Laurent Koscielny is a proper centre back

Got up this morning after being completely lifted by Koscielny's performance against Blackburn (we will talk about the goal later) but to my utter surprise, I found some unflattering comments in the match reviews by a few bloggers and journalists. So I watched the entire game again this morning. They are all wrong!

It is neither accurate nor advisable to big-up or write-off a player after two performances. I can only write what I really liked and was extremely happy to see so far.

Koscielny is properly grown defender. The basics are right. His positioning is excellent. He doesn't get surprised much and he is usually in the position to stub out danger before it progresses or to recover if he makes a mistake. A lot of that was more visible at Blackburn than at Liverpool where he was playing an easy match against a lone isolated striker till Torres showed up. Koscielny is a slight build but his positioning has given him an advantage with tackling.

Koscielny is the same height as Vermaelen. Both are good in the air but Koscielny's timing on one-to-one jumps with strikers is much better. He does not need to overpower the striker in the air to win the duel. His timing does a lot of the work for him so he is more likely to get a foul in his favour if a striker overpowers him. Vermaelen tends to win the ball and concede a foul sometimes which is still much better than Kolo and Gallas who would routinely simply lost those high duels.

Koscielny's covering play is superb. He knows where to be to protect against any mishaps from people around him. At one point against Blackburn, he was seen stubbing out a potentially hazardous lose ball in midfield because he had managed to see it earlier and got there earlier than Song and Diaby right up the middle of the pitch. He covered Sagna superbly several times and unfortunately, one of those occasions was when he lost out once against Diouf for the goal. His covering is more superior than any defender I have seen at Arsenal in the past 15 years – yes that includes the famous back four and I also accept that two games is not enough to say anything. Clever covering players are vital for Arsenal now since we don't usually have 4 players in midfield and the full backs are often required to play high.

Last fantastic thing about Koscielny is that he is almost obsessed about not wasting any ball he wins. His defensive headers are all made with a destination rather than just a panic clearance. If you can, watch the game again and see just how consistently Koscielny clears to a safe place or to his own player. At one point, another long ball arrived into the Arsenal area just outside the penalty box. The midfield was crowded, the ball was too high to bring down safely with the Bolton players around and was just a bit too far for Almunia to come for it. Koscielny rose high and directly a clean head to the right to a free Sagna on the right. However, Sagna was not ready – presumably because Sagna is not used to an Arsenal defender being that clever (Italian style) and thinking about a pass rather than just nervously clearing the ball into a crowded midfield. Koscielny conceded a throw in because Sagna was not ready to receive the ball – I hoped then that Sagna learns to be ready rather than Koscielny learning to do the wrong thing instead.

Koscielny is 24, same as Vermaelen. Defenders mature at around 28 years old. It is then that they really master positioning, anticipation, power and control. Before that, they have energy, hard tackling, fight and battle. Vermaelen has all those qualities and he is now learning real positioning, anticipation, control. Vermaelen is further ahead than most defenders in the league. But Koscielny is much further ahead on the positioning, anticipation and control. He does not have the power of Vermaelen but I believe he is far advanced in the other aspects. Power and strength will come especially if you have skill.

On the goal, Koscielny had Diouf covered. When a defender and a striker meet, they usually have collision on the first ball contact. It is the best time to hide a push from the referee from either side and it is the time when it is easier to de-stabilise the player on the ball because they are trying to control their first touch and focus on running and balance at the same time. The right force at the time of ball contact can screw up their first touch and gives you time to shepherd them out calmly. In a new league, Koscielny simply did not know how much force could be applied without conceding a foul. He was booked for nothing against Liverpool and is still trying to figure out the limits. In the end, he applied to little force and Diouf recovered while Koscielny was out of balance. I doubt that will happen again when Koscielny knows the league better. It was not about speed. Koscielny is clearly quicker than Diouf.

At Arsenal, we have three centre backs that look good. Squillaci is a good centre back. He has played in the Champions league continuously for 6 years. He has been to the Champions league finals with Monaco and won the French league twice with Lyon playing alongside very good players. He has played in the Spanish league for two years alongside another good defender in a team that finished 3rd and 4th in the past two years in the Spanish League and won the Copa del Rey. He is 30 years old and in his prime as a defender.

Djourou had grown better than Senderos recently so he deserves to be there instead of Senderos. Djourou is only one year younger than both Koscielny and Vermaelen but he has lost one year through injury and has the distinct disadvantage of never having played as a first team player for any decent duration. All the other centre backs have been playing first team football for years in the best 11 of their teams.

I am hoping to see some serious competition for places at the back and see who partners best with whom. Basically, we should not assume that Vermaelen is going to remain first choice. All three players in defence are tough characters, serious competitors and have to potential to stimulate serious competition that will hopefully create a fantastic back line.

A potential beneficiary could be Almunia. Almunia, in my view is a good goalkeeper who has been playing in a defence where Kolo and Gallas were not talking to each other and did not work as a pair. He has had a defence plagued with injuries to various parties in every season he has been first choice. There were periods over the past two season where Gilberto or Song had been partnering Senderos or some other makeshift defender. Almunia's career at Arsenal has been full of insecurity in the back four in front of him. Almunia has had nothing stable to build on or to rely on in front of him for five years. A good solid working partnership in front of him may bring out the best in him.

Sagna is already looking a lot better since Chamakh showed up. He knows his crosses will mean something to someone so you can see he is trying to get them right. Walcott is also creating a good partnership there with Sagna. Clichy is more experienced than Gibbs but if Gibbs gets into the team, it may be very difficult for Clichy to regain his place.

Yesterday Arsenal dealt nervously with a mean long-ball and aerial team. It was nervous but they did not concede from it. Song and Diaby are some much stronger in their body and were clearly more nervous than intimidated. In parts of the pitch Arsenal looked tougher and more muscular than Blackburn. I want the team to build from the back so I can't wait to see Squillaci and see how the back five settles.

Now for something completely different. On exactly 53:26 into the game, Fabregas played an impossible diagonal pass in front of the Blackburn penalty box that found a clean line through seven Blackburn defenders and arrived at the feet of Chamakh. If you can find the clip to watch it again let me know: did he mean it?

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