Arsenal: Sead Kolasinac resuming a conversation thought dead

Arsenal had a clear pecking order at leftback, but Sead Kolasinac may be digging up a conversation that we’d thought dead and buried.

There’s a reason Arsenal bought Kieran Tierney. It matched well with Nacho Monreal‘s departure and gave us a nice tandem at leftback, both of whom were young, both of whom could be counted on to secure the future of the position for the long-haul. That was the idea.

Even still, there was a clear priority to the two of them. Kieran Tierney was coming in as a true fullback, capable of mixing defense and attack with consistency and reliability. That’s what we’ve been wanting at fullback all along, and Tierney provided it.

Sead Kolasinac is a wild card. He always has been. His defense is suspect at times and his attack is positive, but the final product is rough and unreliable. I still think he’s an incredibly clever attacker and doesn’t get enough credit for it, but regardless, it was clear why Tierney would be preferred over the Bosnian.

Needing a rest, Tierney was given the day off against Norwich, and Kolasinac was given room to roam as an actual leftback.

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The results were pretty great. While Calum Chambers struggled at times on the right hand side, and the defense as a whole struggled, Kolasinac was not one of the offenders. He was actually quite a positive presence throughout the course of the match. He combined so well with Mesut Ozil and whoever else happened to be on that side of the pitch with him in the attack.

And then I remembered that it was just last year that Kolasinac was a frontrunner for player of the season before getting hurt and losing his groove.

There is clear and obvious talent in Kolasinac, he can just get a bit awry at times. That’s why the reliability of Tierney was such an apparent upgrade.

But that’s the thing about wild cards, they are capable of surprises, and I was pleasantly surprised by Sead Kolasinac against Norwich City. He didn’t prove to be a liability at all. His defense was solid and he even filled in at centerback when the void was there.

Maybe this is a one-off. I can’t imagine Freddie Ljungberg not giving Tierney his spot back. But it’s nice to see internal competition working the way it should at one position, at least. We have Kolasinac to thank for that.