Agreed on Koscielny's technical ability. He should do just as well against Swansea then. Absolutely no excuse for Wenger to drop him.
I think it's unfair to criticize his consistency this season when he has been brought into and taken out of the team so many times, and when he doesn't get a chance to put a run of games together.
This exact argument was used to defend Djourou a few Seasons back. We dont see the likes of United having this problem. The bring in players and rotate the squad without any issues.
That's not a fact it's an opinion. Statistical facts don't back that opinion up either. Regardless I'm not particularly happy with any of our CB's this term but in terms of consistency I would say Merts has been out best defender.
Statistics say that Mike Williamson is the 3rd best CB in the league. Statistics say that Andy Carroll is the 3rd best striker in the league.
I don't think statistics were the totality of his argument (hence the "either"). Look, it doesn't take a genius to see that all of our central defenders have been dreadfully inconsistent. In the last 4 months, they have been equally crap. At the start of the season, Mertesacker was very good and Koscielny was very poor. So based on this season you'd have to rate our defenders: Mertesacker Vermaelen Koscielny. Current form is: Koscielny Mertesacker Vermaelen. In terms of their overall quality as defenders, based on everything I've seen of them for club and country, all 3 are about equal.
One thing this thread proves is the difference of opinion different fans (even of the same team) can have about players. I think it needs a breakdown of the style of player Kos is to get to the bottom of it and in doing so I think I can prove why he is not the best CB in the PL. Here goes.... Kos is a one trick pony, which is that he attacks the ball using his pace. He is very good at attacking the ball except for headers at which he is average to good so gets a share of them but by no means the best. The reason we have so many errors when he and TV play is that this is what both of them like to do, but TV realises this and tries to play as the covering defender sometimes which is not his natural game but shows more awareness. When TV attacks the ball as the first defender Kos will nearly always do the same which means we have no second defender behind to cover passes or pick up the loose ball, which results in players running through to score. 9 times out of 10 it will be TV who tries to cover for Kos gung ho attitude and Kos rarely does the same. TV gets caught in 2 minds and gets the stick for it. Lets take that goal when we made the CC final as an example as it cost us a great chance of a trophy. Kos attacked the ball when he should have left it. Mert on the other hand naturally plays a more positional game so when Kos attacks the ball Mert will (try to) be there for the loose ball or pass providing extra cover. This is why he is the better partner for both TV and Kos. So Kos is not even the best all round defender at Arsenal as he is the only one who does not consider what the other defenders are doing. He is a good defender but in all honesty I don't think he has the brains to be a great one. I am quite happy for people to disagree with my assessment, but if you do please try to provide evidence of Kos ability to take account of what other team members are doing as this is where I think his shortcomings lie.
One thing this thread proves is the difference of opinion different fans (even of the same team) can have about players. I think it needs a breakdown of the style of player Kos is to get to the bottom of it and in doing so I think I can prove why he is not the best CB in the PL. Here goes.... Kos is a one trick pony, which is that he attacks the ball using his pace. He is very good at attacking the ball except for headers at which he is average to good so gets a share of them but by no means the best. The reason we have so many errors when he and TV play is that this is what both of them like to do, but TV realises this and tries to play as the covering defender sometimes which is not his natural game but shows more awareness. When TV attacks the ball as the first defender Kos will nearly always do the same which means we have no second defender behind to cover passes or pick up the loose ball, which results in players running through to score. 9 times out of 10 it will be TV who tries to cover for Kos gung ho attitude and Kos rarely does the same. TV gets caught in 2 minds and gets the stick for it. Lets take that goal when we made the CC final as an example as it cost us a great chance of a trophy. Kos attacked the ball when he should have left it. Mert on the other hand naturally plays a more positional game so when Kos attacks the ball Mert will (try to) be there for the loose ball or pass providing extra cover. This is why he is the better partner for both TV and Kos. So Kos is not even the best all round defender at Arsenal as he is the only one who does not consider what the other defenders are doing. He is a good defender but in all honesty I don't think he has the brains to be a great one. I am quite happy for people to disagree with my assessment, but if you do please try to provide evidence of Kos ability to take account of what other team members are doing as this is where the crux of my argument lies.
When a statistical correlation is completely ruined by taking out only one sample from the data (the 8-2 game e.g.) the correlation is proven to be baseless... I mean this is all very simple but TheBear is stubborn so no point in bringing that up again. I remember a 0-2 loss when 2 other defenders (incl. Vermaelen) were directly at fault for the goals and he brought up the "Koscielny statistic". And Kos had to play through half a season where Merts was shambolic pretty much coming to a new league, and Djorou was played out of position. I mean how removed from reality do you have to be to pin that to one guy, the guy who on actual gameplay was the most solid throughout? So even a completely weak statistical correlation is brought up against an "unliked" player, yet for example Szczesny by the same primitive use of statistics would have to be considered the absolute worst Arsenal goalkeeper in history. I mean even if I think Sz is way overrated in this board, that conclusion would be completely off the mark. People who have no clue about statistics really should refrain from using them to prove their baseless points.
ATM Our CBs on Form would be: 1. Kos, 2. Mert, 3. Miquel, 4. Verm On average this season: 1. Mert 2-3. Kos or Verm 4. Miquel I'd go with Kos' more agressive pacy style compliments with Mert's smarter yet slower interceptions
A clean sheet away to Swansea, a team that has never had a problem scoring against us. Koscielny played in a partnership with Mertesacker. Probably just a coincidence.
16th January 2013: Arsenal 1-0 Swansea Anyway, yes, they are the in-form pair right now. Two clean sheets in a row away from home - can't ask for any more than that!
Seriously, they do. Look at this, this is the website I go to to get stats, and gives players an overall performance ranking out of 10. Mike Williamson has a 7.34, making him the 3rd highest rated CB on the list, only behind Chico and Vertonghen. Andy Carroll has 7.44, making him the 3rd highest rated striker on the list, behind van Persie and Suarez. http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/25...erStatistics/England-Premier-League-2012-2013
Looks like they rate aerial duels pretty highly. That's why Carroll comes in high. If Peter Crouch was playing regularly, he'd be number 1. Isn't The Bear making his argument on the basis of goals scored against our defense while those defenders were playing? That's pretty unequivocal.
