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Arsene Wenger has responded to critics of Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin, leaping to his defence and taking it one step further by claiming his compatriot is the best in Europe. Coquelin has come under fire by some who view him as rash and reckless.
Others, most notably former United captain Gary Neville, believes Coquelin does not have the “power” or in other words strength, height, and physical attributes to lead Arsenal to the title (Coquelin stands at 5’10).
Wenger has responded sharply, asserting that Coquelin’s stats suggest he is the best defencive midfielder in Europe. The boss says making such statements publicly can be dangerous and effect public opinion, thus causing undue pressure on players.
“Coquelin has the best defensive statistics and numbers in Europe. You watch football like I watch football. I don’t know what people see. Defensively, Coquelin is doing a great job,” Wenger told reporters as quoted by Goal.com.
“Look, I am not against opinion. People can say they don’t think Arsenal is good enough. I accept that. But it is dangerous to say ‘He will never be a player’ — especially when the comment has come from people in football.”
“It doesn’t annoy me, but what is a concern is that it puts pressure on players. I believe that we are in a football job.
“People who have been in the game, I love that they go on television. But I would like them to help people to love football even more.”
While I wouldn’t go as far as placing Coquelin with the elite defencive midfielders just yet, the lad does deserve massive credit for his performances. Neville’s comments were unfair to the lad, and Wenger was spot on to defend his player.
Interesting statements nonetheless from the boss, as statistics and numbers can be deceiving. I seem to recall former Arsenal midfielder Denilson having the best passing accuracy in Europe at one point, which Wenger was quick to point as well. He didn’t mention however that the player loved to play 5 yard lateral passes.
That is not a knock on Denilson or Coquelin or Wenger, just a bit of perspective. Good on the boss to defend his player and good on Coquelin for his play in Arsenal’s engine room, but the boss shouldn’t allow his personal affinity to affect his judgement.
P.S- Yes Arsenal are still in need of another holding midfield player to support Coquelin, preferably one who is tall and strong.
Wenger is becoming more deluded each year.
Coquelin is a fine player but is far from the best in Europe – especially when you look at the likes of Busquets and Matic.
And he should be doing his job i.e. spending some money in strengthening the squad before the season goes the way of the previous eleven others with him at the helm…
Every season goes the same way and no one can figure out why…
Wenger is right – Coqulein has been superb. As far as defending goes, he was the best DM in the PL last season, but in terms of all round play (chance creation/ link up) was not as good as Matic or Schneiderlin. But defensively – sure, he was excellent.
This “power” thing is nonsense, as is his height, just commonly repeated rubbish. While stats dont tell the whole story – they do illustrate very nicely just how good Coqulein is in the challenge, and it may surprise you that he was excellent, bot on the ground and in the air, and his positioning was simply excellent (he’s a natural).
Let me illustrate:
Coqulein v Matic v Schneiderlin v Wanyama
Tackles won (per 90): 3.2 v 2.9 v 3.2 v 3.0
Tackles lost (per 90): 3.3 v 4.0 v 3.6 v 3.5
Aerial duels (per 90): 2.9 v 2.2 v 1.8 v 2.5
Aerial duesl won (%): 64 v 64 v 45 v 51
Interceptions (per 90): 4.3 v 2.1 v 2.6 v 2.3
Blocks (per 90): 0.43 v 0.21 v 0.21 v 0.19
Clearances (per 90): 3.7 v 3.7 v 1.9 v 2.1
So defensively, Wenger is right, Coqulein is a beast, and at least as good as anyone else in the PL, and this does demonstrate that all this talk of power/ height is plain nonsense.
All round play – fine, Matic was better, as was Scheniderlin, but no reason why Coqulein cannot grow in this area given the relative game time in comparison to these other players.
Good analysis. Talking with sense and proof. Well done