Unai Emery has stressed the importance of Laurent Koscielny after the captain made his long-awaited comeback in the 1-0 win over Qarabag on Thursday night.
The 33 year old played 72 minutes and looked delighted to be back out on the pitch after a long rehabilitation from what was a very serious injury.
His return is timely for the Spaniard too however, as he’s without Rob Holding for the rest of the season after his cruciate ligament injury, and in the very short term both Mustafi and Sokratis are suspended for Sunday’s visit to Southampton.
Speaking ahead of that game, Emery said, “It’s very important for us to have Laurent Koscielny back because he’s our captain, he has experience.
He’s, for us, one important player in the group. Him coming back is very important for us because he’s been training with us for the past month.
“But we also need to start with him helping us on the pitch in the games, and it’s very important for us that he can play with us.”
Emery will have the advice of his medical team who will assess his reaction to playing competitive football again, but in the medium term they believe there’s no reason why he can’t get back to his best.
Speaking on the brilliant new documentary, ‘Laurent Koscielny | Stronger‘ – available on the official website, club doctor Gary O’Driscoll is very positive about the recovery he’s made.
“It’s not very easy to say this, but actually an enforced period of rehabilitation and recuperation can actually help a player extend his career and help a player to concentrate on areas of his career that potentially could have been improved,” he said.
“His speed, his pace, his agility, his endurance. So, while we can’t say for certain that he’ll come back, with all our markers at the moment there is no deficit there whatsoever at this stage.
“In fact, in certain areas he’s looking stronger. His attitude is so positive, we’re all so positive and there’s no reason to believe whatsoever that he can’t become the player he was, if not better.”
Fingers crossed, and do check out the film if you have a chance, it’s well worth your time.
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If he is better than before that will be awesome.
But happy to accept the Kos we’ve had for the years before his injury.
Hopefully the rehabilitation/rest will prevent the recurrence of his ongoing muscle strain he was suffering from regularly last season.
His years of experience and ability should be a real advantage for the rest of the season
Yes, hopefully fixing the achilles he was favoring for so long will go a long way to correcting that issue
Get the feeling from the reaction around the club he’s an extremely well regarded player too, wonder if it could be a great boost mentally for some of the younger first teamers and keep this run going?!
A great documentary by the Arsenal. And what a great person Koscielny is. Here’s for a great season from Bosscielny!
Jesus , especially after watching the clip…if this is not a reason to get #6 shirt, what is… my last one was Bergkamp one!
Great new! I had assumed after this injury he would be reduced to a bit part player, rather than the old Boss that we know and love. Last season he was run into the ground trying to cover for the lack of defensive mid and the erratic Mustafi. Finally he broke.
Seeing his joy at being out on the pitch again makes me so happy.
That was actually a really good doco! Especially powerful for anyone who (like me) is injured, or has been. Im off to do some extra rehab today!
His conract is up at the end of the season, right? Really hope we have an option in it to extend it for another year, or if not, that we can reach an agreement to extend it for another season or two. I know he talked about thinking about leaving Arsenal but we should do everything we can to keep him here for at least another year.
Captain, experience, attitude, quality. So happy for him to be back!
I’m fairly certain it’s got another year to run after this one
Superb documentary, well worth 25 minutes of your time.
Couldn’t agree more. Throw out your old Rocky DVDs, this documentary is one of the most motivating tear-jerkers you can watch (even if you are a Sp*rs fan….) I’ve always been the biggest fan of Koscielny but watching this has given me a complete new found respect for the man. To go thru how he suffered (and with France winning the World Cup in the background) was highly emotional, and absolutely incredible. For me, it’s players like Kos and stories like these which captures the essence of what it means to be a true sports fan, and Arsenal true and… Read more »
we can rebuild him.
we have the technology.
Our December LANS
Who needs the January window…
Whilst we’re resurrecting our centre backs, can’t we recall Chambers from his loan? He won’t benefit playing for such a confused mess of a team anyway.
I thought he made massive progress last season and was in the starting xi on merit in the 2nd half of the season.
Save the transfer funds for a real star center back in the summer, none of this short term solution Gary Cahill nonsense
” but actually an enforced period of rehabilitation and recuperation can actually help a player extend his career”
I guess Diaby will be playing to his 40s then
“an” enforced period, not hundreds of them!