With the return of Aaron Ramsey and the breakthrough of Jack Wilshere, the competition for places in Arsenal’s midfield has certainly spiced up.
Cesc Fàbregas, Alex Song, Samir Nasri, Tomáš Rosický, Abou Diaby, Denílson as well as Wilshere and Ramsey are all realistic contenders for a starting place in the centre of the park. With the likes of Craig Eastmond, Henri Lansbury and Emmanuel Frimpong also on the fringes and knocking firmly on the first team door, Arsenal aren’t lacking in options.
One man who will also add to Wenger’s selection headache next season, is Francis Coquelin. Coquelin swapped places with Laurent Koscielny in the summer, and joined Ligue 1 outfit Lorient FC. The Frenchman has been making steady strides since in a tough, competitive league.
Francis joined Arsenal in the summer of 2008, and the youngster caught the eye with his combative style and a determination, which was only matched by his competitive energy. In his first season he built a formidable partnership with Emmanuel Frimpong, playing every minute in Arsenals FA Youth Cup success. Coquelin carried on his progress in the following campaign, playing regularly in the reserves and featuring a handful of times in both the Carling and FA Cup.
The end of the season saw him switch to an unfamiliar right back position. It was a surprising move due to Coquelin’s outstanding contribution in midfield, drawing comparisons with Lassana Diarra, who also moved to right back on some occasions during his time in England. However, defensive midfield is clearly where Coquelin feels at home, and it is where Lorient have placed him over the past couple of months.
During the beginning of the season, he struggled to make the first eleven, but after some impressive cameo appearances, he has turned himself a first team regular, testament to the young mans character.
Lorient have made an inconsistent start to the season, lying in a predictable 12th position with some varying results, including an exciting game against league leaders Lille which ended in a 6-3 loss. A trademark tackle in Lorient’s own half and then a decisive pass from Coquelin for Kevin Gameiro, saw Lorient take the lead against a Lille side who boast some of Arsenal’s long term targets; Eden Hazard and Gervinho. Despite their loss, it is a true learning curve for the teenager, whose assist for the goal demonstrated his true attributes; determination, aggression, tackling, and passing.
With Denílson possibly moving on in the summer and Song’s contribution as a true holding midfielder under question, it is vital Arsenal find a tough tackling midfielder who is disciplined to stay in front of the back four at all times, particularly away from home. Wilshere certainly likes a challenge, but has a slight Paul Scholes swagger about him and looks much more comfortable on the ball than without it. Eastmond has been used sparingly in this role over the past year and. if the truth be known, lacks the ability of Coquelin.
Already a FA Youth cup and U19 European Champion, Francis by his own admission says how much he loves a challenge and should on his return from France be competing for a defensive midfield role.
Similar to Kyle Bartley, it is hard to forget sometimes the players Arsenal have on loan and that they are gradually ripening in to first team contenders. Coquelin, who is clearly gifted, has all the capabilities of playing a pivotal role in the Arsenal midfield for years to come, despite the competition in a competitive midfield.
Who is a better DM in your opinion? Frimpong or Coquelin
Frimpong
Coquelin needs another year on loan
And who is the better right back?
One of them could well end up as rigth back… and prove to be an excellent one.
I think wenger has other target in my mind for the RB spot
Coquelin seems to be a great all rounder – good at defence, positioning, passing and creating goals.
Frimpong, despite being stronger, more agressive and better in defense, lacks attacking option.
just mho, i have not watch too many games of bother players, thus, might not make a good judgement~~
IMO Frimpong has Essien written all over him!….in a good way. I think he his a typical box to box player! Where as Coquelin loves defending and making sure the back four is well protected, so I think defensively minded Coquelin. Though I think both have a future at Arsenal!
It’s like lottto. One dude injurued, one sparsely started in the get go, then aregular, in what we regard to be an inferior league. The other dyde comes from injury. I’d pick the frnchman, I say eastmond now must go on loan
frimpong all the way~
Frimpong imo will be defensive midfielder while couquelin will be played at right back. He reminds me Lauren and from highlights he playred really well there and it would be good for Arsenal because we have alot lads in midfield while we are short a little at right back.
If you want to talk Arsenal targets at Lille, the list starts with Adil Rami.
Coquelin is not polish, he is french.
The heading is “Polished Coquelin” and not “Polish Coquelin”
sorry, the name Muppet says it all.. lol
Coquelin has been very very unfortunate, he didn’t have any break and no pre season to speak off and due to that he has been plagued with injuries in his loan spell
Coquelin really needs to bulk up if he has any possible chance of making it in the PL. Players have bullied him off the ball but the great thing about him s that he’s a fighter
you have seen him play?
Coquelin by far, is the young player I’m most excited about, when he comes back, frimpong should go onloan to France to learn a different cultures…
But coquelin is great on the ball, great energy and great football skills…
Thanks Baha – I have had too much beer.
Coquelin because hes french
Frimpong is ghanian so id prefer coquelin to be honest hes better technically
what the hell. you are judging them on their nationality!!!!
That’s so bizarre…Ghanaian < French, is it? Frimpong is English anyway, mate, not Ghanaian. Your nationality comes from where you're born and raised…anyway, their nationalities are irrelevant. It is about their skill and professionalism as footballers. Whoever has those skills in the highest abundance wins.
i think we are keeping both Coquelin and Frimpong…as wenger always says song is a future center back so i dont think it will be an issue…Rosicky will leave soon…so will Arshavin and sadly maybe Cesc…it would be silly for wenger to release the either Frimpong or Coquelin…Coqnelin can pass so he doesnt have to be stuck in the defensive mid role…Frimpong can stay there since he is more physical…just like how he uses Song and Denilson now…so imagine Song at center back with Vermaelen he is gonna be so mobile…he can tackle, pass and controll his only game i might be afraid of is his heading…
Song is not our future centerback lol. We are not going to take a guy who is or will be top 2 or 3 defensive midfielders in the world and then move him back to centerback.
Also what do attacking mids possibly leaving has to do with whether defensive mids make it or not?
since Nasri is doing really good now i am not worried if Cesc leaves i think our team was too reliant on him in previous seasons apart from this season which we didnt seem to miss him…without cesc in the team our players are forced to be more inventive or creative which is good apart from everybody just running waiting to get the ball and then kick it…i think eastmond is the trickiest one he might surprise every one like he usually does…so if arshavin, rosicky and cesc leaves and song moves to the back that opens 4 rooms for future players(lansbury, aneke, coquelin & frimpong) plus there is squad rotation and subs…i think nasri and ramsey will share the fabregas role…and wilshere will be moved up top where nasri is right now…up front i dont really like our options that much but with up coming players like walcott, JET & Benik playing in those role soon i am not too worried and center back will be fine with vermaelen, song, djourou, koscienly and bartley/boaten/miquel…squillaci is out for me
@shane from what i c with coquelin he can operate like the usual midfield who can attack and defend and add more steal to the midfield…while frimpong doesnt seem to be that type of player he is very defensive so that should answer ur question coquelin can take be the left mid player where diaby/denilson plays beside song
Coquelin is not a left mid player at all. Not sure what you have been watching.
@shane go look read wengers old interviews and see what he says then you can laugh
Wenger said that quite a while ago though, and he did try Song at CB but didn’t keep him there for long. I think that ship has sailed now, if anything Song has moved forward from DM into more of a box-to-box player.
That’s something that Wenger himself hinted at recently, when he also mentioned that Song has worked hard on the physical side and his stamina has improved a lot.
Anyway, whatever happens we’re going to be very well stocked for talent all over the pitch. With the amount of potential we have trying to predict a team of the future is a mug’s game! With Cesc, Nasri, Wilshere, Rosicky, Song, Diaby, Denilson, Ramsey, Coquelin… (deep breath)… Frimpong, Yennaris, Eastmond, Lansbury, Aneke (and any others I might have missed out) there could be hundreds of different midfield combinations!
Merry Xmas you guys.
Wenger said Song can also play centerback but he has improved his mobility which is allowing him to thrive in the midfield.
I am shortening up the statement but it was something like that. Song is clearly our Defensive midfielder now.
Great news that Coquelin is developing so well.
I think we will keep Coquelin, Frimpong, and Yennaris for at least another 3-4 years. Those three will fight it out for the backup to Song in the d-mid spot.
I think we willl likely keep two of them. If Denilson is sold as JS mentioned might happen itn the article, we may keep all three because Yennaris may develop into a similar type player, hopefully with more mental discipline.
That said, the stick Denilson recieves is mostly unfair nonsense. He’s doing fine for a 22 year old. If the youngsters mature faster that’s the only reason I’d see him being sold.
Your right mate! I think the stick denilson gets is out of order. Its hard for a player who is clearly suited to the European game playing in England. I think a lot of people forget that he is 22 as well.
Frimpong is ghanian we dont need africans in our team especially with the african nations coming up especially in a key position.
Frimpong is like muamba for me strong, physical but lacks technical ability
Frimpong keeps switching from Ghana to England. his last callup was for England U-19, but he didn’t play because of injury. so it’s not for sure that he’ll end up representing Ghana – he certainly has the potential to represent England in the future.
Alex song at the moment is having a stinker hes bombing on like a playmaker
Look i am not being racist but when it comes to defending i dont think africans are the greatest at it. Dont think they have got the positional sense
They are better at attacking, running, stamina etc.
We need an ugly eastern european to help us defensively.
Hes learnt to defend at arsenal not in Africa. I understand African teams often seem to lack organisation in defense (like arsenal) but that has nothing to do with this. And he has an agreement with Wenger that he should play high up to stop the other team putting pressure on us – or something like that, so blame wenger for his tactics not song
Ok you are right… The best defensive minded midfielder in the whole world is AFRICAN. O yah, what about that guy called Patrick Vieira? What About Sagna? Makelele? Evra? Kolo Toure? Yaya Toure? Any of these guys ring a bell?
Shane african teams have no organisation they are usually defensively very poor.
Ghana, ivory coast, nigeria they are terrible at the back.
African footballers dont play with thier brains, game is based on scoring goals, attacking, running up and down, chasing etc (No offence)
Did you just ignore that list of African players i gave you?
****John * John* John….you sound like you’ve had a truck load of shit stuff….How dare you talk about african players and brains the way you did? you talk of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, not strong at the back?? are you some 13yr old? there are seasons and there are seasons..Everybody has a season…do a serious research on African teams/players…Taribo West, Uche Okechukwu, Ben Iroha, Oliseh, Hadji, Roger Miller,Raba Madja, Okocha, Abedi Pele, George Weah, Finidi George, Kanu YES Kanu, not to talk of Eto’o, Zidane, Viera, Desailly, Enyama, Osaze???? grow up son!
@John you’re as smart as a bag of rocks.
You look at the top teams they rarely have an african players in the defence or defensive position.
Once again did you just ignore that list i gave you?
Yeah like Arsenal with Vieira. Or the galacticos with Makelele. Or chelsea with Essien. Or Barcelona with Yaya Toure. Notice how the teams mentioned won multiple trophies with these African midfielders. You should leave the discussion to people with brains.
Yaya toure isnt good enough in my opinion. Hes big, physical but doesnt have the brains
He was great for Barcelona in that champions league run and in la liga but i am not convinced he can perform in the premiership week in week out
He hasnt been great for man city.
As for Michael essien hes not exactly a defensive, holding midfielder.
Hes a box to box midfielder who scores goals ala lyon.
Kolo toure another qualuty physical specimen but didnt have a brain when it came to positional sense.
He made so many last ditch tackles and recovery tackles cause of his lack of positioning
Anyone that thinks Yaya Toure is not good enough can not be in a discussion about football. The only reason Yaya is not still at Barcelona is because he is not spanish and Busquets is.
Exactly what Shane said regarding Yaya Toure. The reason he’s not looked as good at Citeh is because they’re trying to force him to do more than just be a DM, which he was and is fantastic at.
And overall, it’s a ridiculous generalisation to make when considering the modern game. Players are groomed from such a young age now that, to a large extent, their nationality is irrelevant. Frimpong’s a perfect example, signed by Arsenal when he was 9.
Another player who quashes your theory somewhat is John Obi Mikel, (119 appearances for Chelsea, 30 for Nigeria as well as a league title, 3 FA Cups and a League Cup and twice winner of the African young player of the year award at the age of 23 …) who moved to Europe when he was 18, relatively late in the modern game, as a tricky winger. I’m sure you’ll have noticed his defensive discipline and positioning have helped him to be a success in the holding role too.
Maybe in days gone by, where African players tended to stay in Africa, your comment may have made some form of sense but the worldwide game is pretty much the European game now and you just have to look at how successful African defensive midfielders are.
Not sure about that, busquets suits barcelonas system more imo, they have no need for an agressive tough tackler. But he is a very very good player though
I think John is missing the point that there are some very good (tactically and physically) african defensive players, its just african teams too often have weak links in defense that make the whole defense look poor
I love Kolo toure dont get me wrong but what i remeber of him was his brilliant last ditch tackling cause hes had great pace and strength he has that great ability to recover and get a tackle in.
Africans n African teams r more defensivly decipline,to tht list add Essien,Mikel,Tiote,Diarra frm Mali,Keita,Zokora.So it is a simple argument Africans defensiv mid-field monsters.
John 2me u sound like MacAin n Palin n thea racist tea party,I aint afraid 2tel u nt only sounds lyk a racist bt u r a racist yourself.
John how you can say Ghana are defensively poor is a joke they have one of the best defensive organisational skills in the world. In fact Ghana’s problem is attacking
great article J. I rate Coquelin very highly and have very high hopes for him. Players like Fripong, Ramsey and Wilshere are the future. But of course, I’d never like to lose a player with the quality of Fabregas.
Im glad to hear another youngster is doing well but I wouldnt really question song’s *ability* as a defensive midfielder, it just seems wenger wants to prove song is an all-round quality midfielder – which he is to some degree – however I think we’d be far better off with alex doing the holding role rather than running up the pitch trying to pick open defences. I dont think alex deserves blame for this, it’s clearly what he has been asked to do!
Completly agree mate. I think Song has been superb over the past two years. I just think he still lacks that little bit of discipline to just sit in front of the back four in true Makelele style. The amount of times I watch us away from home and just think Alex….just sit there mate….let Cesc, Samir and Jack do the creating. And I genuinely reckon Coquelin has that mentality to just do the sweeping up, which Arsenal need at times.
@john
Song has been our most consistent player for 2 years running. He’s been outstanding as a holding midfielder. In every game I saw him play in the previous 2 seasons he was DEFINITELY one of our top 3 players when in midfield. He was superb, just a shame about the rest of the side defensively, and the injuries of course.
You can’t possibly believe he’s bombing forward like that just because he wants to. Wenger has told him to! It’s obvious. It used to be song holding with denilson/diaby/ramsey playing an in-between role between defence and attack, with cesc having a little more freedom. Now that has clearly changed and I think it is just a case of wenger wanting to prove he is producing “total footballers”, which he is, but I agree that playing song further forward is damaging the team because he is far and away our best and most natural defensive midfielder. It’s not because he lacks any quality.
Davi your right mate. I think Song has been one of our most consistent players over the last two years. Wenger by his own admission has said that he has given Song a licence to roam…which I personally think is wrong. Just think he still lacks that real discipline in general to sit in front of the back four and defend when needed because I dont think his a natural DM, compared to Coquelin
Pretty hilarious how John says some obscenely racist garbage, and then says “No offense.” afterwards. Merry Christmas, moron.
Imo coquelin will be more of a flamini-type than a pure holding midfielder and could be exactly what we need to fit into a midfield with song and cesc. He could do what wilshere has been doing, only better – and naturally cesc will move on at some point, allowing jack or ramsey to take over a more creative role. We’ll find space in our side for those two, they’re special players, but I think we do need two defence-minded midfielders. The defence does not get enough protection in our current system.
John you are as dumb as a door post, If I could my hands on you I would kick your nasty teeths out, keep your retarded comments to yourself.
African teams arent good at defending and there arent many good african defensive players at the top teams.
My point is frimpong is ghanian and with the african nations cup we dont need players in KEY POSITIONS missing througout the season so id rather have coquelin whos better on the ball to play in the first team than frimpong
Kevin ur a joking right?
Ghana are terrible at the back and you got a clown in goal in Richard kingston
And having terrible defenders in pantsil, issac vorsah.
Kevin are you Ghanaian?
@ John…What makes you think Frimpong will choose to play for Ghana? He can decide to play for England who truth be told dont have the amount of talent at his position compared to Ghana
Ur all stupid to say Ghana were poor at the back. When England played Germany it was 4-1, when Ghana played Germany, it took a great strike from Ozil to break them down. In the African Nations and the WC Ghanas problem was missing chances NOT DEFENDING. There are many shollow minded ppl that read this blog clearly. Talk about football once u know about football especially John
its childish to say africans can’t defend. selling kolo toure has cost arsenal 2 things. our defense has weakened plus we missed any chance of signing his brother yaya. drogba wouldn’t be terrorising our defense if we had these 2 guys in our team.
yup! greedy arsene knows
I agree that it’s childish to say africans cant defend – there have been plenty of good african defenders and even more or african origin – but kolo toure leaving was a good decision imo. Vermaelen is like toure was a few years ago. We just miss the sol campbell-type defender to go with him.
As good as he was, toure would never have been the one to keep drogba out, he’s just not big enough. Sol could have done it though.
btw, frimpong is better than coquelin although they are both good players, coquelin still needs time to develop.song billong is our future central defender warming that position for the bullfigher emmanuel frimpong
to davi!
you are right but i will take kolo anyday over squillaci.
selling him might have been a good financial decision but we gone backward.
otherwise we wont be talking about buying another defender in the coming transfer window
@Sam,
I disagree we have gone backwards. Squillaci is now 3rd or 4th choice. Our 1st choice pair is TV and kos or arguably djourou. I think this is better than toure and gallas and overall we are much stronger in terms of the quality of our 4 centre backs than we have been for several years. No silvestre or past-it sol campbell.
The trouble is that the defenders have not had good protection since flamini left. I think this is easily fixable by playing song as a holding midfielder. He was doing a good job before and diaby and denilson have improved massively defensively and wilshere does a great job as well. In short I think our defensive problems are down to poor tactics that dont play to the strengths of individual players, rather than the players not being good enough.
I dont think vidic and ferdinand would do much better in this arsenal side, nor terry and alex. Both sets of defenders are always aided by at least 2 defensively very strong and responsible midfield players. We currently dont seem to allocate anyone to be responsible defensively and wilshere is actually the one he seems to stay back and defend the most. Denilson does a good job as well when he plays, but they dont get much help and the defence is too often exposed.
How the fuck is Song supposed to be our centre back of the future?? He is still adjusting to his new midfield roll…I don’t really see it. Once he starts to slow down, he’ll just be put back in to a more defensive midfield position, like he played last year. I wish Arsene would tell him to revert to that roll now, but I don’t see that happening. Not now.
milo!
i take it you’ve not followed arsene interviews lately regarding new defender.
he always tell the press that dont forget song is also a defender. meaning he can put him there if he cannot find anyone suitable.
we dont really know, arsene keeps people guessing as usual.
I still don’t see it happening. Call me blind or stubborn, but I just don’t see it happening. I think in the summer or, maybe if we are really lucky he’ll bring in a TRUE centreback in the winter window.
@John not to be rude but its been proven latley that English players really stink. Their national team is a disaster, all the great stars in PL are foregins. Not being racist or anythign but we should try to avoind english with a passion. they are all primadonnas and generally lacks compared to the best in the world.
SHit technique, all physical. Abit like the Africans John described really. So if we rule out both English and African players we are left with french. and that seems to work well for Arsenal.
@Sam Kolo sucks though.
God you idiots…most of the French players we sign have roots in Africa anyways…so what the fuck is the difference?? That isn’t really racism, it’s reality. I still respect who they choose to play for in international competitions, but this whole French vs. African vs. English debate is sooooooo stupid. If they can play, who cares where they are from??
Milo!
LOL you are really stubborn.
but right sometimes, song is cameroonian but he’s also french. if you remove all the africans then you will have no french player left.
THE FRENCH AFRICAN DEBATE IS STUPID
At least we agree that song is our backup defender in case of injuries.
if he’ll end up there permenantly thats up to arsene.
evra senegalese… french, samba is congolese…. french, chamakh is morrocan….french, nasri is algerian…french,gille sunu is togolese…french.fofana is malian….french.
phew!!!!!!!!!
can i please stop there
nzogbia is congolese, french
john is really really stupid of the greatest cb of all time is born in ghana but he play for france and won everything that a player can win.his name is Marcel Desailly ,a living legend ( even so he play for the chav).
As for the debate that many french player are from africa,of course as most of the Immigrant in france come from former african colony in the last 40 year, the same in england lot of immigrant come from India region and west indies region exept the french immigrant come from better football background so france are getting a better deal in fotball term.
Simple some people are just jaleous that
France is getting great player who come from African background.
And coquelin is better than frimpong but they are different sort of DM
Lordgunner
Ppl are missing the point look at ghana, ivory coast, nigeria, egypt these teams are not good enough defensively.
In africa you dont get teams that defend with 10 men and score a from a set piece
Yes deasily, viera, were born in Africa but they were brought up in a western culture, european culture.
As for yaya toure i am sorry but i dont think hes good enough for the premiership.
Its easy for him in spain where barcelona dominate possesion and hes probably the biggest player in terms of physically in the league.
Come to England there are 6ft 4 players in every team, ugly pitches, long balls, alot more tackles, challenges and so far yaya toure hasnt been great.
Hes looked slow, cumbersome the premiership looks to quick for him
Frimpong for me he isnt discliplined enough nor is coquelin they both like to get foward.
But in terms of tackling, winning the ball back starting attacks, coquelin is better.
Frimpong has got greater physical strength he can outmuscle experienced players despite his short stature
err if the african TEAMs defend poorly doesnt mean there arent good african defenders. just means maybe they dont have a solid enough TEAM to help them out as they should. saying a player is poor because his team is is laughable. anyway as someone said, english players are shit so thats no alternative. you also say french afeicans are better than africa because thry were raised in france, but frimpong is raised in england so whats your point?
also i wish people would stop having wet dreams over vidic and dreaming of eastern europeans as though only eastern europe has any good defenders lol? its just weird this obsession with eastern europe for centrebacks since vidic came to utd.
Sam……Wenger was saying that Song is an option at centerback in case of injuries, not that Song is going to be the centerback for us. Song is a great defensive mid and will only get better.
As far as his positioning goes this year. That is on wenger and this stupid 4-2-3-1 (which is horrible for us). Song has obviously been given instructions to get forward but because our 2 “holding mids” are players that are better known for running with the ball and short passes rather than deep lying play makers that use long passes to create from deep. This is what puts us off balance. If you play the 4-2-3-1, your holding mids must stay back.
ok sane!
anyone heard of fofana from le havre?
there are rumours that he’s about to sign for villa. not linked with us i guess wenger’s not interested in anymore defensive midfielder
Thats coz with got Coquelin mate ;)
best line-up for ars!!!!
Wojciech Szczesny
Bacary Sagna-Thomas Vermaelen-Ignasi Miquel-Thomas Cruise
Cesc Fabregas-Jack Wilshere-Samir Nasri
Theo Walcott-Robin van Persie-Marouane Chamakh
The best DM and box to box player in the world is easily Mikael Essien … Ghanas defense despite of what you say is statistically on par with the top teams in the world and better than En-ger-lands, Ghana is one of the most organised African teams and have been for decades one of the reasons being that they produce top DM midfielders and if you actually watched the worldcup you ‘d know that. Best Dms in england right this season are Essien, Tiote , Song, Felcher pick the odd one out. To say Africans lack defensive intelligence is as racist as it gets and is a mantra for biggot simpletons all over Europe implying African footballers run around like headless chickens.
John Yaya Toure is used as an offensive midfielder at City .. at Barca he was used as a DM in England he is an attacking midfielder you really need to check your facts I rarely post and mostly read this excellent blog, but I simply had to respond to your Idiocy. You are even arguing against yourself Frimpong has been brought in England most of the players we see playing in Europe have been brought up in Europe .. Essien possibly played in Africa longer than the rest.
Sorry if this has been mentioned but there is a big ass amount of replies but the entire argument of Ghanaian’s defensive discipline and mentality is moot in regards to Frimpong.
Whether or not Africans don’t have great defensive mentality, Manu has lived in England most (or all, I’m not 100% sure of his life history) of his life.
His footballing philosophy will have been shaped by Arsenal as he has been here since he was a lad moreso than his nationality. Unfortunately there isn’t a great defensive mentality at the club either.
Players from africa defend well when they are at the clubs they play for but seem to forget any tactical knowledge when playing for their national side. Maybe because they want to stand out or something. That’s how I see it. Merry Christmas to you all!
maybe it’s because of the coaches? a lot of African teams have had crappy coaches in the past. WC2010 was an exception – Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Nigeria all had good European coaches who were tactically astute (if not very good motivators – namely Lagerback and Sven).
there’s always this stereotype that African players are athletic, good technically, but bad at reading the game. I don’t think that’s really true anymore. just look at all the Africans playing key roles for the top 5 clubs – Song, Eboue, the Toure brothers, Drogba, Essien, Mikel, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Chamakh (yeah, Morocco’s in Africa), Evra, Kaboul… all of these guys are very intelligent players, as you have to be to succeed at such a high level.
Think we will sell him to a French team in the summer imo. Just no room for all these players approaching 20.
Can’t believe about all the bs about African players not being able to defend? MARCEL DESAILLY was a great defender at Milan, before moving to DM, the first beast of a player!
As for African teams, it is the coaching rather than the lack of brains you mentioned!
Coquelin shits all over Frimpong. No contest
thats sick if he really do that ;)
with the kinda footie that arsenal plays i av always said dat we are better off with two defensive midfielders, and that’s where frimpong comes in.
just as previous Ghanaian midfielders he can do a bit of it all. the kid can pass,tackle,run and dribble and he might be what we are looking for in the arsenal midfield. as for Coquelin let him grow and we’ve got a germ with the right training.
i cant belive this poo sum pepe are talkin it dosbt matter where u r from it is down to the brain u have and they way ur skled in football .
Great article, I’m really excited by this prospect. Could be the new Vieira type we’ve been lacking. Lets hope so anyway.
What the hell is going on with Arsenal these days?
I’m not talking about the players, but rather the fans. This website in particular seems to be attracting more and more people that are perhaps developmentaly challenged and worse yet, think they are on a BNP or KKK message board.
Folks, its Arsenal FC and we are seconds away from the year 2011. If you are struggling with the idea of African people here or people whos parents were immigrants, then go find a club in iceland or something to support.
And while you are at it, stop eating all those chocolates in the “Caddury’s” or “nestle” wrappers – they are actually all full of cocoa from Ivory Coast and Ghana. Oh wait, let me guess – you thought that they came from Belgium or Switzerland? Dope…. Yes…..etter start filling up your car with sunflower oil, because if you go to a fuel station you are using oil that is likely from Nigeria or Angola. Put away your iphone, Android phone, Nokia or whatever, because it is full of aluminium, tin, cobalt and rare minerals from Congo. Forget about buying your girl a dozen roses at the Florist or you local Tesco Express – those things were probably air freighted in from Kenya yesterday.
And then go stay in a cave somewhere and leave the rest of us alone. I’m tired of hearing racist nonsense from retards who cant even spell properly or string together two gramatically correct sentences in what they claim to be their own language, but feel they actually have any insight into life that they should impose upon the rest of us.
I think people should just ignore comments made by John.
They tend to both racist and stupid. The most amusing thing is that he often use an example to make his points that is factually incorrect and conceptually wrong.
Most of the better defenders in the French league are African and I do not mean sons of immigrants. Check Marseille’s defense: Taiwo (Nigeria), Diawara (Senegal), Mbia (Cameroon).
The problem African teams used to have was not the players it was that they had crap and incompetent managers (who by the way were European) and so they were not very well organised. If you were a good manager the financial reward were better at an European club. So poor nation tended to have second tier managers. That is changing for two reasons:
+ there is so good managers and so few good financial stable clubs going for a international job is not view as a second choice anymore.
+ because of sponsors and internationalisation of the game, even poor countries have now a decent budget for international manager. Do you think that Sven would have taken the Ivory Coast job if the money had been poor?
Regarding the difference between Coquelin and Frimpong, Coquelin is currently a better footballer better on the ball and without the ball.
However Frimpong is more a battler and is much more powerful.
As for the first time since long Arsene Wenger is picking his team in function of the opposition Arsenal plays, both will have their chance at Arsenal.