Francis Coquelin - a fabulously talented Arsenal midfield player who can contribute in many ways to the team and help solve lack of "bite" in the middle. 

08/11/12

Much has been made of Arsenal's "engine room" since the departure of Alexandre Song to FC Barcelona this summer, with Mikel Arteta stepping in to play that deeper role to great effect for much of the season. However to be honest I do not see him playing there long-term with Arsenal, in fact I see a young Frenchman with fantastic qualities ready to step in when needed. Francis Coquelin was taken to very fondly, I believe, last season when he covered both fall-back positions to a very commendable level, when we were completely decimated by injuries that area of the team. This for me sums up the man, he is someone who has great commitment and desire, coupled with fantastic qualities that in my opinion will only grow, develop and get better over time, and I hope that we can find a way for him to play more games in the Premier League and Champions League this season to really give him the experience that he needs to reach the potential which I genuinely believe he has.

Some of you may have read my article about a month or two ago regarding Mikel Arteta's switch from a more advanced midfielder to this drawn back "anchor man" role that he has played in this season. (If you haven't seen it, here's the link:  http://mrarsenalblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-adaptation-of-spanish-magician.html). In this article I discussed how I feel that Arteta perhaps epitomizes the "modern" defensive midfield player, as well as how I felt that this role in football is really developing from big strong, perhaps defensive minded, players to more technically gifted "smaller" players but who are also capable of "breaking up" opposition play too. I feel that Francis Coquelin too fits into the mould of a "modern" defensive midfielder, and in many ways actually reminds me of Busquetes in the qualities that he has (lets hope he can develop to that level), and he could also take up this mantle that Song left.

Since I wrote this article a few things have changed. I still believe that Mikel Arteta is very capable of playing this role in the team, and I still rate him as a players generally very highly indeed (he is my favourite player). However, since Diaby has got injured against Chelsea back in September, I believe Arsenal has lost a lot of "bite" in the midfield, and I feel at times this has meant that Mikel has struggled to impose himself on this role, as well as he was earlier in the season against the likes of Liverpool and City away, alongside Abou Diaby, where they both played very well indeed. Since Jack has returned, I had expected us to have more physicality and bite in the midfield, but against United last Saturday this was very much lacking in my opinion. Now this brings me on to the main topic of the article, Francis Coquelin. I believe that when Diaby is back fit (how long this will be you can never know) he will start most games because, as he showed at the beginning of this season, he is quality. I believe that he brought real balance to the midfield as he provides strength as well as his skill, whilst perhaps not be the traditional "defensive" midfield player, by offering a more varied game, which I think really benefited us, because of the way we play. We have lost this balance since his injury.

For this reason I would really like to see Francis Coquelin given a go over the next few weeks as I believe has very similar attributes actually. He, like Abou, is a very agile player who possesses great strength, as well as technical quality and skill. His passing is good, and his ability to cover the pitch is also very good, due to good pace. I think he should be given more of a go in the premier league and to be honest I don't really understand why he has not started more games this season, other than the Carling Cup, because anyone can see when we played a midfield of: arteta and Ramsey, that there is not really any bite in there, whereas when Diaby was alongside Mikel they complemented each other very well. And perhaps Arsene Wenger playing without someone with strength in there was a mistake. As I said I think Abou and Mikel together is actually a great partnership, and they really seemed to be developing a great understanding together. Since that partnership has been broken, through injury to Abou, it is in my opinion no coincidence that our form has dropped. We lack bite in the "engine room" which I am sure everyone understand is a vital area of the pitch for any team.

Therefore how can Coquelin be fitted into the side? This is an important question, because as I have said I believe we can really benefit from his presence at the moment. I feel that until Diaby is back we should play a shape like this:

        Arteta Coq/ (Diaby) - when fit.


Walcott    Wilshere   Cazorla

I feel that this would provide more physicality in the midfield, and perhaps provide some of the balance that we have missed since Diaby's injury, which was actually really crucial at the beginning of the season when Abou was in the side. Would also enable Arteta to play again in a more "free" role like he was last season.

Going back to the shape that I showed above, I think it would also be interesting to see how Cazorla could be used as a kind of inside winger, like Na$ri used to play, because firstly it would us to eventually get Cazorla, Mikel, Abou and Jack in the same side, and secondly it would give us great ability to dominate the midfield, because we could really pack out the midfield when we don't have the ball, due to the fact that he could easily "tuck inside", and this could lead to us winning the ball back effectively if the right pressing game is used. Furthermore the amount of "fluidity" we would have given this shape, would be great. Because you could have Coquelin or Diaby, Wilshere, Arteta and Santi all interchanging positions freely. This is something which Manchester City did to good effect last season with Silva and Na$ri playing on the wings, and I think it would give us a good balance to be able to have good amount of technical quality as well as the physicality that Coquelin could bring at least until Abou is fit again.

To conclude, I believe that Francis Coquelin should be valued as a very very talented player and someone who can perform for Arsenal. He impressed me against Schalke, was probably the only player to do so that night, he showed his calmness on the ball, and also his strength off it. It was this physicality that we were missing in defeats against Norwich and United. We didn't have the strength that Abou was providing earlier in the season, which provided great balance with Arteta. Since Abou has got injured, Arteta has been more isolated. Coquelin could help with this over the next few weeks and months (depending how long Abou is out for). If I were the boss I would be playing him more, I just think without Abou we have looked to have no real "power" and go-forward in the midfield.

UP THE ARSENAL 

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