Arsenal: Sead Kolasinac only a starter out of necessity

Sead Kolasinac was shifted into a left midfield position on Sunday, proof of Unai Emery’s mistrust of his play. He is Arsenal’s starting left-back out of necessity, not productivity.

Unai Emery wants to play with a back four. While he has used a back-three based system this season on numerous occasions, his most preferred system is clearly a back four. But his hand is forced somewhat by the personnel that he presently has available to him.

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The main vice is Sead Kolasinac. He is a brilliant offensive weapon with his marauding runs down the left flank, but he is a defensive liability at the other end, his positioning is loose, he suffers painful lapses in concentration, his lack of short-area quickness can be exploited by dribbling, highly agile attackers.

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To balance these two countering elements, — Emery’s desire to play a back four and Kolasinac’s inability to play as a full-back — in Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Manchester City, the Arsenal head coach tried something rather drastic: Nacho Monreal played at left-back and Kolasinac shifted into a left-midfield position with a 4-4-2 shape employed. As a short-term, quick-fix solution, it is not the worst idea in the world, but there is no way that either Monreal or Kolasinac are long-term options at those positions.

As a result of Emery’s somewhat wild and unexpected team selection, there has been a major debate among the Arsenal fan base surrounding the use of Kolasinac and whether he should be considered a starting player next season, most likely as a left-back. There is a fairly split opinion of whether he deserves the position or not.

In a perfect world, I am not sure how many fans would want Kolasinac as the starting left-back next season. If the club could invest in a replacement, the likes of Ben Chilwell, for instance, then it would be strongly advised. But given the current financial restrictions of the club, that is a very big if indeed.

And this is where Kolasinac’s value comes to the fore: he is already in the squad. Arsenal have such a quantity and quality of holes at other positions that they, realistically, cannot afford to sign a new left-back even if they wanted to — obviously, it is possible that Emery sees left-back as a much more urgent need than other positions that many others would rank higher.

I view central midfield, winger and centre-back as far bigger areas of concern than left-back. And I would rather see the club invest heavily in those positions, signing two or three elite players, than spreading their resources a little thinner across the ground to try and squeeze in a left-back also.

Kolasinac is far from the perfect left-back. And I would be hesitant to argue that he deserves that a place in the starting XI. Chilwell is a far superior and far younger footballer. But there are too many needs to think about improving Kolasinac. For now, left-back must be pushed down the priority list.