Francis Coquelin: No Longer Needed?

[Furious]

He's severely overrated on here, without a doubt. I've seen rubbish like "best DM in the world" etc. which couldn't be further from the truth.

He's decent, has a nice first touch, dribble/awareness, and defensive attributes, but that's it.

You compare him to Kante, and think "there's nothing there" as one famous man once said.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

 

[CJJ]

@Maxim Clearly you havent tried playing football at a high level if you write off a purple patch. Call it being "in form" or whatever, the point is that you have that feeling where everything you touch works out. I think the best english word would be playing with clarity. You suddenly see the game better than you used to.

And its something that you can loose just as fast as you get it.

 

[celestis]

He's severely overrated on here, without a doubt. I've seen rubbish like "best DM in the world" etc. which couldn't be further from the truth.

He's decent, has a nice first touch, dribble/awareness, and defensive attributes, but that's it.

You compare him to Kante, and think "there's nothing there" as one famous man once said.

Yup , my only point is that doesn't go away.

 

[RandyMarsh]

There's people that still doubt Coquelin?

 

[Furious]

Yup , my only point is that doesn't go away.

Agree. Don't think it was a purple patch either, but our fans went slightly overboard with his performances. Maybe understandable so having the likes of Flamini.

 

[AVENTUS]

Coq clearly very frustrated here. The way his looking at it his teams title chances are going up in smoke and they can't win a home game they simply should be winning. But maybe there is more to it maybe a challenge or some sort earlier on cause he seems very angry with Mahrez.

 

[CurryFlavoured]

Very good player, but he wasn't even the best DM on the pitch. We should steal Kante.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

There's people that still doubt Coquelin?

Amazing, the poor guy's not even allowed to get some minutes under his belt following an injury. There's no denying he's exceptional at what he does.

With him we were amazing in 2015 as a whole. Winning a huge percentage of our games in the league as well as the FA Cup. Vital to us beating City, United (twice), Liverpool, Bayern and Villa in the cup.

 

[stajlarN]

All players have ups and downs ofc, but as celestis said Coquelin focuses on the basics and he does it very good, along with his defensive skills. This is something that's "easier" to do than scoring for example. Compare that to Ramsey who in my opinion isnt a good finisher at all but still managed to score a ****load a while back. I think he sold his soul or something that season. His technique when striking the ball is **** most of the time

 

[CurryFlavoured]

He's a bit of a dickhead, which is good. Every team needs an arsehole.

 

[OnlyOne]

I was so mad at Coq then, honestly thought he was going to get sent off, there was still plenty of time to go and it was just unnecessary.

 

[SuperGoon]

Definite did something to rattle Coq. I love Coq's passion but in games like this where it's a must win we don't need temper tantrums. Lucky not to get a second yellow with the **** ref we had.

 

[Maxim]

@Maxim Clearly you havent tried playing football at a high level if you write off a purple patch. Call it being "in form" or whatever, the point is that you have that feeling where everything you touch works out. I think the best english word would be playing with clarity. You suddenly see the game better than you used to.

And its something that you can loose just as fast as you get it.

I'm sorry but your talking absolute gibberish and completely missed the point of my post.

 

[AVENTUS]

He's a bit of a dickhead, which is good. Every team needs an arsehole.

I was so mad at Coq then, honestly thought he was going to get sent off, there was still plenty of time to go and it was just unnecessary.

Like I said guys something must have happend that we missed Coq isint usually like this from what I've seen. Or he knows the team were throwing the League away at that point

 

[Furious]

Loved this.

**** off you diving, cheating fraud.

 

[CJJ]

I'm sorry but your talking absolute gibberish and completely missed the point of my post.

Keep telling yourself that big guy. Call it a bunch of factors, a teespoon for all i care. The definition is still the same thing. A purple patch.

 

[MutableEarth]

Coq's impact on the team isn't overrated, but whether his ceiling is pretty high as an overall midfielder in particular is up for argument. I think he can potentially get better as an all-round player, but I think at his core he's a roaming destroyer with a good dribble and tactical acumen. As a passer, he isn't quite as good - as per the videos, he has a nice little crossfield ping and has the technique to play a pass, but very often we're not going to split the lines regularly with Coquelin playing deep. He defends much better than he passes, and that will always be the case.

Our passing doesn't look as secure with Coq-Ramsey at the base of the midfield and I think our build up suffered today until LCFC went down to 10. Ramsey did play a nice pass into Özil at one point from deep in the 2nd haldf and I literally screamed at my laptop "Shoulda been doing that from the start, mate"

I'm still glad to have Coquelin back, we look much more secure defensively as a team when he is there, even taking his weaknesses into account.

 

[chessygoal]

Very good player, but he wasn't even the best DM on the pitch. We should steal Kante.

Kante is having a great season but so did Coquelin last season. We should have them both at Arsenal! El Neny, and Kante instead of Flamini and old Arteta would be a hell of an upgrade.

 

[Aevi]

If it is any comfort to you Kante fanatics, I see a very similar player in Elneny. Their playstyles and respective roles are pretty similar.

Comparisons to Coq are unwarranted however, they are nothing alike besides in the ball-winning role. Kante is a box-to-box link-up CM that pressures opposition, while Coq is a midfield destroyer that stays back to assure minimal damage from opposing breaks and influences the opposition's passing through positioning.