Arsenal: Keeping the wind in Sead Kolasinac’s sails

Arsenal exposed what appears to be a full on demotion with Sead Kolasinac falling into the rotational squad. Now the trick is keeping him at his absolute best.

I’m not going to pretend like I have any inkling of a clue as to why Sead Kolasinac has seemingly become Arsenal’s second choice leftback. I will, however, make the point that this reserve defense, with two true centerbacks, a true rightback and a true leftback, looked superb.

Make of that what you will.

I will also make something of the body language of Sead Kolasinac. Maybe I’m reading into this too much, but to me, it looked as though Kolasinac was a bit down on himself. He didn’t have that same vibrant aura of wanting to personally wreck every man that brought the ball near him.

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In fact, the Bosnian bruiser didn’t complete a single tackle or interception. This, despite being one of the top ball-winners for Arsenal in Premier League matches.

You could attribute that to West Ham seeing very little of the ball, or you could attribute to a man who knows he deserves better.

Anyway, despite all of that, Kolasinac had himself a good game. He created two clear cut chances and produced the closest thing to a shot on target prior to Danny Welbeck’s goal. He should have had an assist except for the ineptitude of Theo Walcott and, overall, he reminded us just how important he can be to a team.

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This is the same type of production he was bringing to Arsenal at the Premier League level, the same threat to the opposing goal and the same solidity at the back, where he led the team in seven clearances.

Kolasinac was on pace to be one of the signings of the season, yet all of a sudden, the wind has been pulled out of his sails. Despite performing so well so consistently, he has been deemed inadequate. I don’t care who you are, that can play with your psyche in a big way, and Kolasinac is too good of a player to deserve that.

With Liverpool on the docket, there is no one I would rather see at leftback or left wingback than Kolasinac. No other candidate is more qualified than him to handle what Mo Salah brings to the table. But we will in all likelihood be without him.

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I’m not sure what this means longterm. Maybe Kolasinac will be back into the starting role come January, maybe he will have a lengthy, inexplicable lay-off. Whatever the case, I hope that the Kolasinac that shot out to such a positive start to life in the Premier League isn’t dented too badly by this sudden change of fortune.