Francis Coquelin, one off or genuine midfield option for us this season?: Page 32 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Francis Coquelin, one off or genuine midfield option for us this season?

Klaus

Anzac wrote:
IMO Coqulein isn't so much indispensable as DM but more so as the only recognised ball winner, and he could perhaps be even more integral as CM ball winner ahead of a DLP and next to a B2B type pressing high in the opposition half.

The concern with Coquelin is that he's become the obvious solution to one specific problem that plagued us, but we're yet to see how adaptable he is. Tom Cleverley looked pretty good for United for about a season too under the right circumstances.

To me, Coquelin is the kind of player you put in the team when you want Özil to play centrally (which I do, because he's boss there). I think there's potentially a bigger gain in giving Özil a free attacking role originating from one of the flanks while signing someone like Gündogan or Vidal to run the midfield, though.

flobaba

One of the first names on the team sheet for me now. Gives us much needed stability and screen at the base of midfield. Allows the attacking players to go strut their stuff, takes a whole load of work off them.

Wenger probably won't be looking to upgrade the position, and rightly so.

banduan

The way he screens and doesn't commit to a tackle until he's certain- hallmarks of a truly intelligent player.

flobaba

He's shown massive improvement in that regard (screening, rather than rushing in for the tackle ) now that he's settled into the role.

Helps that he has the physical capacity to keep up with the intensity of the premiership as well.

Clrnc

Tactics wrote:
Tam wrote:
Cazorla is one of my favourite players in the squad and has been since he came. He's had his periods of poor form, and suffered playing in midfields which have exposed his flaws and physical drawbacks, but when he's playing in good form I think he controls games and knits the team together in a way none of the other players we have in our team can. Ramsey can do it to some extent, and Ozil has his strengths in pulling the strings but from a more central role in the park, Cazorla has always been the one to me to who looks most comfortable and at his best controlling the tempo of the game and moving things around. In Coquelin he's finally got a player who can help him out in that respect and free him up to concentrate on what he's good at and what best helps the team. For me right now those two are one of the most crucial partnerships in maintaining the good form. The third midfielder, be it more central like Ramsey, or attacking like Ozil, can come and go depending on the need or oppostion, but having Cazorla and Coquelin providing a great balance or defence and playmaking from the middle has been crucial to the run we've been on and long may it continue. I think tr talk of moving him on is absolutely ridiculous.

Cazorla's biggest problem IMO is he doesn't fit into people's idea of a CM. At first some fans were saying he can't play in CM, but after some quality performances in that position it became, "he can't play in a 2 with Ozil at #10". Again after some quality performances in that set up, there are now calls for him to be sold or replaced. Baffling isn't it 😆

You put it perfectly. It's really hard to believe there some are advocating selling one of our best performing players just because he doesn't look like a central midfielder to them, although he's been playing superbly well there since Chelsea away in Oct.

I think it's human nature that first impressions is what generally count the most, and some can't see past it or be flexible enough to see what Santi gives us in midfield. For instance in yesterday's match, he put in alot of good defensive work and generally stayed alongside Coq, but it gets largely ignored. He and Coq was also the only ones who were calm, slowed things down and try to regain control of possession in midfield. They offer good balance to the team.

y va marquer

Coquelin was in key in the move that lead to our goal, his discipline is underlined by the way he stopped his forward drive as soon as he'd pinged the ball to Alexis.
There was no need for him to continue his run forward and he didn't.

Burnwinter

Francis 'Le Flic' Coquelin

y va marquer

😆
He's more than the average flic

Looch

Wouldn't swap him for any DM in the world at the moment. I like how passionate he gets whenever we score. When we celebrate he's always jumping about and fist pumping

mdgoonah41

est

Yea, fuck everyone else, Coq is the best.

Mirth

Jesus, I don't normally pay much credence to stats like these but they certainly are impressive.

JazzG

The interception stat is phenomenal, when you watch him in open play you can see as soon there is an interception on he is reading the players body language to get into position to intercept. Also a bit strange to compare him to Matuidi or Vidal, neither play the defensive role for their teams....

His passing needs to improve though, it's ok but needs to be better. He's shown incredible improvement in all other aspects of his game so hope he can work on that part and improve as well.

Rex

His passing stats are down because he often tries to play longer, more threatening passes. I certainly don't want him to cut those out to improve his passing stats.

innervisionscm

Coquelin's average pass length is 14.38m. Tippy-tappy 2013-14 Arteta's is 17.61m. 18.07m for Matic. Not sure where the 'long passes' idea comes from.

He's also not as involved in making angles, starting our buildup, and controlling midfield in possession. Last season Arteta made 71.27 successful passes per 90. Coquelin has 42.02 per 90. He has a lot of qualities but he's not naturally involved on the ball, and that hurts our ability to control central midfield. It's something he needs to improve to be a sure thing in the XI.

flobaba

I hated how we passed the ball aimlessly in many games last season. Hated it.

You don't need to be an expansive passer, or have bazillion passes to play a role in the midfield. We are not Barcelona, and we shouldn't be trying to be.

He performs his role perfectly as far as I'm concerned. Which is to break down the opponents attack and quickly give the ball off to the Ozils, Cazorlas and Ramseys.

If by now Coquelin isn't a sure thing in our first XI, he might as well just retire.

Bold Tone

innervisionscm wrote:
Coquelin's average pass length is 14.38m. Tippy-tappy 2013-14 Arteta's is 17.61m. 18.07m for Matic. Not sure where the 'long passes' idea comes from.

He's also not as involved in making angles, starting our buildup, and controlling midfield in possession. Last season Arteta made 71.27 successful passes per 90. Coquelin has 42.02 per 90. He has a lot of qualities but he's not naturally involved on the ball, and that hurts our ability to control central midfield. It's something he needs to improve to be a sure thing in the XI.

I disagree. We do not need him to play like Xabi Alonso or even Arteta.
Whatever he has been doing since the 28th of December (?) has proven to be fantastic and rescued our season.
Every other player not named Alexis was playing like shit, apart from the odd game here or there, and the only conversations were discussions about the 4141 bollox which is now working, thanks to him.

Burnwinter

Hmm. I specifically noticed a couple of great, sharp, probing passes against Burnley, but they were fairly high risk.

If there were a comp of his match it'd be easier to assess the type of pass he goes for.

Fantastic player for us at the moment. And the spectacular way he breaks up play is a big morale boost to the team, I'm sure.

yuv

Comparing Coq stats to Arteta? why not compare him with Kos, Giroud or Ospina?
If we want to examine this aspect, we need to look at the entire midfield stats, or actually the entire team's.

But yeah, the short version is simply - a policeman's job is make those interceptions, get us the ball, protect the defense ("protect and serve", no?). And the stats speak loud and clear there.

innervisionscm

Why is doing a good defensive job an excuse for not being as involved as he could be in possession? You guys talk like you can only have one or the other. Getting open to receive the ball helps the team a lot. And despite our good form we're still not great at controlling midfield.

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