Arsene Wenger says Laurent Koscielny’s brilliant overhead kick was a great present to himself, as the Arsenal captain drew his side level on his 31st birthday.
The French international scored his 21st goal for the club to help bring about 3 points against the Saints, and the manager was quick to praise his contribution.
“What I liked, he made that at 1-0 down,” he said. “Not when you have scored three or four already and that shows he is a special character. It was his birthday, and he gave himself a great present!”
Not only did he score, he showed once again what a fantastic defender he is, something that Wenger was keen to highlight.
“I think he is one of our best players,” he continued. “He is one of the most experienced players we have now here.
“When I think about the squad, when you choose a captain as well, you think of one with a good chance to play in every single game and that’s not easy nowadays. He has committed to the club for a long contract and he has always improved every year.
“Today he is an outstanding centre-back.”
Koscielny is a doubt for tomorrow’s clash with PSG in the Champions League because of a swollen eye. “He will be a little bit of a concern,” said Wenger. “The eye is already very swollen and it is closed up.”
There will be a further update later when the manager meets the press in Paris.
Some players are easy to love and Kos is certainly one of them..
I am glad and proud that I have a jersey of him much before he became so called ‘world class’. Always liked and trusted you Kos.. and always will..
I just looked this up, and Kos has now scored twice as many league goals as AOC, despite only being at the club one season longer. Not to rag on the Ox, just great stuff from Kos.
In that case, perhaps the Ox deserves to be ragged on a bit… Really worrying stuff. Still holding out hope deep inside though…
It seems like yesterday when Kos was scoring own goals against Szczesny and I remember when people were calling rubbish after that League Cup final against Birmingham. I’ve always believed in him and he’s the perfect captain for us. I do think he needs to be a little more vocal though. I haven’t completely given up on Ox yet. The lad’s obviously got the talent. I have no idea what’s happening but confidence might be a key factor. Maybe he just needs a good game. I’d probably play him in the League Cup against some smaller opposition. Remember when he… Read more »
Do we now have our CB partnership fixed for the next 3-4 years? Without trying to jinx it… Plus decent back-up as well in Gabs and Holding (possibly Chambers too).
We need to have in mind that you cannot guarantee 3 more years of peak performance from Kols at 31.
Arteta wasn’t pushed out when he was not contributing to his best. So was the case with rosicky(He could but he didn’t play enough). Chamberlain wasn’t shown the door either. See how many years the club waited on Diaby. This club is different. People dont get kicked out. I believe that they believe trophies aren’t everything. It’s like a well knit family. And I hope it stays that way. And I know that’s one of the main reasons why I love this club.
That’s why we go 13 years without winning the league and yet feel we are a big team. Big teams win trophies. We’re starting to turn to liverpool reminiscing about the past….at least they have a ucl title in the last 11 years.
Hope he is OK for the PSG game. We have realistic chance to get something there. They are out of shape and not doing great in the league at the moment
How Koscienly has never made the pfa team of the year for the last 3 seasons, I’ll never understand. This guy is so criminally underrated. Can’t think of 2 defenders better than him in the league at the moment. Definitely in the top 5 CBs in the world.
But… but… John Stones?
But guys just imagine if he was world class. /sarcasmfont
Hard to imagine when we first signed him from ligue 2 for 10 million pounds everyone was saying fucking who?!?! Wengers lost it.
Yet still some of the gooners saying the same thing and writing off Perez after only 60 minutes on the pitch. To be fair, i thought perez worked hard and was trying to get involved. Showed some deft touches but should have pulled the trigger on a few occasions.
Kos’s rise shows what a great coach Wenger is, even if you have doubts over his tactical choices. Kos is just the latest example of a unknown player coming to Arsenal and then becoming world class. starting with Anelka and Vieira , through fabregas and toure to todays Kos and Monreal. Hector and iwobi could both be the next ones on this list. There are countless players who Wenger has done this for. of course they have not all been success stories (Walcott is just one glaring example) but no other PL manager has done this to the degree Arsene… Read more »
Now ..just watch and wonder how Mou destroy pogba..!
If Lolo was in Real or Barca or Bayern or even one of the two Manchester, he’d be considered as the God of CBs. But he is just at Arsenal… But we love him and we know the LUCK we’ve got to have him!
Amazing player. No arrogance at all. Like a ruthless assassin!
Get another one for us tomorrow!
He’s a model professional. No nonsense, just does his job very, very well. Love that guy!
He was very lucky that the two boot studs somehow managed to plant themselves on either side of his eyeball – could have been a lot worse.
We were also very lucky in that the ref allowed play to go on that resulted in the penalty. I’m pretty sure that can be classified as a head injury and play should have been stopped immediately.
All in all just glad that it appears nothing more than a bit of bruising.
that incident should have been a penalty anyway, but also long should have had a free kick, which would have changed everything. but fuck him, he did the same to kozzer last year got away with it and scored from it changing the whole game
The epitome of class
What a player. 29 already, as Blogs sadly noted. What a shame we can’t cryo-freeze the man. Our best CB in years and years.
He’s 31.
Already loved him before his heroic acts in this match. Now I think starting to get obsessed with him. Dear me…..?
Hope Kos has recovered and can play with a mask on. We need his experience in this big away game.
A positive result to start off our Champions League campaign is important imho. #COYG
I hear it’s mustafi’s birthday tomorrow! Giroud’s, perez’s and Hector’s as well!
PSG 1 Arsenal fc 5, anyone?
Page 0-5 Arsenal FC
PSG*
Worth tempering expectation on the new lads.
Remember Le Boss had a torrid time with us first season with plenty of reds and own goals.