Arsenal: Good news – Sead Kolasinac is still a human tank

Arsenal needed someone to step up against Bournemouth, and they got it from an unlikely candidate – the tank! Sead Kolasinac is back!

Before the match against Bournemouth, I asked who among the Arsenal players was going to step up. My most likely candidates were Lacazette, Ozil and Xhaka, with a potential dynamic performance from Hector Bellerin.

Lacazette and Ozil didn’t play. Xhaka was solid, but tapered off, and Bellerin was overshadowed by the man who did take charge, the human tank, Sead Kolasinac.

When Kolasinac first arrived at the Emirates last year and got himself off on a player of the season start to the year, the parallels started to roll in – he was a tank. A literal tank. Or he was the hulk. Or he was anything that was fast, strong, and menacing, unafraid of anything and capable of everything.

We saw that again against Bournemouth. Slotted into a left wingback role, which is so obviously his best position, Kolasinac bossed the game. Not only did he make Ryan Fraser look like a pawn in the Bosnian’s prolific game, but he made the Bournemouth defense look helpless.

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Kolasinac is scary fast. I say scary because no one Kolasinac’s size should be that fast. The human tank was back in operation, and he embraced the role. Only Shkodran Mustafi won the ball back more than the Bosnian, who had about twice the ground to cover, and no one created more chances.

He was responsible for both goals, as he played in the ball that Lerma thumped home for an own goal, as well as providing the assist (granted, from a beautiful Iwobi pass) that would given the Gunners the win.

But Kolasinac wasn’t limited just to the hard stats. His influence was all over that left hand side. he completed owned that entire flank. His late runs into the box gave Xhaka and Iwobi something to consistently aim for and his own ability on the ball (he tied for the team lead with most dribbles completed) was a threat in and of itself.

In short, he did everything. He was a winger and a defender. Even if he was caught forward a couple of times, he was still the man that made this match happen.

If I were Unai Emery, I’d start figuring out ways to get this 3-4-3 into action more often. If this is what Kolasinac can provide, then it is well worth the effort.