Arsenal: Screw your ebb and flow, Sead Kolasinac doesn’t care

Arsenal have not had a lot of reliables this year, and as such, their form has ebbed and flowed, but Sead Kolasinac’s consistency cannot be so easily forgotten.

It’s funny. When Sead Kolasinac first arrived at Arsenal, there was an initial burst of disbelief. Could he really be as good as he was playing? And if so, how the hell did we get him for free? He was on the fast track for player of the year before he went down with injury and, just like that, the season took a turn for the worst.

Even when he came back, he found no luck. The nagging injury clearly robbed him of confidence and without it, Arsene Wenger lacked the confidence to keep handing him chances.

Starting off this season, his second year, he was again stricken by injuries. All the while, the discussion fluttered around him – “Could he be counted on as a reliable, consistent member of a top flight team?” The jury remained out. For some, at least.

He seemed to be an all or nothing player. I kept asking for the same thing from him last year, to establish a base foundation so that he didn’t just “bottom out” in matches that didn’t go his way.

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This year, he has done all of that and so much more, injury be damned. This year, since settling back into the regular starting XI, he has done so many things reliably, so many things consistently, to the point that I don’t stand for no fools saying we can do better than him.

No matter who is performing well, or who is falling by the wayside. No matter if Mesut Ozil is on point (or even playing) or if Henrikh Mkhitaryan is healthy (or even effective), no matter if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is being wasteful, or Alexandre Lacazette is getting frustrated, Sead Kolasinac continues to churn out the numbers that make him one of our most consistent players this season.

Against Bournemouth, it was finally the good news side of that spectrum. After carrying the creative load for so long, Mkhitaryan and Ozil stepped up with respective masterclasses, dominating play so much that you might have forgotten that Sead Kolasinac was even out there.

But he was. He created his usual two chances, notched an assist (the first one), and exited after another hour of superb play.

Whether his teammates are playing terribly or rocking the world, Kolasinac remains the same – a rock. So give the man some credit.