Arsenal: Sead Kolasinac might just lose his job

Sead Kolasinac was dropped for Arsenal’s 3-0 win over BATE Borisov as Unai Emery moved to a back four. If he’s not careful, he might lose his job, and not just for the rest of the season.

For the first time in three matches, Unai Emery played with a back four versus BATE Borisov on Thursday night. I must admit, it was nice to see, with the added midfielder providing an extra element of control and creativity to Arsenal’s play in possession.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — BATE Borisov and Mesut Ozil fanboys

The 3-0 win was a commanding, if not completely overawing, display, one that was a refreshing difference from the panicked, overran showings of recent games gone by. But the shift in formation brought a very significant but subtle personnel change.

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Emery dropped the marauding Sead Kolasinac, who had been Arsenal’s primary offensive weapon in recent weeks, creating seven of their 13 chances in the first leg, for the more experienced and positionally aware Nacho Monreal, the Spaniard seen as a better fit at the left-back position over Kolasinac, who is, in Emery’s eyes, more suited to the slightly more attacking wing-back role.

The thinking is clear. Kolasinac has proven himself to be a limited defender at the best of times. He might have all the physical tools to be a competent player in his own territory, but his lack of positional acumen, an inability to turn sharply and track agile wingers, and his lapses of concentration — I feel like I can write that about almost every single Arsenal defender — undermine any physical enforcement he may provide.

Emery clearly thinks that way too. What is most troubling for Kolasinac is that I believe Emery’s preferred system is based around a back four, either the 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 (in reality, they are synonymous with one another bar the position of one player and that is only changed by about five or 10 yards).

If that is indeed the case, then Kolasinac could well find himself without a job. And I am not just talking about for the rest of the season. I mean permanently. There had been whispers around the club that Emery felt restricted in the formations that he wanted to play this season because of a lack of natural full-back options. Monreal and Hector Bellerin being injured for extended periods substantially hamstrung his plans.

Should Emery’s plan continue into next season, it is not inconceivable that he and Arsenal see left-back as one of the major needs of the summer and invest heavily in a long-term option. Ben Chilwell has been mentioned as a possible target, although the Leicester City star would eat up a rather large hole in the budget.

Signing a new left-back, one that is more comfortable in the more traditional version of the role, would surely spell the end of Kolasinac as the starter at Arsenal. It might even spell the end of him at the Emirates altogether. If true, he has just a matter of months to change Emery’s mind.