Tag Archives: She Wore

How will Sead Kolasinac fit in at Arsenal

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So the deal for Bosnian left back Sead Kolasinac is complete. We are just waiting for it to be nnounced on arsenal.com. Our first signing of the season. Great news.

Kolasinac is a player who many know little about. Unless you watch regular Bundesliga football, you would never have seen him play. I will be honest, I have not seen him. Not one bit. No clips, no highlights, no YouTube. I have never used in on FIFA or signed him on Football Manager.

The majority of stuff you would have read on him so far is by people with a similar experience of him as me. They know nothing. They look at Wikipedia and write an article round that for hits. To try and show that they know about him. When in reality they know almost nothing. So lets try and build a profile as to where he fits in based on what we can research:

Kolasinac is German born but opted to play for Bosnia. It feels like Arsene Wenger’s choice of player at the moment is Central Europeans with Eastern European heritage.

Last seasons two major signings – Granit Xhaka & Shkodran Mustafi – both had Albanian heritage. Add in Mesut Ozil, German born to Turkish immigrants, there is something Wenger clearly likes of these players. It reminds me of the late 90s when Frenchmen with African or Caribbean roots were all the rage.

Having players of a similar background to Kolasinac will help him settle quick. There are players that share is natural tongue, share his religion and share his heritage already at the club. He certainly won’t struggle to fit into the squad. So where does he fit into the team?

Kolasinac has apparently impressed at left back this season for Schalke. We only really know this because he has been shortlisted for the Bundlesiga Team. For all we know, every other left back in Germany could be useless.

If Arsenal return to four at the back next season, he will surely be a shoe-in for left back. Or at the least be competing with Nacho Monreal. His signing would probably mean the end of Kieran Gibbs if we stick to 4 at the back.

If we were to move to 3 at the back, Kolasinac could give us a few options.

The first is he plays left wing back. Having not seen him play, I would have to question the following:

  1. Is he attacking – There is no point playing a wing back who’s natural inclination is defence over attack. We need them to provide width.
  2. Can he cross – The wing backs are the main source of balls into the box, as we have seen recently with both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Hector Bellerin. If he crosses like Gael Clichy, he is pointless.
  3. Can he get up and down – At wing back you need to have stamina. You are expected to be the winger and the full back at the same time. Providing the width, as well as providing defensive cover. Does he have the stamina to go for 90 minutes, and the pace to get back when caught up the field?

I am sure there are some out there who know (and many others who will pretend to know) whether he has the attributes to play wing back.

If he plays wing back, we could see the continuation of Nacho Monreal on the left sided of the back 3. He has played well there recently and could give Kolasinac the natural cover when he bombs forward.

The alternative is to move Kolasinac inside and play him as part of the back 3. At 6ft (thanks Wikipedia) he does have the height to play there, but again, having not seen him play, Iwould also like to raise the following:

  1. Is he defensive – Playing centre back, you need to have good positions. You can make up for a lot of physical attributes if you actually know the role. He will be a liability if constantly out of position.
  2. Is he good in the air – If he cant jump, or head the ball, he will be exposed at the back post time and again.
  3. Is he physical enough – Strikers bully defenders in the Premier League. Rob Holding has shown recently that to excel, you have to ensure you are not bullied.

Personally, having never seen Kolasinac play, I like the idea of him moving into centre back. He looks a physical specimen (in his Wikipedia picture) and being naturally left footed, would bring some balance to the back 3.

The wide centre backs do need to be comfortable on the ball, comfortable at full back when they are pulled across in defence, and be happy getting forward in support of the full back on their side.

On the right hand side, Mustafi fulfils a lot of these requirements. A strong centre back who has played right back. The balance is there. At the moment whilst Nacho Monreal has played well, he does look like a bit of a round peg in a squad hole. Kolasinac could bring the balance to the left hand side with Koscielny marshalling the troops in the middle.

If we stick to a back 3, I would imagine it would be either Monreal or Kolasinac at centre back, with the other at full back. Luckily with no international tournament this summer, we have the time to work on different systems, and different players within those systems, so that we can start the season with the best players in the best positions.

I am just glad we have got a deal done early and strengthened the left hand side of our defence (whether it be at full back or centre back).

Keenos

Thoughts on Tony Adams

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Some thoughts on Tony Adams:

  • Tony Adams is an Arsenal legend. He is Mr Arsenal
  • Adams was good for Arsene Wenger when the Frenchman came to the club
  • Wenger was good for Adams
  • As a team, they got the best out of each other and the team
  • Tony Adams is not a very good pundit
  • Tony Adams is a failed coach
  • Arsene Wenger has done a poor job managing the club in the last decade
  • Wenger surrounds himself by yes men when it comes to his coaches
  • Adams would not have added anything to the coaching set up
  • You do not have to be a Michelin chef to know when your steak is well done, not medium rare
  • But just because you know your steak is not cooked right, it does not mean you should be in the kitchen helping the chef
  • Arsenal fans who abuse Tony Adams need to know their place
  • Adams has a book to sell. The Sun bought the rights
  • They will use the juicy bits – Pick out a single line of a 5,000 word book and build a story around it
  • Stories about Wenger is newsworthy, it gets the hits
  • Today’s back page will generate a lot for The Sun in advertising revenue
  • It will also generate more interest in Tony Adams’ book, increasing sales
  • Tony Adams (alongside Frank McLintock) is Arsenal’s greatest ever captain. Have some god damn respect

Arsenal star “best in the league”

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Tuesday saw another 2 goals for Alexis Sanchez.

He had an awful game. One of those where nothing went right for him. When he has games like this his attitude is detrimental to the team.

When most players are having a bad game, they go into hiding. Never call for the ball. Are always marked. Sanchez does the opposite. He demands the ball. Try’s to play out of it.

Whilst this is admirable, that he does not go missing, it also creates a problem. Such is his influence on the side, when he demands the ball he often gets it, even when not in a good position to receive it. Then out of form, he takes a heavy touch, or try’s too much, plays a poor pass, fails to play a pass, then blames it all on a team mate.

Whether it is the passer who passed the ball to him or the receiver who his pass did not reach, it is always their fault. It is never Alexis’ poor first touch or poor pass to blame. He berates his team mate. Often Hector Bellerin.

It does remind me a lot of Thierry Henry. Demanding the ball even when he was not in a position to receive it, trying to win the game on his own when things were not going well. Alexis Sanchez’s desire is also his greatest weakness’.

Despite the poor game, he still popped up with two goals. The sign of a truly great player, is having a stinker but win the games. In the 90’s, how often did Ian Wright do nothing in a game, but Arsenal won 1-0 thanks to an Ian Wright goal?

That 2 goals leaves Sanchez just one behind Romelu Lukaku in the race for the golden boot, and moves him ahead of Harry Kane. With Arsenal set to face Everton this weekend, it will be a shoot out for the golden boot.

With Sanchez also having 10 assists to his name – Lukaku and Kane both have 6 – Sanchez only needs to be level to take the honour.

If Sanchez finishes with the golden boot, it highlights further just how stupid football players are as Sanchez was not named in the PFA Team of the Year.

Up front were Kane and Lukaku. You can justify that as at the time they had out scored Alexis Sanchez. But it does bring in the stupidity of the PFA award nominations having to be submitted in March.

Perhaps more shocking is on the wings. Eden Hazard was picked on one side and Sadio Mane the other side.

Alexis Sanchez has been vastly superior to both Hazard and Mane. How Mane especially has got in ahead of Sanchez is nothing short of disgraceful and shows how people are influenced by the “Liverpool love in” with the press – media outlets are reporting their great season, but they are just 1 point ahead of crisis hit Arsenal.

Even on Alexis Sanchez’s bad days, and Sunderland was one of the bad days, he is still better than Sadio Mane.

I am glad Sanchez is at Arsenal. He is one of the top players in the world. Even if his fellow professionals do not rate him as one of the best players in the Premier League.

We need to move heaven and earth to keep him.

Keenos