Arsenal: Sead Kolasinac should probably start winning his job soon

Arsenal have surprising depth at left back, but in order for that to work, Sead Kolasinac has to actually produce. This is his chance.

I was literally giddy when we landed Sead Kolasinac. As I have a fetish for FC Schalke, the best alternative to him not staying was him coming to Arsenal, which made everything just peachy. And it got even peachier when he got off to a fantastic start to the season, bailing us out in the FA Community Shield and going on to showcase the tenacity that we so desperately needed.

There were flaws in his game, sure. He was a bit over-zealous. But I’d take that to passive any day of the week. As I keep saying, Kolasinac brings so many things that most Gunners simply do not have, and that is not something that should be taken lightly.

But then he started falling out of favor. I’m not sure when it began, but it was piled on by Nacho Monreal becoming a born-again superstar, scoring goals for fun and playing the best football of his life.

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It buried Kolasinac and you can bet that his confidence was buried with him. You can just see that Kolasinac is another one of those guys that is really built on confidence. He may have the physical attributes of a Greek god, but it starts in the mind, and he wasn’t having it.

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That compiles on an existing problem when it comes time to actually buckle down and do your job. Against Manchester City, he was handed a chance to do that when Nacho Monreal came off injured and, while he wasn’t terrible, he was far from good. The recklessness in his game seemed to be on double time as, perhaps, he was trying to make up for all the time he had missed.

He could be found driving through the defense like a seasoned pro, then losing the ball, then racing back to win it back, then losing it again. It was a carousel of inconsistency.

With Monreal out for the next few matches, Kolasinac has a premium chance to really assert himself and it’s about time that he does it. This is a guy that is immensely talented on both sides of the ball. Maybe he can be a bit loose, but these are things you learn in time. Before you can learn though, you have to get back onto the pitch consistently.

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Kolasinac has an excellent opportunity to establish himself as a premier player on a premier team. It’s just about time that he prove himself.