Francis Coquelin has praised the character of the Arsenal team after the 4-1 win over Hull at the weekend.
The Gunners were cruising at 2-0 up against 10 men, but got a bit of a fright when the home side were awarded a penalty late on. Robert Snodgrass closed the gap to a single goal, but Arsenal’s response was to score two more.
This is what pleased the Frenchman, who said it showed the team had the mettle to respond.
“It was a good three points,” he told Arsenal Player. “It was a difficult game, obviously the red card made it a bit easier for us but it was a tough match so it was really pleasing to get the win.
“It could have been nervy, but I think in the last few weeks we have shown our character, in the last two games we were behind and came back into it.
“Today we showed that even when a team comes back at us we have the character to finish it off. So that’s good for the future and now we can concentrate on the next games coming up.”
Coquelin also revealed how he shouted at Granit Xhaka to shoot before the Swiss midfielder lashed home his first Arsenal goal. It’s clear this encouragement made all the difference as the Swiss international buried the ball in the back of the net from 30 yards.
As such, we would like Coquelin to shout at the bloke whose alarm keeps going off on our road. Maybe then he might get the overly-sensitive thing fixed because it goes off when a seagull passes too close and it’s driving me round the bend.
It’s legal to set fire to somebody’s house if the alarm keeps going off, right? RIGHT?!
Love le coq. He’s going to be such an important player for us this year even with the midfield competition he’ll inevitably face. Loved seeing us close out the game on Saturday with Xhaka, Coq, Elneny all on the pitch – been a while since we’ve been that physical in the centre of the park.
Coq would know when it’s time to shoot
For a midfield destroyer whose main responsibility is to break up play and cover for the defence, he was found in some very advanced positions against Hull – with his shot inside the box leading directly to the penalty.
That was probably down to Arsene’s instructions rather than inept positional awareness but it’s definitely not a tactic I’d like to see against good counter attacking sides.
It’s well known that it is legal to set fire to people’s houses even without the alarms.
Arson knows…
Top Top Top quality….
I so much love this guy. Don’t know why people hate him so much. After wilshere he maybe most passionate about Arsenal. Did anyone else notice how he straight up went to Sanchez to talk to him after his penalty miss at the stroke of half time? In my opinion this guy is proper team player who gives his 100% every match.
Really thank you too for describing Coq well
I know my Coq well
Please, shout at Granit against Chelsea! COYG
It was an amazing performance from the boyz.. Hope they keep the fire burning
I reckon Xhaka must be banging them in from distance in training all the time since Coq shouts at him to shoot from 30 yards.
I like Coquelin when he doesn’t run forward and stays behind to protect the back four. Having said this, I am 100% certain that Xhaka is a superior player who adds a new dimension to our game, the kind of player a big club needs. Xhaka must start and then let either Coq, Santi or Ramsey fight for the other central midfield position.
Wenger is not going to let Ramsey on the bench. He rarely did. Santi will have to share his game time.
NOOOOOOOO Coq we are pleased with your character!
And in German as well. “Shiessen, SCHIESSEN!!!”.
Wunderbar!
TGSTEL wont celebrate “too much” if he scores……..poor Nicklas, still deluded!
Very under appreciated player