Laurent Koscielny: Is His Time Up?

The question posited in the article heading may raise a few eyebrows. Nevertheless, I think it is a very pertinent and serious question we need to be asking ourselves.

This is his 8th year here, he's been a fantastic servant for the club, he's been part of some memorable Arsenal performances and has certainly been a vital figure for us in the heart of defence. He was a big part of the team that ended the nine-year trophy drought for us, too.

The fact remains, however, he is 32 years old, has a well-documented Achilles problem that he's had to take painkillers for over the past couple of years and his performances have been extremely erratic. This season especially he has been culpable of some disastrous individual mistakes and we're not even half-way through the season yet.

I'm not sure whether age is catching up with him or if the painkillers for his Achilles inflammation is losing its effect, but either way, we need to start thinking about if he needs to be benched.

Assuming people think he does need a break from first-team action, my next question would be who should replace him? Do we start looking around in the transfer market in January? Should we wait until the Summer to find a longer-term replacement? Or do we look internally for a solution?

Chambers and Holding have looked solid when they've played in their last couple of appearances. But obviously, performing in the League Cup every so often is completely different to playing in the Premier League where the stakes are higher and you are under significantly more pressure to perform.

This is something that is evidently a prominent issue within the team. What are your thoughts on how to resolve this?

 

A pundit said he was inconsistent and I thought he was crazy. after I said that, Kos the boss has been very inconsistent. Not sure if it is a patch of bad play or he is off. Remember the year John terry was written off and next year was on of the best defenders. Could just be a blip.

 

Our defence will never be good until the defenders in it are coached properly. Let Kosc soldier on until we're managed by someone with half a clue what they're doing who can then buy the defenders he wants.

 

He's still quality but has always been useless in the air. Kos needs to play alongside a larger more aerially competent CB - Not a small spanish fullback.

 

I guess this is what I'm trying to say - whether it's down to poor coaching or a dip in form, the fact of the matter is Koscielny is underperforming when he is meant to be one of the first names on the team sheet every week.

If we continue to play him, he will be a liability at the back and we will leak more goals IMO.

So do we bench him and let him have a break, perhaps give Holding/Chambers a shot or do we need to start looking at a long-term solution for him?

Because whilst Terry was a fantastic defender up until his mid-30s, Koscielny relies far more on his speed and agility than Terry ever did, especially as we prefer to play a high line. Yet Kos looks to have lost a yard of pace and is certainly more rash than he was before.

My own view is that we should give him a breather, let one of the other centre-halves step in and perhaps start looking for another centre-back in the Summer. We can't ignore that he has an Achilles problem and will be 33 at the start of next season. With Mertesacker retiring and Chambers future looking uncertain, I think another CB is a must.

 

Although I agree to an extent, he is still making uncharacteristic mistakes each game for a player of his calibre.

He needs to be dropped, even if it's temporarily.

 

Koscielny is probably one of two or three players who are actually of the standard expected at Arsenal atm. Benching him would be a ridiculous decision, but yes we need to manage him and his injuries. Other than that, he's a guaranteed starter.

 

To achieve what exactly ?

 

Sorry, but I completely disagree with this.

Over the tenure of his Arsenal career, yes, he has been fantastic for us. But he has been poor recently and his form last season was also very hit and miss. He should not be a guaranteed starter just because he's been good for us previously. If anything, that way of thinking is counterproductive and dangerous.

Benching him would give him a chance to have a breather and an opportunity to ease his pain from his recurring problem, whilst it would give one of the other players a chance to make their case to be in the first-team. There is virtually no downside to this situation. I'm not saying he should be benched permanently.

And regardless of whatever we choose to do with him, we still need another centre-half next season.

 

You've just said yourself we need to manage his injuries, so logically, he cannot be a guaranteed starter every week anyway.

 

See absolutely no value whatsoever in benching Koscielny. It would be a totally counter productive move in my opinion, he's probably our best defender and leaving him out of the team would simply serve to weaken us.

 

We need to manage his injuries, that means keeping him fresh for the important games and resting him for the Carabou cup etc. It doesn't mean benching him

 

You're basing your argument on his reputation for us, rather than his form.

Sometimes benching players when they're underperforming has a positive effect on them. Gives them the chance to re-evaluate things, freshen up etc. It's been done before by high-profile managers dropping their star players (temporarily) and I think it would give him a massive boost in the long run, whilst also giving the second string players a chance to shine.

 

What about congested fixture lists like we have over the Xmas period and in periods of the new year as well? There will be important fixtures there too, not just Carabao cup etc.

Part of the reason I am suggesting to bench him is to not overplay him and worsen his injury worries.

 

No, I'm basing it on him being our best defender. He's not having a bad run of form, yes he's made some mistakes, but show me one Arsenal player that hasn't ?
Benching him would simply weaken our defence even further.

 

Well that's different from benching him because you think his form is ****. Resting him is something altogether different.

 

You think he's been our best defender based on his recent form? We're clearly not watching the same player then.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree here then because I have been thoroughly underwhelmed by him this season. In fact, this is probably the worst I've seen him play since his debut season for us.

Ok, fair enough. Well I've given my reasons for why he should be benched and I think I have given valid reasons. If you don't agree, then that's your prerogative.

 

No, I don't agree with you mate.

 

They're not mutually exclusive. As I alluded to earlier in the article, I partially think he's been making errors because of the Achilles problem causing him issues, which is then affecting his performances.

 

As I've said, if he's carrying an injury then he needs to be rested. But you seemed to be suggesting that he should be benched because of poor form. I disagree with that because I don't think his form has been particularly poor. I think the whole team have been quite poor at times, but singling out Koscielny and dropping him on the back of that, would just make us weaker imo.