Francis Coquelin enjoyed an excellent breakthrough campaign last term. – has Arsene Wenger finally found the midfield jigsaw piece that he had been missing since the departure of captain Patrick Vieira in 2005?
On Sunday, the Frenchman was substituted in the 64th minute at Crystal Palace, a decision based on the yellow card that Coquelin had picked up in the 41st minute after a foul on Wilfried Zaha. Subsequent fouls from the French midfielder forced Wenger’s hand as he removed him in anticipation that a red card was about to follow.
Ultimately, the acid test for Coquelin is whether he can build on last season’s success – and early signs suggests he can after a good start.
Stats released by Opta-powered fantasy football game www.oulala.com show that the 24-year-old has improved on last season’s impressive form. On a per 90 minute basis, the Frenchman is up in a host of key areas from last season.
The midfielder has won 4.5 tackles per 90 minutes this season compared to just 3.17 last season. He has lost fewer tackles per 90 minutes too (3 to 3.28) and a total tackle success-rate of 60% compared to 49% last season.
His success in the air is also up. He has won 67% of his aerial battles compared to 64% last term and total duels, again are on the rise. Coquelin has won 61% of all his head-to-head battles, 6% up from last season.
The Frenchman’s passing has also appeared to improve too. 89% this season, to 86% in 2014/15.
While the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil steal the headlines, one man is showing all the signs of star billing, and if Coquelin can continue to improve on an excellent 2014/15, Arsenal will undoubtedly be one step closer to challenging for the Premier League title this season.
If wenger believe that there will be no injures and red cards then he is free not to find replacements . Last match against palace he escaped red card narrowly
Please. Watch Coquelin play without thinking about what others have said. If you are intelligent, you will see that Coquelin is an awful player and Arsenal need to find an upgrade at his position. Coquelin is terrible. His first touch is bad, his passing accuracy is bad, his ball handling skills are bad. All he does is run into people. He is a very physical player and Arsenal need that quality but they need it from someone who has better skills than Coquelin.
And so you want to buy him?
hes not there to pass the ball if you watch arsenal not all the ball players get the ball to a arsenal player like ozil or cazorla i think hes a good player hes not viera but we cant aford another viera that will cost 50 to 60 mil you havent seen the stats then hes not as bad s you say are you aspurs fan
You talking Jackshits….Coquelin is a Warrior
The Coquein you presented above is not the one I know, the guy who plays for ARS.
U’ re an idiot JP
Coquelin is not a Vieira type player. If u likened him to previous players it would be flamini, Gilberto or petit.
Everyone needs to get over Vieira, certainly us supporters have and from what I see wenger has. Instead of playing 2, 6+ footers in the middle, he is now playing a 5’10 and a 5’6. We are now using a dm alongside a deeplying maker instead of a box to box player.
My big concern is what happens if coquelin gets a long term injury or lengthy suspension. The thought of arteta in his role is worse than flamini playing there.
No
even the chelsea midfielder matic does not pass the ball perfectly or win tackles all the time and hes ment to be one of the best so leave him alone have a go at giroud hes not good enough for us at arsenal
@jp am very sure u re not an Arsenal fan for wasting your time to put out rubbish, you can as well go and play the position for Arsenal if you say super coq isn’t passing the ball well. We don’t need his pass, the aspect of the game he plays is what we have been lacking and coq as fix dat for us…the dirty job(super 4) all love to coq
I have been an Arsenal fan since I first lived in London in 1971. You are a blind fool if you think Coquelin belongs on the team. You just listen to what all the other fools say and believe it. Try thinking for yourself for once. Or not. You might hurt yourself.
You sir, are a complete bell end! How you can say he’s a useless player is beyond me.. Sure he’s not wc but we’ve got wc in our team, he’s our destroyer. You’re defo a spud!
Jeff Adelaide is our new Viera. Next season we will se him in the first team.
Who says the Coq aint good? Gosh!!! Do you sleep while watching an Arsenal game? He is about one of the best in his position in the BPL. The stats are there.
He possess the qualities arsenal have been missing 4 yrs we cn only bring in sm1 as back up 4 him in case of fatigue
I think JP is high on something or can’t he notice the changes since Le coq was introduced into the team in January. Someone should pls show him the stats
You guys got it spot on.JP is an idiot again.