Arsenal: Maybe Laurent Koscielny’s body is telling us something…

Arsenal’s defense has hinged on the availability of Laurent Koscieln, which isn’t a good thing when his body is refusing the responsibility.

Arsenal‘s defense isn’t a source of inspiration. There was a while there, about a month or so ago, when Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis seemed to have brought order to the side, but that, like so many other things, fell apart like a sand castle hit by a changing tide (poetic!).

As we have known all year, our odds are best when Koscielny and Sokratis start side by side. Having one or the other – not both – doesn’t do a lot of good. This defense has always been beyond then help of one man.

But every time Koscielny took the pitch, there was that kernel of hope. That belief that he could usher us into a new era for the defense and, for one more year, be the centerpiece of this defense like he has been for so many years.

I believed that up until yesterday, when he was limping around the pitch, desperately trying to hold it all together but ending up having to be subbed off.

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Koscielny has always had some problems staying healthy, but it’s never been more poignant a reminder than this year, when the difference between him being on the pitch and not being on the pitch is the difference between belief in a defensive stand and a keen understanding that we are going to be giving up goals.

It’s time to listen to Koscielny’s body. Clearly he can’t handle a full season of work anymore. Hell, we haven’t even been able to get him through a half season. Yet so much is depending on him to be healthy and effective and it’s clear that physically, he just can’t do it anymore.

That should alter our summer transfer plans. I wanted to believe that Koscielny could drive us into the next era, but I don’t believe that anymore. I wanted him to shepherd our young defenders for one more season, but if he does, it’s going to have to be more in a reserved, Per Mertesacker-esque role of being called on only when absolutely necessary. Because his body just isn’t going to allow it any other way.

He’s still got that one year left on his contract, but it’s time to get a big name guy in there to be the future of the defense once and for all and relieve some of the stress that Koscielny is dealing with.