Laurent Koscielny says the arrival of Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez will help Arsenal cope with their busy schedule when the season gears up after the international break.
Arsene Wenger confirmed the arrival of the duo from Valencia and Deportivo La Coruna in last night meaning they should, injury permitting, be available for selection when Arsenal host Southampton on 10 September.
Speaking about the 3-1 win over Watford, Koscielny said: “First of all, we have a few people injured. When you start the season with Welbeck injured, Mertesacker and then Gabriel out, it is difficult.
“You need to have some players, because when you play every three days in September, October and November you need a big squad to fight in every competition. I am sure the boss will buy some players to help us.”
After a tough start, Arsene Wenger’s men got back on track at Vicarage Road with their first win of the season. The result helps quell some of the negativity surrounding the club, a state of affairs that Koscielny admits is sometimes difficult to deal with.
“It is always difficult, it is like a mountain – you have some good and bad results and you need to stay strong,” he added.
“We are together and we need to play and get some wins in a row. The season is very long and you can see with all the money in the league, that every team can sign good players. You need to be focused on our philosophy and how we want to play.”
I am more confident than ever with our squad depth. We will be able to cope with injuries well now.
Say it quietly…
For PSG, we can have a really solid defensive unit with Kos-Mustafi being shielded by Coq-neny/Xhaka-Coq/xhak-neny partnership. That would mean sending Santi to the bench. We need to figure out our best midfield pairing. It’s kinda sad to see Jack so far down the pecking order.
There are way too many options in midfield. There’s going to be a big selection headache for Wenger in the coming few weeks.
The midfield is as deep as it should be at a big club. If nobody is unhappy with their lack of playing time we’re not doing things right :p Wilshere will soon be injured for most of the season anyway, and Ramsey’s injury record also stands against him, so I’d say our depth is pretty damn good. Would have liked to see us buy a winger in the transfer window, as well as a right back, but to be honest our summer business has been pretty good even if Mustafi and Perez were signed three or four weeks later than… Read more »
It wasn’t a surprise that our best and most fluid performance so far this season was with Cazorla in deep midfield, he must be kept there at all costs paired with Xhaka and Ozil in the No. 10 role. If we have any chance to win the league it’s only with Cazorla, Ozil and Sanchez regularly performing, as they are by some distance our best players. And as for too many options in midfield, i kind of agree with you but i don’t think we have great depth of quality. Take Cazorla out and we look aimless and slow in… Read more »
If we had a bunch of players of exactly the same style in midfield we’d have a section of the “support” complaining that “Wenger’s past it, he never changes tactics, we only have one kind of option in midefield”.
Not if was successful, instead we have what we had last season where Cazorla was out for months and we had to completely change our style of play, unsuccessfully I might add.
I think Ramsey and Wilshere will be played in the wings too. Ox should not start ahead of them with current form, though he gives you speed. Hope Gnabry gets his chance soon.
Not going to lie- I’m excited about the state of the squad for the first time in a while!
I am down with that Kos, the “need to be focused on our philosophy and how we want to play” thing,…… except this season, we should also be flexible enough to be able to deploy a “plan B”, the odd times that the way we want to play is obviously not working?
I think Koscielny was speaking at the strategic level and you are focusing at the tactical level, and I agree with both of you
This might be the most competitive season since the Premier League started. Not just at the top, but throughout the table. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if its winner did so with fewer than 75 points.
Uhhh around 75 points…I would be shocked.
Koscielny has really grown into the Captaincy. Leading by example.
I really enjoyed it when he shouted and whistled to santi to have him not do a short corner kick. Taking charge!
The midfield options are very exciting, in games we should dominate the ball it’s gotta be Xhaka and Santi for me, with Mesut obviously! Santi made some great tackles yesterday and I actually think it’s an underrated part of his game.
We will need more protection in games and then Wenger has decisions to make in midfield
We concede one bcz of his one careless moment. Should have set himself ready once he saw the kos heading that ball
A healthy Wilshire might spell Santi. We haven’t had that option before.
Also, I agree with other commenters, we can use the wings for balance / tactical tweaks from game to game. Neither The Ox not Theo has shown that they “own” those positions — although Theo looked pretty sharp and put in a shift Saturday. Kudos to him.
Santi made a tackle! Walcott made a tackle and injured someone fuck me. He must be finally smelling the coffee. He certainly put in a shift yesterday and in the previous game
Goalrush was horrid yesterday. I really hope the Premier league reconsider.
Weird marketing move to try make the premier League the product instead of the individual clubs.
Exactly. Every single fan I spoke to seems to hate it. It was a complete disruption of the watching experience. Have tweeted displeasure at the Premier League, but is there a way the fans can make more noise and get it off?
What’s Goal rush?
Was curious about this too and I saw this: https://worldsoccertalk.com/2016/08/27/nbcs-debut-premier-league-goal-rush-smashing-success/
just for the seppos?
7 games between 10 sept and 2 October
nicely said by Kos, please is it by force to support arsenal? all those fans bringing negative vibes to the club should reconsider & support another club, it’s tiring how these sets of fans & the media create a situation where Arsene is a villain & arsenal an object of ridicule
we just spent 50m on two players who ain’t better than the ones we got! terrible
Talk about pots and kettles! Now who is the negative fan?
Our Boss aka Captain has spoken. He turning out to be a real leader. He must be excited as he is finally getting a worthy player to partner him in Mustafi. Really excited about the team right now. And for every Arsenal fan, who is still complaining and mourning.. Listen people, we have gotten what we wanted, so stop acting like you really care or something and get behind the team. Stop putting up a scene just for the heck of it and stop spoiling it for the entire lot of us. Tell you what, you guys are seriously starting… Read more »
I don’t particularly like that we are slaves to a philosophy because it means we never have a plan B. Ferguson didn’t like philosophies because they make you predictable and sometimes the situation require you to make changes to the way you play. You cant expect to succeed if you travel to Nou Camp and try to beat Barcelona by playing the very football they created and have mastered. Over time it is important to adapt to the situation rather than just play the Arsenal way regardless of opposition. In the last couple of years it seems though Wenger have… Read more »
Iwas patiently waiting for things like this. First victory that encourages nd the signings of strker nd defender wil keep the gunner going strong for trophy grabing this season.
Mord ti follow.
Iwas patiently waiting for things like this. First victory that encourages nd the signings of strker nd defender wil keep the gunner going strong for trophy grabing this season.
More to follow.
If you post that another three times you should have all of the spelling mistakes sorted! 😉
You have to admire how far kos has come. I think he is playing the best he ever has for us atm. Long live the kos
His first season for us was a disaster. Plenty of own goals and reds.
Worth bearing in mind when criticising new players.
Even tried to relive the old days against Watford but thankfully we panic bought Cech.:D
Cech, our best panic buy.
As long as we get the signings of Mustafi and Perez over the line, if we don’t sign anyone else this window I’ll have no complaints re the number of acquisitions (though Draxler would be very much on my wishlist). I think it is perfectly reasonable,however, not to be happy with the timing of our transfers (with the exception of Xhaka of course). We are already 5 pts behind our 3 main rivals for the Title, assuming City win today. To steal someone else’s analogy this is a bit like giving Usain Bolt a 7.5m head start in a 100m… Read more »
We got Xhaka in before the Euros, yet he didn’t start the game against Liverpool. Mustafi didn’t start Valencia’s first game of the season which started a week after the EPL.
My point is, Liverpool and Leicester were beatable withoutthe additions. It is the same Alexis that can’t play as a striker that was involved in all three goals today. The problem was on the match day tactics, not transfers.
Absolutely correct. Results for first two matches have little to do with additions. We had enough resource to overcome both. We did not manage ourselves physically after the break against Liverpool. I think Wenger was being cautious taking the long view in not introducing certain players (injury curse thing) Once we get these additions going, we will have more power. Granit is starting to find range already and he will need a bit of games to adjust to the PL pace. But once he starts to blend in, I think he is the sort of player that allows the link… Read more »
That’s a terrible analogy. The season is not a 100 meter race. If it were we would have won several years running. I’m thinking it more a 5,000 meter steeplechase race.
Agreed. All the top teams have to play each other, loads of points will be dropped elsewhere.
Also, Usain Bolt is a relatively slow starter. It doesn’t stop him winning everything.
The team is much more balanced without Ramsey running about like a headless chicken….
We have plenty of depth : CF – Giroud, (Perez), RW – Walcott, Ox, Gnabry LW – Alexis, Iwobi AM – Ozil, Ramsey CM – Santi, Jack DM, Granit, Le Coq UM – Elneny RB – Bellerin, (?)* CB – Koscielny, (Gabriel) CB – Mustafi, Holding, LB – Monreal, Gibbs GK – Cech, Ospina (Martinez) *Note : Not sure who is coming in as Rback cover for Bellerin. Debuchy and Jenko status uncertain. In youth ranks – Jeff, Akpom, Zelalem, Bielik Also out on loan Campbell, Chambers Numbers is not the problem. Capability is. Which is why the players coming… Read more »
Agree with Cazorla being almost an automatic inclusion in midfield. The Rambo-haters might not like this but he is just too good to not fit into starting eleven, witness Euros. We just need to find his place. I say, false nine, instead of Giroud. Ozil played this role at times on Saturday. I trust Ramsey will improve on all aspects of his game, including nous and finishing. You heard it here first!