who proved his quality again with another stellar performance in Manchester. He is starting making me doubt the need for us to spend big on a DM in the summer, maybe we need a top quality CM to play alongside but not instead of the Coq.
He had a very good game and put a really good shift in. He is still young and largely unproven but if he can be consistent until the end of the season, it won't do much wrong for the Coqs cause. But there is a part of me that thought we had a few gears we could to go up attacking wise yesterday, if our defense and DM were more authoritarian. We still miss a presence in midfield to give out instructions and calm proceedings. We were clearly the better team but allowed ourselves to get nervous which led to unnecessary mistakes. Having a Vieira/Keane type player would have made a huge difference yesterday and I think we would have battered them 3 to 4 nil comfortably. But all in all we look good
Kondogbia two weeks ago showed what a true dominating quality CM can do. We don't have that at the mo. Whether that is someone to replace Coq or play alongside, I don't really care... they'll rotate anyway depending on the oppo. But we need someone top class.
This for me is the missing ingredient in our midfield, the dominant destroyer in midfield. We need that to progress to the next level in my opinion. We showed patches of brilliance yesterday when Cazorla and Sanchez were linking up and Oxo was making those deadly runs. But there is definitely more to come from this crop of players and yesterday showed signs but still have some way to reach their true potential.
Dominant destroyer sounds like Fellaini! Don't want any of that nonsense near us. Why is it down to one player to calm nerves and push the team forward? Should be a group effort imo but, for what it's worth, I though Coquelin was rock solid throughout, both physically and mentally. Schneiderlin, whilst a very good player, certainly doesn't appear to be one in the mould of Keane or Viera. Love how Kondogbia is the must have player based on the one game we've seen him play in..said it once, will say it again. I thought Monaco were sh*te.
So far ever since Coq has been in the team, our form has been title winning form, we are more on form than Chelsea in the last 3 months, so can't really ask for much more.
Kondogbia is very very good. I watched him at the Emirates cup against and he was immense there as well. Watched him boss the MF with Pogba for the French U21 team. He's the real deal. Schneiderlin is similar to Matic. He neat, technically outstanding. He can sit or play B2B. He's decent on dead balls. Excellent passer. He is the missing link. I never seen any play as tailor-made for Arsenal as he is. I would do everything to get him in.
Missing link? I thought we'd been pretty good since Coquelin came back. As A87 says, title winning form. Bearing in mind it's his first "proper" season for us too so you'd hope he will only improve. Edit to add: Plenty of stats out there to back up his form over the likes of Matic/Schneiderlin. If you're a stats man that is.
Le Coq was excellent last night. He's still young too. He still has the potential to mature into a TOP class DM. I would like Wenger to add a 'physical presence' into our squad though. I think Kondogbia is a great shout as he can play Box to Box or DM as can Sissoko or Lars Bender. For squad balance adding a big athlete in midfield to our very technically accomplished squad would do wonders.
I am not calling for a replacement for our Coq. I want a complement. There are gonna be tight games against the likes of Chelsea where playing Coq + Schneiderlin gives us great security. I also think with Morgan the likes of Ozil and Sanchez can express themselves without worrying about what is behind them. Our injury record also allows us cover there.
Fellaini is a very good midfielder... I'd take him at Arsenal any day of the week to fulfill a role. By not wanting any of that 'nonsense' near us do you mean his supposed lack of technique? As opposed to the infinite levels of technique on display from the likes of Welbeck? Where is Kondogbia stated as being the 'must have player'? If you read my comment, I said he dominated the middle of the park and that sort of player is the one we lack. I didn't say we lacked specificaly him based on that one performance. However, he is top drawer whether you're going to accept it or not and he's proved that over far more than just one game against us.
Using the phrase 'title winning form' is completely pointless anyway. How are we in title winning form? Because we've quite a lot of points from our recent games? That doesn't win you titles. Winning tons of points over the season wins you titles. Winning quite a few games in a sequence is done by lots of teams over a season... including us most seasons. Yet we haven't won the title for over a decade, and we won't this year either. I don't care about being in title winning form (which several teams are in right now), I care about actually challenging for the title.
Flamini is not good enough simply put and Arteta is getting towards the end of his career (at the top level anyway) so I think another DM in the Summer is a must.
I agree with you on Kondogbia, but not on Fellaini. Fellaini is a decent midfielder and would be a decent squad player for us but would you really want him as a first team regular in our side? He is too cumbersome on the ball, has a bad habit of elbowing people and makes too many mistimed challenges. At Everton he looked like he fitted in very well because his height and strength was crucial to their brand of football but he's looked well out of his depth at United. If we want to play fast, slick entertaining football, Fellaini is not the player we should be prioritising. Kondogbia/Schneiderlin are the ones, in my view.
To be fair, Coq was not in the team during first 3 months, but then when he has been in the side, we have been on title form, basically ever since he has acted as our dmf, we have gone on title winning form, even better form than Chelski, so can't really ask much more of Coq.
We still have big games to come this season, Chelski, Liverpool, Cup semi-final, Manunited away again, and some tricky EPL games like West-Ham home, Newcastle away, all the type of games that will tell us plenty more about Coq. So there's still some way to go, let's wait until the end of the season to get a proper judgement. If we win the cup, and say end 3rd, then I'd say Coq has made a very very good case for himself to be THE number 1 DMF at Arsenal, the stats-results-form won't lie after that.
Yes i felt this a few weeks back. He is playing as well as any DM so who could possibly take his place in the team now?
I also agree that a top class DM/destroyer is needed not to necessarily replace Le Coq but to compete with him. As has been said above, we will be losing both Flamini and Arteta soon and Diaby is a write-off. That's 3 places available in our midfield. We certainly don't need anymore creative midfielders so why not go for a DM to add extra competition.
I thought Arteta had just signed a new contract? That means he will likely play next year and no world class Dm is going to come as a back up. I will maintain that Arsenal do not need any players they just need confidence and a winning habit.
