Arsenal: Francis Coquelin At Delicate Juncture

Arsenal were plagued by one of the worst ever performances by Francis Coquelin. Now, the Frenchman is at a delicate point in his career.

One bad match does not determine a career. However, it can be the start of something nasty. Francis Coquelin has not been himself since returning to injury. That became incredibly obvious in his mental relapse when he put an inexplicable tackle on Harry Kane to earn his second yellow card, just as Arsenal was gaining belief in their 1-0 lead.

He left Arsenal with a small lead to protect, a man down, for 40 minutes. They may still have pulled off a draw, but make no mistake about it, Coquelin’s red card changed everything.

At the very least, the Frenchman did apologize via the official Arsenal website. Although he probably should have added something along the lines of “it was truly a stupid tackle.” Because it was.

Without blowing it out of proportion, we do have to realize the state that Coquelin is in right now. When he first arrived on the scene, Coquelin was garnering yellow cards every match. It was a nasty habit of bad discipline. However, in very little time, that accumulation slowed down and it turned to pure, blemishless bossing.

He was everything we had ever hoped for.

As mentioned, since his return from injury, he has looked less than convincing and this double yellow at the worst possible time is the climax of it all. Which leads us to the big concern of where he goes from here.

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Coquelin will be able to serve his suspension against Hull City, so he will be back against West Brom. In Coquelin’s mind, there may be a bit of a battle going on. On one hand, he knows that form he was in last year and he wants to get back to it. However, that form involved a lot of slide tackles and, for lack of a better word, bossing.

That is what he tried to reestablish against Tottenham but it failed miserably, as his tackles were clearly a step behind. So does Coquelin tone it back until he catches up with himself and risk losing that battle-born intensity that we loved last year? Or does he keep that intensity and go through the same disciplinary habits we saw him overcome last year?

It is a tough prognosis. On one hand, Arsenal’s lack of a spine can be aided by Coquelin’s intensity and physicality, but if it leads to situations like we saw against Tottenham, is it really worth it?

It would be almost too convenient if Coquelin was able to snap back into form after such a shocking display. Arsenal have not had a convenient break all year. So the crossroad remains. Risk disciplinary measures or tone it back and lost some intensity? And if the latter is chosen and Coquelin tries to dial it back, is he only winding himself up?

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Only time will tell. The one thing we know is that we need him back to his usual self.

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