Date: 23rd August 2015 at 4:45pm
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Arsenal’s midfield injury crisis back in November 2014 proved to be a blessing in disguise not only for Francis Coquelin but for the Arsenal faithful, who have been calling for a midfield marshal for years. Coquelin’s resolute attitude and superior ball winning abilities was pivotal to Arsenal’s fantastic second half of the season, where Arsenal’s win percentage doubled to 76% and finally, the Gunners had steel in the middle of the field.

At the end of last season some fans were excited about starting a new season with a solid defensive midfielder. However, some fans rightly questioned the lack of depth in that role – without Coquelin, Arsenal lack an out-and-out ball winning midfielder. Injury to him leaves us in the same position as we did at the start of last season; bearing a blatant weakness in the squad which left us coming up short against big teams and stunting our title challenges.

A loss of form for Arsenal’s midfield enforcer will bring about the same predicament. We saw signs of this in our away game against Crystal Palace, where Coquelin was lucky to stay on the field despite a few lackadaisical challenges.

Arsene Wenger placed a lot of faith in Coquelin staying focused while bearing the burden of a yellow card, who reacted in a guilty fashion after a reckless challenge in the second half which caused an uproar among the Palace faithful after it went unpunished. “I had thought about it at half-time, when the pressure was already there,” said Wenger. “After the last foul I thought there was not much room now.” On another day we may not have been as fortunate and it is important we do not paper over the cracks for mishaps such as these by depending on luck.

Playing club captain Mikel Arteta, who hasn’t regularly featured for Arsenal since the start of last season, in such a position could be a solution but potentially at the cost of the balance that our midfield has. Arteta is more of a tactical dictator rather than a physical enforcer, which works in our favour in games where we have the majority of possession such as games against smaller teams, but of course leaves us short against the bigger teams.

Having lost out on Schneiderlin and Kondogbia and seemingly being disinterested in the likes of Krychowiak, we will have to rely on Arteta’s fitness to cover for Coquelin, rather than getting an out-and-out defensive midfielder to subsidise. It is absolutely vital that Arsenal do not become dependent on a player in a particular position, especially with the infamous injury record Arsenal has.

 

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