Francis Coquelin says he has no qualms telling off teammates who aren’t pulling their weight on the defensive front.
Since returning from a short loan at Charlton the 23-year-old has established himself as a first team regular over the last 12 games, growing in stature to the point that he’s regularly seen marshalling those around him with verbal volleys and aggressive finger gesturing alike.
“If it needs to be said, I’m the one who’s saying it,” the Frenchman told the press after Tuesday night’s 2-1 victory over Leicester. “Everyone can tell each other off, so that’s a good thing.
“We’re all fighting for each other and the spirit is good in the team, so everyone can say what they think. With every player we’ve got going forward, you need a man with a defensive mind as well.”
Reflecting on the qualities he’s brought to the team since December, Coquelin continued: “If I can give the team a good balance — because we’ve got quite a few players going forward — hopefully we can get back to keeping clean sheets soon.
“We had a few disappointing results, for example at Southampton and Tottenham, but overall we’ve had good performances.
“The most important thing is for us to get into the top four next season. It’s going to be hard for us to win the title as Chelsea are quite far ahead. If we stay consistent and keep winning games, you never know what can happen.”
Elsewhere, Nacho Monreal has hinted that the Gunners perhaps took their two goal half-time advantage over Leicester for granted.
“I think we didn’t play [our best] game,” the Spaniard told Arsenal Player.
“In the first half we scored two goals and were 2-0 up at half-time. Maybe we thought that in the second half it was going to be a [bit] easier but they scored a goal and it was difficult.
“We played the last 25 minutes with an advantage of only one goal but we’re happy because we won.
“We were in a very good dynamic and in the last game we finished disappointed and upset, because we couldn’t win the game.
“We knew that we needed a win today because we want to finish as high as we can. These three points are very important for us.”
A steady Coq is always welcome!
Aggressive Coq?
The Coq’s bollocks!
*insert coq [pun] here*
Is that a pun within a pun? Where’s my totem!!? :O
The last thing Flamini could do better than him is gone.
When did Coquelin cut off his shirt sleeves?
LOL. Good one.
Might have misplaced several passes last night, but he is adventurous and makes the right decisions more often than not. A clever player with a knack for a decent challenge. I am not afraid to say that I love the Coq.
I like how calm he is when the ball reaches him, sidestepping twice the same Leicester cunt after some pressure yesterday and bringing the ball back in the middle of the park! The attack can start just fine with him, he doesn’t wait too long and no unnecessary passes to the defense either. Defensive minded combined with fact he doesn’t seem fuzzed to figure out when to give that pass to the wide players. At the right time. I recall he made some fantastic passes to Walcott in January, if he was match fit then he would have slotted them… Read more »
I love my coq.
Coq has been really solid and is filling the hole perfectly.Long this might last. #COYG
Why is Monreal only “thinking” we did not play well in the 2nd half against Leicester? I thought everybody “knew” that.
….just…why man?
Sometimes its best to let the Coq explode
Love Coq.
I love the way le Coq moves between the boxes .
Love how le coq gets stuck in at the back! coyg!
I’ve been a bit skeptical of the Coq. When he was here before he seemed overly rash and, while very quick, out of control. He’s proving he has matured and I love it. Would actually love to see him with Arteta, who can control the game and push a bit further forward than he had the last years. But looks unlikely Arteta will be with us for a while.
Coq dirty to me
Hes coqing it all up, in a good way
I love it when a Coq talks dirty..
But who will give Coq a bollocking when he plays badly?
Can he bollock himself?
Coq’s evolutionary purpose is to inseminate cunt (John Terry).
He’ll get the chance on 25th April.
Slightly off topic but I’ll have a go anyway seeing as there are mostly sensible commenters on Arseblog. When Ospina went four games without conceding, the community was talking about how reassuring and calming Ospina was. Two games later, it’s about how his handling is a little bit flappy etc. Our form since the start of the year – about how we have a full squad now, we’re looking great etc; then the spurs loss and how we played poorly, and a similar sentiment after our win against Leicester. My point is this. I think Woj is an excellent keeper.… Read more »
I thought coq should get the 5th yellow card yesterday and serve the ban for Fa cup, we need him to play every premier league game, especially now when ramsey is out injured, and we have no other natural CM in the team to come in, but arsenal way is not chelashit way and murinho telling players deliberately to get booked and miss certain match and be available for more important. Sunday game is very much important don’t get me wrong we need to continue winning after spuds game and bring the believe back among the players, but i think… Read more »
This was quite a sensible comment until you ceased communicating in English.
You’ve just written the worst Latin statement I’ve ever seen, Ceasar.
Coquelin fully deserves the new deal that the club handed him. He has definitely lubricated a couple of rusty hinges in the team dynamic. He’s slippery too, when it comes to getting away from markers.
I think he needs to work on the occasional long through balls forward which compliments our one touch play
I’ve seen soo many of these Coq puns that it’s already old news! Can’t imagine what the comments would be like if we had vagi.. er vergini in our squad.
They are two very good players in all seriousness!
The press say that they are both “a bit too fond of a drink or two”!
But in my opinion, there’s not a lot wrong with a tight vag…?
Does that answer your question?? 🙂
I can..
Good 3pts. But fuck the coq, how is Alexis’s knee?? Come on the clarets and irons.
You just wanna stroke the coq with performances like these.
also i like masturbating.
Really?
Lovely, lovely, lovely. A dream come true: “With every player we’ve got going forward, you need a man with a defensive mind as well.”
Ordering the team around at 23?
That Coq has bollocks.
I thought he made some decent stops and almost a great lob assist for I believe Giroud who was fouled (should have been another penalty there) But a couple of sloppy plays too at the back which had it been Flamini, he would have been roasted for. All in all the positive outweighs the negative and I feel he is technically better than Flamini with more pace. But that’s not to say the older player does not have better qualities using the ball well with more experience. They are holding OK for us. The problem has been our overall pressing… Read more »
We all love Coq jokes but we really need to improve the quality!
C’mon step it up boys!
With ramsey injury i can’t help but think if diaby was fit a ready to come in to play, what a powerful combo would be with him and coq in midfield, only if he was fit.
Agreed, if only…. come on back Abu, we miss you…
Glad the coq’s got a pair
Coq slap if needed.
I would amend ‘if’ to say ‘when’, unfortunately.
refreshing to see and hear a player in our squad call for clean sheets and defending. One of the few who seems to relish defending and staying back. not sure bout the shouting… and as much as I like our deckchair mertesacker, he just sometimes looks like he does not “like” defending. Before some of you get your knickers in a twist: it’s just a small pinch of salt.
Sorry, no coq pun 🙁