Arsenal: Don’t act like Laurent Koscielny isn’t better than that

Arsenal fans should not be freaking out over Laurent Koscielny’s performance against Southampton. We all know he is better than that.

Arsenal‘s unbeaten run came to an end, and it just had to be against Southampton, and it just had to be three headed goals. There could have been no other way for this to happen.

It was clear, right from the off, what was going to undo the Gunners’ streak, and that is, in the end, what in fact undid it – it was the defense. This shabby, shabby defense that, while shaky already all year, was a muddled mess against the Saints.

With the three starting centerbacks out already, and Sead Kolasinac picking up a knock as well, Unai Emery was not left with much of an option. Laurent Koscielny got the start in the middle of the back three, and he was flanked by Stephan Lichtsteiner and Granit Xhaka.

Xhaka was the best of the three, as he acclimated incredibly well to an unwinnable situation. Meanwhile, Lichtsteiner and Koscielny struggled to handle their responsibilities all day. Koscielny was particularly bad, he seemed unwilling to use his head (odd as that sounds) and, while he didn’t have traditional defenders around him, he couldn’t hold the back three in line.

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Koscielny was not his usual self. It was more like his self from last year. But this time, he has an excuse – he’s been out for eight months. Which, fun fact, is a long time to go without competitive football.

At the age of 33, not having played in eight months, I’d say that he actually played quite well. He was rusty as can be, which is to be expected, but that rust will chip away and the regular Koscielny will come back out and will be a regular in the defense all over again.

Why? Because this is Laurent Koscielny, the Boss. And when you put someone like him up to something, he achieves it, just like what happened with Per Mertesacker in the FA Cup Final with Chelsea. Only… if Koscielny could get a functional defense around him, that’d be pretty swell too.

All in all, the big takeaway from this is that we know Koscielny is better than he let on. Way better. We have seen so many players adjust under the regime change and come out the better and Koscielny should be the next to accomplish that.