ODE TO HE WHO HOLDS THE PIANO: FRANCIS COQUELIN

“Since I left if I am not wrong Arsenal didn’t have a player to fill that role until him. They had other players in that position like Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini and Cesc Fabregas. But not this type of player, the guy who holds the piano to let the others play.”- Gilberto Silva on Francis Coquelin.

That Arsenal have accrued a nearly complete XI of injured players is no longer news, and despite Arsene Wenger revealing that Laurent Koscielny and Theo Walcott could make the squad for our game against Sunderland on Saturday, one name we will not be seeing on the team sheet for an awefully long time to come is that of Francis Coquelin. Arguably the club’s break-out star of 2015, the French defensive midfielder will be sidelined for at least three months with knee ligament damage, and as soon as my brother heard this he said:

“Our season is now over. Gone, done, finished, thank you for coming.”

I mention this because those very words echoed the sentiments of Emirates faithful around the globe. It’s been an incredible journey and steep gradient for the young Frenchman from the obscurity of Arsenal’s perennial loanees to the dependent spine of the side, and alongside Santi Cazorla formed one of the most efficient central midfield pairings in the league this calendar year. That Arsene Wenger is now being asked to make do without not one but both players is nothing short of devastating, as rumours are now abound that Santi has succumbed to a similar injury and will thus miss three months of action as well.

It has been an absolute joy to watch the evolution of the pair over the last 11 months, especially so because initially pundits all spoke of Coquelin as the “midfield enforcer” or “Colombo, the police detective” as Thierry Henry famously nick-named him; and Cazorla as the “metronomic playmaker” or “Pirlo-esque”. Which is all true of course, but I believe that Coquelin has gradually learned to sharpen skills that he was less known for while playing alongside Santi. Whenever people pull up stats on Coquelin it’s always on tackles, interceptions, aerial duels won and other defensive stats. What we sometimes overlook is the fact that as a defensive midfielder one’s ability on the ball is always tested. You have to recover possession, recycle possession, initiate counter-attacks, beat the high press of the opposition players and generally keep the ball moving.

This piece will, therefore, not be about Coquelin’s defensive abilities but his ability on the ball, and how this has improved from last season to this. For instance, while the average number of passes he attempts per game has only improved marginally from 45.5 to 46.9, his passing accuracy has gone from 86% to 91%, making him the most accurate passer at Arsenal so far this season. Coquelin also attempts more long balls per game, 3.5 up from 2.5, and with 31/42 long passes has an accuracy of 74%, second only to Mesut Ozil (without counting Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini who’ve barely played this season). He also has the least unsuccessful touches (bad ball control) of all outfield players at Arsenal, at least according to WhoScored, with a negligible 0.3 bad touches per game, and is dispossessed 0.9 times per game, a ratio lower than all our midfielders except Arteta and Flamini once again. Of course Coquelin doesn’t get on the ball as often as the likes of Santi and Ozil, but it still shows how accomplished he is in possession. But by far the most astonishing stat you’ll see is that Coquelin is actually a much better dribbler than you thought! He’s gone 22/25 on attempted dribbles, meaning a success rate of 88% which is the best of all Arsenal players. Lastly, Coquelin has amassed 97 ball recoveries in 894 minutes of Premier League action, which works out at Coquelin recovering possession once every nine minutes. How does all this compare to his break-out season?

2014/2015		2015/2016
45.5	Total passes per game	46.9
86%	Passing accuracy (%)	91%
2.5	Long balls attempted per game	3.5
59%	Long balls accuracy (%)	74%
5.5	Misplaced short passes per game	3.1
1	Successful dribbles per game	1.8
85% (22/26)	Successful dribbles (%)	88% (22/25)

So an improvement in all parametres highlighted above. Another word on his dribbles per game though; despite the fact that his success rate hasn’t improved significantly, it is worth noting that he has already matched his successful dribbles tally from 22 games last season in only 12 games this season. In particular games such as Chelsea (4/5) and Watford (4/6) his successful take-ons helped navigate around opposition pressure and retain possession in the transition from defence to attack, or to draw fouls hence relieving pressure on the defence. Perhaps, therefore, it’s about time we recognize Coquelin’s ability on the ball as much as we do his defensive capabilities. And were it not for his untimely injury (are injuries ever timely? Anyway.)  I’m pretty sure we’d have seen his gradient growing steeper still. We can only hope that he comes back and picks up where he left off.

Lastly, let’s take a look at how Le Coq fares on in comparison with a selection of other defensive midfielders from rival clubs:

	Fernandinho	Matic	Lucas	Schneiderlin	Coquelin
Passes	60.6	48.8	61.5	59.5	46.9
Passing Acc.	88.7%	88.8%	85.5%	90.7%	91%
Long balls/game	4.3	3.4	4	5.8	3.5
Long ball Acc.	67% (41/61)	65% (28/43)	80% (35/44)	80% (51/64)	74% (31/42)
Misplaced Short Passes/game	5.4	4.3	8.1	4.4	3.1
Successful Dribbles	43% (3/7)	75% (15/20)	88% (7/8)	67% (4/6)	88% (22/25)

Right, here’s hoping three months actually turns out to be three months for once, and that we shall not hear words like “setback” ever again!
*Quote from the Guardian*
*Image from the Independent*

LOSE YOURSELF: SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY vs ARSENAL

“We want the players who come in to the team to show they are able to make the squad successful, and do absolutely everything to help us win. That’s the job of a footballer. When you get the chance, you have to be ready.”- Arsene Wenger.

The manager's words reminded me of the most iconic song in the history of hip-hop:

"Look, if you had, one shot, or one opportunity,
To seize everything you ever wanted. In one moment...
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?"- Eminem.

Sometimes in football, some competitions and tournaments are won; not by the strength of your first XI, but on the strength of your bench and the quality of your reserves. In recent years Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have not had the strength in depth to rely on his second string to rise to the occasion in competitions such as the League Cup, and with over 50 games to play every season you understand the need to rotate. This goes a long way to explaining why Arsenal have never won the League Cup under Arsene Wenger. Over the last couple of seasons we have rebuilt a squad that is better-placed to challenge on all fronts, and we have seen the manager blend youth and experience, proven professionals and break-out potential, in the League Cup and the FA Cup. A manager who grew all the wiser following years of ridicule and taunt over a barren trophy cabinet was pushed to modify his philosophy of using the League Cup to blood the reserves into first-team football; and with the quality of the current crop of players certainly better than it’s been for a long time, today’s away Cup tie at Sheffield Wednesday really must be viewed as a must-win clash to give us every chance of silverware come the end of the season.

Herein lies the problem. So far this season, the manager has called on his back-up players in the Champions League and the Capital One Cup, with limited success. A North London derby win was delivered courtesy of Mathieu Flamini’s goal-scoring antics, but this was diluted with defeats to Olympiacos and Dinamo Zagreb in Europe. While the results cannot be blamed entirely on the players that came in to the team for those fixtures, none of them really took the opportunity afforded to them to really stake a claim for a first-team role. Kieran Gibbs hasn’t caught the eye when called upon, and while I certainly sympathize with Mathieu Debuchy who found himself out of the team following injury rather than a loss of form, the Frenchman is currently being kept out of the Starting XI by the fastest fullback that ever lived, Hector Bellerin. The young Spaniard is barely out of his teenage years but his performance belies his age and increasingly shows maturity beyond his years.

A look at the numbers is telling. Nacho Monreal for instance has grown into the LB role at Arsenal and has continually improved aspects of his game since he ousted Kieran Gibbs from the side midway through last season.

	Chances Created	Chances Created per game	Passing Accuracy	Take-ons	Take-ons per game	Headed Duels
2014/2015	12	0.43	85%	6/13 (46%)	0.2	77/125 (62%)
2015/2016	12	1.2	86%	6/8 (75%)	0.8	26/39 (67%)

The only parameter where Gibbs truly trumps Monreal is on take-ons per game, which is to be expected. Hector Bellerin vs Debuchy follows a similar tale, and Bellerin’s dynamism and sheer explosive pace makes him too good to ignore. Before this weekend’s round of fixtures, Bellerin had created more big chances (6) than any other player in the league, and but for the profligacy of his team-mates would certainly have had more than the solitary assist in the league this season.

Calum Chambers, meanwhile, is one that has impressed me so far. He had an iffy first half in the game against Liverpool, and has been unlucky with a couple of own goals, but has otherwise been pretty solid and great, as always, when in possession:

“Calum can play in midfield, he can play central defender. I think in the future he will certainly be a central defender, but he can also play right back. That versatility will help him in the future because he will tactically know more about the game, he will be technically better prepared and physically he will be at the top, top level.”- Arsene Wenger.

Further forward, I don’t believe we can have much cause to complain about Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini, although the latter’s positioning does concern me at times. His role in the team, you’d like to believe, is to temper the attacking prowess of our front four with defensive stability and awareness, but for him to be in positions like he was in to score the first goal against Spurs (tap-in from a rebound) perhaps is a symptom of his tactical indiscipline? Or when he was brought on against Everton, presumably to shore up affairs at the back, but nearly scores from point-blank range with a header? I know he nearly scored, which would have been great, but should he have been there in the first place? But anyway. With Arteta not fit to feature tonight, Flamini will definitely get another crack in the first team, let’s hope he takes it.

Up front, the main issue would be with Joel Campbell. The Costa Rican had a decent World Cup 2014, and a good spell with Olympiacos before that, but that aside has really failed to impress in the red and white. What counts in his favour is that the manager still places a lot of faith in his abilities and potential:

“I like Joel Campbell very much for two reasons. One is that he has outstanding individual quality, but he is also a team player. He works very hard for the team. I’m convinced he will get a chance here and that he will take it. He has another opportunity against Sheffield Wednesday and I’m hopeful that he will show that he has the quality to play for Arsenal.”-Arsene Wenger.

Overall, I’m pretty excited to watch these players come in and hopefully do a job for the team. The Emirates faithful perhaps need reminding of the qualities these guys bring to the table, just as Giroud has done in recent games. David Ospina unfortunately is still out, and Arsene has confirmed that Petr Cech will continue in goal. Reserve ‘keeper Matt Macey is clearly not ready to make the step-up just yet, but fingers crossed our only fit senior goalkeeper avoids injury tonight.

Sheffield Wednesday are going well in the Championship and are sitting pretty in ninth, with many expecting them to challenge for the play-off places as well, so tonight will be no walk in the park. Hope we enjoy the game and result!

*Quotes courtesy of the Daily Mirror*

*Image courtesy of Arsenal Media*

GIROUD AND CECH STAND TALL: ARSENAL 2-1 EVERTON

“It is very pleasing [to go top of the table]. We were in a crisis at the start of the season and nine games later no one would have predicted that because we relied on our spirit, our togetherness and our desire to do well. It worked so let’s continue with these continue with these ingredients.”- Arsene Wenger.

Of course the Manchester Derby ended 0-0 so technically we’re now second on goal difference, but well you get the manager’s point. Two goals in 100 seconds from Olivier Giroud and a first goal of the season (actually a first since January) for Laurent Koscielny were enough to see off a dogged Everton side 2-1 at the Emirates. Arsenal have gotten into this delightful habit of scoring goals in bursts, three goals in 14 first half minutes against Manchester United, then three goals in 12 second half minutes against Watford, then two goals in 16 minutes against Bayern Munich, and two goals in 100 seconds against Everton yesterday. Lovely! Arsenal have won four league games in a row now, and haven’t failed to score in a game since the 2-0 reverse at Stamford Bridge, a run stretching seven games now.

THE LINE-UP:

The starting XI featured three changes from the side that took on Bayern Munich midweek, two of them enforced-Gabriel came in for an ill Per Mertesacker, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain took his place on the right of midfield in place of Aaron Ramsey, out for four weeks with a hamstring strain. The third change, surprisingly given the norm in recent weeks, saw Giroud start his first league game since our game against Liverpool in August. Four of Giroud’s last five goals for Arsenal have come off the bench, but his inclusion in the starting XI perhaps has a lot more to do with Giroud’s contribution to our play when he came on against Bayern, where his ball retention and hold-up play allowed Cazorla and Ozil to get up the pitch quicker, giving us territorial advantage over the opponent. Or maybe Arsene Wenger just felt that Theo needed a rest as well.

THE SET-UP:

After a game against a Pep Guardiola side in which we “enjoyed” a mere 27% possession of the football, the game against Everton was always going to be more about what we can do with the ball than what we can do without it. As I opined in my preview, Roberto Martinez and Everton have seen a slight shift in their football philosophy, favouring a more direct style of play to suit Romelu Lukaku, and we ended up with 57% of play. We still needed to be at our best defensively however, and we were brilliant at breaking up Everton’s play particularly in the first half. Perhaps the whole team as a defensive unit was switched on after having to put a shift in against Bayern, because Arsenal made a season-high 31 interceptions against Everton- we had averaged just 19 interceptions per game before this game.

In keeping with this theme, we had 73 ball recoveries in this game, which is 13 more than our season average of 60 per game. While against Bayern Cazorla and Ozil were joint top of the pile with nine ball recoveries, we had Koscielny, Coquelin and Sanchez all on 12 ball recoveries, and Cazorla behind the trio with ten. Koscielny and Monreal did brilliantly intercepting those passes into Lukaku and Deulofeu on the right, and it’s no surprise then that the duo combined for five tackles, nine interceptions and 17 ball recoveries, helping to turn over possession whenever Everton attempted forays into our half. One typically dangerous aspect of Gerard Deulofeu’s play is in his crossing- he was at the peak of his powers when Everton beat Southampton 3-0 and in their 3-2 win at Southampton- but he was only 1/10 on crosses on Saturday, with Monreal blocking three of those crosses.

Our work on the ball was breath-taking at times, and at this point I must pay homage to Santi Cazorla. 102 touches of the ball, 75 of 81 passes completed, 93% passing accuracy, 28/33 in the attacking third (85%), 8/9 on long balls (89%), 5/5 on set-pieces, 4/4 on take-ons, three chances created and one assist. Fantastic. Mesut Ozil was also excellent, 89% passing accuracy, 88% in the final third (30/34), five chances created and one exceptional cross for Giroud to head home for the opening goal. He nearly scored as well, hitting the post late on with a placed effort from just outside the box. Ozil and Cazorla are now second and third on chances created in the league, with 35 and 31 chances created respectively and Ozil is now top of the league in terms of assists with seven. I saw a stat on Twitter, that Ozil now averages an assist every 2.71 games, which is the best assists per game ratio ever recorded in Premier League history. Top stuff.

THE GOALS:

One of Arsenal’s patient passing moves ended up with Bellerin finding Ozil on the right, and the German floated in a lovely cross that just tempted Everton ‘keeper Tim Howard off his line enough for Giroud to head the ball over Howard and into an empty net. Giroud, despite not starting a league game since August, now has five goals to his name and six in all competitions.

“We have a different profile with Theo, and he was doing well at the beginning of the season. I try to bring what I know to the team so I’m pleased with the header.”- Olivier Giroud.

We didn’t have to wait long for the second, and the Frenchman was again involved, tackling John Stones as Everton attempted to play the ball from the back straight from the restart. Sanchez recovered possession before being tripped by Seamus Coleman for a free-kick. Cazorla stepped up and whipped in a great cross with such pace on it that Koscielny headed it virtually on the line into the back of the net for 2-0. Tim Howard was perhaps culpable for the second as well, but anyway.

We should have scored more, Ozil and Giroud hit the woodwork, and Flamini headed the ball straight at Tim Howard when either side of the ‘keeper and it would have been 3-1.

A word on their goal:

“The thing is, when we are attacking we need to finish the action with a shot, not get counter-attacked. We know that they play well on the counter-attack. They break well and we were aware of that, but their goal was a bit lucky because of the deflection.”- Olivier Giroud.

It warms my heart to see that some work had gone into studying the opposition, something which Arsene Wenger has been accused of not doing in the past. It was the first goal we conceded after three consecutive clean sheets and 334 minutes of play, so that hurt to see it go in like that. I loved the moment right at the end when Everton broke from their own half, Lukaku had the ball in our penalty area and Gabriel put in a goal-saving, match-winning tackle and he then got up and was pumping his fists in the air wildly, just to show you how much the three points meant to the team.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH:

Has to be Olivier Giroud for me. Six attempts, two on target, one off the crossbar, and one well-taken goal to take his tally to six for the season. His ball retention and control was sublime, and he was 28/33 on passes, which is the highest passing accuracy I’ve seen from Giroud in a really long time (85%). His really played on his strengths, and his aerial prowess in particular, going 3/5 on headed duels and it was also great to see how Koscielny, Gabriel and Giroud set themselves up whenever we had a set-piece, one standing behind another hence making it difficult to mark them, and we ended up creating three chances from corners alone. And the stat that will surprise you most of all, Giroud was our top tackler with 4/6 successful tackles. Not a bad way to stake your claim for a first-team slot I dare say.

Right, we go again against Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday. Till then.

*Quotes and images from Arsenal Media*

BUILDING CONSISTENCY: ARSENAL vs EVERTON

“Now for someone to be consistent in the Premier League you have to win every week and compete at the highest level every week- but to compete for the Premier League is really, really hard.”- Mikel Arteta.

With a run of five wins in our last six league games coupled with three successive clean sheets, it is about that point in a campaign where words such as “consistency” begin to be bandied about. Consistency will doubtless be key in deciding the destination of the league title come May 2016, and Arsenal will be looking to underline their aspirations when they take on Everton in Saturday’s late kick-off fixture at the Emirates. Wins over Manchester United and Bayern Munich have certainly brought the feel-good factor back at the Emirates after a drab start to the season in terms of our form at home, and another three points against a difficult opponent will be crucial, especially considering United and City play each other this weekend. Tomorrow’s opponents Everton had been in decent form prior to last weekend’s home defeat at the hands of Manchester United, a result which means they have now won just one of their last four games.

Our head-to-head record with the Toffees will fill you with optimism- we have only lost one of our last 16 league games against Everton. Our record at home to Everton is even better- Everton haven’t won at Arsenal in the last 19 games in all competitions, a run stretching back to January 1996. Overall, we have kept five clean sheets in our last seven league games, scoring 13 goals in our last five, and winning the last three by three-goal margins. Everton, meanwhile, have kept three league clean sheets, and only one in their last five games. Of course form doesn’t count for much when the 22 players take to the pitch, but confidence does affect performance and that should count in our favour.

Tactically speaking, it has been interesting to watch Everton play under Roberto Martinez this season. This is the Spaniard’s third season in charge at Goodison Park, but many will remember Everton pushing us close for the 4^th Champions League spot in the 2013/2014 season, when Everton held us 2-2 at the Emirates. Everton played some great possession football on the day, dominating possession as we turned in a particularly tepid first-half performance. Things have since changed, tactics shifted and playing styles modified, more so for Everton after they endured a difficult start to the following 2014/2015 season. Everton struggled to get the best out of Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku, and it was largely suggested that this was a direct consequence of their prevalent style of play. Consider this, if you will:

	Average Possession	Passing Accuracy	% of long balls
2013/2014	53%	84%	40%
2014/2015	51%	83%	40%
2015/2016	50%	81%	42%

Martinez realised he had to play a more direct brand of football to get the best out of the club record signing-Lukaku, and it has told this season. Lukaku has scored five goals in nine appearances and is much more involved at the top end of Everton’s play. Initially Arouna Kone and now Gerard Deulofeu have played their parts in assisting the Belgian, but none more so than Ross Barkley. The England international has already registered more assists in nine games this season (3) than he did in the whole of the last season, and his two goals scored so far is as many as he managed last season too. More telling perhaps is his “chances created” stat, which has grown steadily from 0.74 per game in 2013/2014, to 1.14 in 2014/2015, and 1.8 in 2015/2016. If we’re to keep another clean sheet tomorrow you feel we have to cut the supply line into Lukaku, and Francis Coquelin will have to be on his toes.

Team news now, and we have to make do without Aaron Ramsey and David Ospina for up to four weeks. Mikel Arteta will also miss tomorrow’s game after he suffered an ankle injury in training on Thursday. Wilshere, Rosicky and Welbeck are penciled in for returns in early 2016. In more positive injury news, Gabriel has made a full recovery from illness and has taken part in training, meaning he is available for selection tomorrow. Oxlade-Chamberlain will come into the team in the absence of Ramsey and Arteta, and I’m sure many like myself will be excited to see what the Ox has to offer after a consistent run in the starting XI. What that means, however, is that we’re now short on options on the bench- should things not go well with our Starting XI there won’t be much in the way of alternatives to personnel that Arsene Wenger can make. Fingers crossed then!

There had been talk of resting a couple of players for the game against Bayern, and the theme has still persisted in the lead-up to tomorrow’s game, but the manager wasn’t forthcoming on the issue:

“I’m not sure at the moment to rotate because we had a medical meeting this morning with our recovery tests to see how everybody recovered and so it is difficult to speculate on players who might be tired and are not tired, sometimes you might see that during the game. I don’t think we have a fatigue problem.”- Arsene Wenger.

Everton’s 3-0 win over Arsenal in the 2013/2014 season featured Lukaku at his bullying best, taking advantage of space down Arsenal’s left to take on and, admittedly, give Nacho Monreal a torrid time at LB. This time he comes up against a different Nacho Monreal, a player who has grown into one of the best fullbacks in the league in 2015, and an Arsenal side with a better set-up and better shape in midfield. Lukaku will likely not drift to the right as often with the inclusion of Deulofeu in the line-up however, and he will pose an entirely different problem for Monreal. A true flair player, but his crossing has come on in leaps and bounds. Favouring a cross whipped in with his right, Cazorla or Sanchez may have to double up on Deulofeu to cut off that particular supply line.

Theo Walcott looks set for yet another start despite Giroud scoring after coming off the bench in four of his last six matches, and perhaps this is lingering in the manager’s thoughts:

“You have to accept that no club in the world can play with only one striker. If I would do it then you would first accuse me of being irresponsible… They are top players, I consider the form, the game on the day but at the end of the season both will have played their share of games. At the moment it is Theo but in a few weeks it might be Giroud. What is important is that both contribute.”- Arsene Wenger.

The Frenchman gave the team a different dimension after coming on against Bayern in midweek, helping us to have more of the ball in Bayern’s half and holding it up well for Cazorla and Ozil to join in play. You suspect tomorrow will not be as difficult for us to play in opposition territory. We’ll again be looking to Alexis, Ozil and Walcott to convert possession into goals, and with the added dimension of Oxlade-Chamberlain’s power and pace down the right providing additional speed and an outlet on the counter-attack, tomorrow promises to be an exciting game. Enjoy it J

*Quotes and image courtesy of Arsenal Media*