Stats help tell the story, but they are misleading very often… Kante is a very good passer and he is at least equal on the ball, but more importantly he actually takes care of his primary responsibilities better than just about anyone in the league the last 2 seasons. His positioning and engine are fantastic and that is very hard to boil down into stats. Sometimes just making the angle of a pass more difficult due to your positioning makes all the difference.
No disagreement that he would function worse in our team than he is currently in Chelsea’s team, but that is separate discussion. Le Coq actually has played pretty well for us at times, just this season he is very indisciplined and while that may be nearly all on AW, you can only do so much in giving our players a pass for poor performances…
At the end of the day, you can make your case that Le Coq is as good or better - I don’t agree and would argue it is more of a stretch and signal of “bias” than the reverse.
For the record, I have really liked Le Coq and was hopeful he was turning into a great player but I’m not seeing that now - a little bit like Ramsey… and Xhaka? Yikes. There is definitely something to the fact that our team and its tactics and functioning is making a lot of players look worse than they should - I agree with that wholeheartedly.
Prove me wrong, or I guess your eye for the game is just so incredible what you say go’s. I like how you pretry much admit you don’t watch Kante, so I must be the same lol
It’s pretty obvious you don’t if you aren’t willing to admit his limitations. Listen maybe you’ve got my point all wrong. I’m not saying Coquelin is some amazing all around midfield player like the next coming of Kroos or Veratti. Coq is a very limited player who has a job to do and does it more oft than not. Kante is in the same boat tbh, he’s probably a slightly better player. The difference being Kante plays in a system conducive to his abilities wheras Coq is a square peg in a round hole. Makes one look a lot better than the other one imo. Pretty telling that Kante made it onto the france squad for the euros, played like he normally does and was burried on the bench the rest of the time for Sissoko.
I reslly do need to point this out. But, Robben is one of the most predictable players in the world, that still doesnt stop him doing what he does.
Coquelin, Kante, Busquets whoever you like would at some point or another be faced with that exact scenario, and would fuck up all the same.
Coquelin should hang his head in shame for a number of reasons this season, but being dicked on by one of the worlds best? Nah. It’s all part of the learning curve.
Might be a little arrogant on my part but I don’t think so, there’s a learning curve and then there’s getting found out vs the best of the best & Coquelin falls in the latter for me.
I’m not gonna lie I do feel for Coquelin a little bit on Robben’s goal because he was in a sticky situation, he had Lahm drifting behind and Robben running directly at him but with that being said in the heat of the moment, he fucked up man, by attempting to try an cut out the lesser of the two evils (Lahm in the gap) he ended up looking like a fucking eejit in real time especially with the way he allowed Robben to cut inside on his left foot and plant one in the top corner.
Dont get me wrong. Coquelin made a mistake and thats that, fully found out. But that is part and parcel of playing against the best. (Boateng still has nightmares about Messi…)
All im saying is, he could have done everything right and still had zero impact, because guys like Robben are at times, unplayable.
Coquelin is constantly being found out so I’m past the point of learning curves and making excuses for him.
Believe it or not I was a big fan of him even before we loaned him out for a couple seasons. I was happy he got a chance but he rested on his laurels and never developed and the truth is he was always going to get exposed at a higher level if he didn’t put the work in.
It wasnt even a mistake, it was just plain stupid. He already had Gibbs covering the left and then deliberately hops next to Gibbs allowing Robben acres of room to cut in on his left foot. Needs to fuck off.
Another of the more obvious players to sell in the summer if a new manager comes in. Someone not burdened by the millstone of loyalty that hangs around Wenger’s neck. Coquelin really should be straight out the door if we’re to be ambitious next season.
Could and should be rich pickings this summer for mid-table clubs across the continent looking to improve their first teams.
You know life is shit when you’re desperate for Chamberlain or Ramsey at CM over this guy.
He’s the sort of player that would be getting sold to Crystal Palace or Hull in 3 months under a new coach.
Also sorry to those that said it was wrong to give him an extension. I thought he could be a reasonable enough squad player but he’s really just looking like another Flamini.
