Arsenal: Sead Kolasinac with a vendetta is a dangerous thing

Sead Kolasinac is back and ready with the Arsenal first team, and being a man who understands his own situation, he just become much more dangerous.

While Granit Xhaka will aways be my No. 1 charge to defend against the hater brigade, Sead Kolasinac is in a comfortable second place. Since his days at Schalke, I have seen Kolasinac as a truly unique footballer and Arsenal were brilliant to land him for a free, and they will be even more brilliant if they can figure out the best way to use him and how to get the best out of him.

One way to get the best out of him, though, is clear. Give him a clear vendetta. Put him in a situation that he sees, understands, and can do something about. Last year, when the Gunners were completely starved of chances, Kolasinac stepped up in a big way.

He lead the team in chances created for over half the year while Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan flopped around like dying fish. Kolasinac was the guy. He was the creative savior we never expected.

And I really do think that came out of having a clear vendetta. He saw what the team needed and assumed the role. It’s no coincidence that when Ozil and crew started creating more, Kolasinac kind of faded.

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While Nacho Monreal started at Newcastle in the wake of the ongoing security issues with Kolasinac and Ozil, Burnley will see the two embroiled stars back in contention to start, and I don’t see a single reason why Kolasinac shouldn’t get the nod at leftback in a match that is going to be tough and gritty, but also in a match that Kolasinac understands could be one of his last to prove himself.

Kieran Tierney is coming. He’s getting back to health and the pressure is on for someone to prove that they should get the job ahead of him. Same as it is with Reiss Nelson trying to fend off the pending fitness of Nicolas Pepe.

Kolasinac, however, is tremendous when given a directive. When he has a clear objective, he becomes something else. He becomes the Bosnian Hulk. And fighting for a starting job is as clear an objective as we can give him.

Which means that Kolasinac is in line to play a big part against Burnley and usually, the bigger the part he plays, the better off we all are because of it.