Arsenal: Laurent Koscielny problem has hit club like a bus

Arsenal are writhing from poor defense, and Laurent Koscielny is right in the middle. But why are we so unprepared for what was going to happen?

It’s a hard situation seeing club favorites lose their form. Especially when you know what it’s probably because they are struggling with lingering injuries while also being past their prime, but that is the situation that Arsenal are currently in with Laurent Koscielny.

Long heralded as one of, if not the best defenders in the Premier League, Koscielny has been a shadow of his former self. There have been handfuls of atrocious performances and just a few standout positive ones.

The match against Liverpool took the shoddy cake.

Koscielny was a mess. An absolute mess. He was slipping, sliding, misreading, out of position and, were it not for two or three really superb clearances, he would have have a wholly negative affair.

Not good from the captain. But my question is, why is it being allowed to go on for so long, and why are we so unprepared?

Well, other Josh, that is a long and complicated answer that begins with overwhelming faith from Arsene Wenger, as well as self-prescribed lacks of faith in alternative options. It’s no secret that Koscielny’s sudden fall from grace has hit us like a bus. He has always been so reliable and now, just like that, he is appearing more and more like an inept crap merchant.

And the factors aren’t all that inspiring that anything is going to change. We sold Gabriel Paulista, the cookie-cutter Koscielny replacement, and did not replace him. Despite the positive showings from our two young Englishmen, neither is going to be given the go ahead of Koscielny.

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After all, Wenger would rather let his esteemed veteran drill himself into the ground with poor form and/or a bum Achilles, then allow rising, confident defenders desperate to prove themselves the chance to do just that – prove themselves.

It’s a problem that has to be addressed. Last time the defense was this bad, we switched to a back three. We have only just switched away from that back three because our defense was so bad again. So what next? If two systems both fail, there has to be a more tactical approach. Maybe using the back four when you need a strong midfield presence and the back three when you need more defense.

Something. Anything. Because constantly seeing this defense shredded due to poor individual mistakes, a lack of any sort of structure, a lack of any sort of communication, etc. is getting really old.

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It’s not Koscielny’s fault that Wenger is unprepared to deal with the defenders sudden drop in form. It’s a tough decision to bench someone like Koscielny, but dragging him through the mud should be even tougher.

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