What Coquelin’s Injury means to Arsenal
Every season at Arsenal has always been synonymous with injuries;
there is no season that goes by without some form of injury to a major player
or players as the case maybe. This season has not been different, and it is
only November, why the squad has coped with the long term injuries to Jack
Wilshere, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky as well as the recent additions of
Aaron Ramsey, Oxlade Chamberlain and Theo Walcott, it is the injury to Francis
Coquelin that has brought so much gnashing of teeth with the gunner nation.
He was one of the players that many penciled down as one the
club could not afford to lose for a considerable number of time because of his
importance to the side in terms of what he brings to Arsenal’s midfield, his
tenacity in the tackle, ability to cover a lot of ground because of his pace,
interception ability, and to an extent his passing range as a defensive
midfielder is something no other player in that position can offer to Arsenal.
The discipline he brings to the middle of the park has allowed Santi Cazorla to
flourish in his deep lying midfield role, the partnership that was built by
both players since Coquelin rose from the ashes in January has been the
catalyst that has driven Arsenal for much for this calendar year.
What makes his importance so understated in the Arsenal team
is that the options available as possible replacement are poor at best. Mikel
Arteta’s struggles as a player was depicted in his cameo against West Brom last
weekend, where his time on the pitch after he replaced the aforementioned
Francis Coquelin coincided with Arsenal conceding two goals, the second of
which was an own goal scored by the Spaniard. The Arsenal captain later
succumbed to a calf injury, something he has become synonymous with. His place
as a footballer who can cope with the rigours of the Premiership needs to be
seriously questioned, as his pace, and most importantly his ability to stay fit
has disappeared, he was out for six months last season with a calf injury and
the surgery he had has not done much to address it, and the incessant injuries
he has had this season shows he is a player who cannot be relied on. When your
ability as a player has diminished as a result of age and injuries, that
inevitably should spell the end, and this should be his last season at Arsenal
as a player.
Mathieu Flamini is the other player that can come in to do a
job in that position, his tenacity has dropped off has he has entered his
thirties, but his recent appetite to go searching for goals at the expense of protecting
the back four could be an issue. At 31, the same issues Arteta has struggled
with are not absent from his game as age sets in. over the years, he has
developed a propensity to play out of his skin in the last year of his
contract. Whether his body can provide him with the platform to do that once
again is another thing. This is because in September when he scored two goals
against Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup, he was rewarded with a starting
berth in midfield in the short absence of Coquelin against Leicester City
at the King Power Stadium; he only lasted for twenty minutes, before he
succumbed to a hamstring injury. His performance against West
Brom when he came on, was not a disaster by any means, if the
players in front of him had found their shooting boot, it could have ended
happily for the French midfielder.
With Arsene Wenger confirming in his press conference on
Monday that Coquelin will be out for at least two months, it means Mathieu
Flamini will have that position to himself until his compatriot returns from
injury. However, another option available to the manager would be the
stationing of Aaron Ramsey in that position. The Welsh midfielder has been
deployed there when Arsene Wenger has tweaked his tactics when searching for a
goal, but Aaron Ramsey is not known for his discipline, as one of the strong
points of his game is in attack, but his boundless energy could be important in
that position if he is deployed there when he returns from injury.
Yet, it clear that no player in the Arsenal squad offers
what Coquelin does, it is the balance he brings to the team that has made it
flourish, and that balance is possible because he sticks only to the duty of
protecting the back four while leaving the attacking side to other players.
Obviously, few would point to the failure of Arsene Wenger
to sign an adequate back up in defensive midfield in the summer, but in
hindsight, that cannot change anything at the moment. Although others would pin
their hopes that the club would dip into the transfer market in January to
address that problem.
For now, it is left to Arsene Wenger to fashion out a way
that his squad can overcome the absence of the most important midfielder in the
team for the next two months. With the squad already down to the bare bones
after the current state of injuries, it will be down to how he manages the fit
players that would determine whether they too do not breakdown.