Arsenal: Don’t ever worry about over-hyping Sead Kolasinac

Arsenal witnessed another stellar match from Sead Kolasinac, and his first at his best position. Best part? There’s no need to fear over-hyping him.

I think there are a lot of reasons why Arsenal fans maybe didn’t get as excited about Sead Kolasinac as he deserved. Firstly, he was free, which always seems to throw people off. Secondly, it happened so early that by the time the window closed and the disappointment set in that nothing had happened in the final two months, no one cared.

And thirdly, Wenger insisted on playing him at center back.

But now that we’ve seen what he can do, what he can really do, I’m here to tell you that you have absolutely no reason to fear over-hyping him. And that’s because Kolasinac has a skill set that can’t really go all that wrong.

He had a few moments against Bournemouth where he passed the ball away, but his determination and recovery makes you forget about it in no time because he wins it back so easily.

It’s a pretty simple formula for a wingback to maximize. He wins the ball back seamlessly – you can’t really mess that up, because it’s not like he clatters into people. He is secure on the ball, never overstretching himself. He drives deeper into opposing territory than any wingback I know.

And while that may be something defenses catch on to, I’m not worried, because he can also cut in or send in workable crosses from anywhere.

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So it’s not like he has one big weapon that they can cut off. All three of those options are equally viable. Can’t mess that up.

There isn’t a big part of his game that relies on confidence or anything. He isn’t reliant on dribbling, or on team mates reading his signals, because both of those can go awry. He is fine when pressured, as he is strong enough to keep the ball and fast enough to get away. He isn’t the kind of guy that is going to whack the ball 30 meters over the goal from fifty yards out.

You can feel confident in Kolasinac and in getting excited about him. You can count on him to be like this on a daily basis. All of his positive traits are entirely controlled by him, and that is someone that you can rely on to be consistent.

Which, again, is just one more thing that makes his acquisition so amazing. Arsenal has a lot of reliance on team play and fancy footballing that, if everyone isn’t on the same page, can go wrong.

Next: Arsenal vs Bournemouth Player Ratings

Kolasinac is just a tough, independent force that can do so much on his own before he even invites anyone else to play along.

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