Arsenal: Laurent Koscielny accomplishing the unthinkable

Laurent Koscielny is back for real, and while you never want to see too much of a defender, I think Arsenal will make an exception in his case.

Arsenal weren’t able to keep the clean sheet against Huddersfield, but they needed a competent defense or things would have gotten much worse. With all the constant giveaways and the complete lack of control, the defense was left scrambling, both against counter attacks and steady build-ups.

They had their work cut out for them, and with Shkodran Mustafi on one side and Nacho Monreal on the other, they needed to stay organized, because those are two guys that struggle in matches such as this.

Tying it all together, though, was Laurent Koscielny, the main man, the captain, the game changer. He came away as my man of the match quite easily because he was the reason, if I had to pin it on one person, that saved the Gunners more than anyone else – it was Bosscienly.

The man takes so many shots, but keeps on trucking, and he seems to never check out of a match. Now, granted, that last goal given up in stoppage time was a culmination of a match under pressure, and Koscielny shares some of the blame, but all in all, he was superb on the day, truly remarkable.

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There was a clearance away from danger after a Bernd Leno save that only came about because he read it ahead of time. He was constantly in the right place at the right time, ready to either block shots or do something that apparently only he could do – clear the ball from danger.

Koscielny’s influence went far beyond his own individual ability though. Throughout the course of the match, the organization of the defense actually improved on either side of him, with Mustafi and Monreal snapping to attention the later the match went on.

You might call that good fortune, but I call it the influence of the captain, who had already done so much on his own.

Ever since returning, Koscielny has gradually worked his way into the spotlight again, proving himself to be the exact defender that the Gunners have needed all year, and making me wish that we could just chip ten years off of him so that we can be treated to another decade of this fantastic defensive work.

As long as he is back there, I have confidence in the defense, and that’s something I haven’t been able to say in years.