Arsenal: Sead Kolasinac brilliant in his deceptive simplicity

Arsenal were blessed by another fantastic performance from Sead Kolasinac, and his brand of football has become something truly unique.

Arsenal had a lot of things go right against Southampton. Not everything, mind you, as the attack probably could have put up seven goals if they’d been more clinical with their chances, and the defense was sloppy at times, but when one aspect falters, another picks up the slack, and that’s what happened against the Saints.

What didn’t slacken against the Saints was Sead Kolasinac. Playing at leftback, rather than wingback, Unai Emery gave the Bosnian another chance to prove just how useful he can be and, lo and behold, we learned more of what we should have already known – that having him on the pitch is far greater than not.

Mostly because of his attacking play, as usual. It’s remarkable, the way that Sead Kolasinac attacks. I am always one to applaud a player’s directness. It’s what made me like Alex Iwobi so much from the moment he broke in.

But Kolasinac’s directness is almost so direct that it seems to be deceptive to opposing defenders, like they don’t expect him to take the simplest way to get from Point A to Point B. Because the simplest way is to go straight there, and that is what Kolasinac consistently does.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

We saw that front and center against Southampton. Kolasinac constantly left defenders in the dust, but not with fancy footwork of step overs or any sort of deception. His deception comes from how little he tries to be cute with the ball.

At the very most, what Kolasinac does is go into an attack with a casual stroll, luring defenders to commit to stopping him before turning on those deceptive jets and leaving them behind. It’s such a simplistic approach to take, but it is consistently working and it makes him so dangerous. We even saw him driving down the teeth of the of the defense and not just on the left-hand flank, which was the newest trick that we haven’t seen much of.

He doesn’t dribble, he doesn’t spin, he doesn’t dip and dive, he just goes straight and veers one way or the other. And it’s shaping up to be unstoppable.

I remember when Kolasinac first arrived and they said that he wasn’t fast, that he was clumsy with the ball… yeah, looks like that’s all in the past, isn’t it?