How highly do you rate Laurent Koscielny?

Klopper76 said:
Yeah Carragher was never much of a footballer and Hyypia was a lot slower than Koscielny.

I feel like maybe both were more reliable as defenders than koscielny has been though?
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Yeah I'd agree with that also, I think Koscielny has improved somewhat in that manner but not to their standard, there was a period where he kept losing his head in the box and giving away penalties.
tomaldinho1 said:
'miles ahead' of arguably best CB in the league? He wouldn't start for Spurs or Chelsea.
Appreciate he is a good player but unsure why you think he is that good.
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Miles ahead is probably an exaggeration, but I'd also have Koscielny comfortably ahead of Vertonghen.
I probably rate Vertonghen lower than you do though, as I wouldn't have him up there with the best prem CB's, but rather a tier below.

There's absolutely no way that Koscielny doesn't start ahead of Cahill.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
'miles ahead' of arguably best CB in the league? He wouldn't start for Spurs or Chelsea.
Appreciate he is a good player but unsure why you think he is that good.
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Would say Koscienly is better than Vertongen and Cahill
 
tomaldinho1 said:
'miles ahead' of arguably best CB in the league? He wouldn't start for Spurs or Chelsea.
Appreciate he is a good player but unsure why you think he is that good.
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Vertonghen's not great, Alderweireld is the star. You can ask the Spurs fans on here if you don't believe me.

And the idea that he wouldn't start above Gary Cahill is ludicrous.
 
ThierryHenry said:
Vertonghen's not great, Alderweireld is the star. You can ask the Spurs fans on here if you don't believe me.

And the idea that he wouldn't start above Gary Cahill is ludicrous.
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I guess I see Vertonghen as slightly better than Koscielny and you the opposite. No doubt Alderweireld is pick of the PL CBs however.

Weirdly I don't think he would start above Cahill at Chelsea, more down to their system than his ability. For me Koscielny would be more vying with Luis.
 
Speaks much about the quality of the league that he's one of the better centre backs in the league. Eons away from the likes of Carvalho, Vidic, Terry and Rio. Btw, when was the last time Arsenal had a top drawer centre back? Campbell?
 
Joga Bonito said:
Speaks much about the quality of the league that he's one of the better centre backs in the league. Eons away from the likes of Carvalho, Vidic, Terry and Rio. Btw, when was the last time Arsenal had a top drawer centre back? Campbell?
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Yeah back in 05/06 I think. Since then the quality has dropped.
 
cyberman said:
Says more about Gabriel imo
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Not really if you look at Arsenal's defensive performances for about 4 years with and without Koscielny his value becomes immediately obvious. He does have a few major blunder wheels in him a year which makes highlights and is why general fans underestimate him but Arsenal would not have made top 4 last few years without him. Absolutely key player.
 
oneniltothearsenal said:
Not really if you look at Arsenal's defensive performances for about 4 years with and without Koscielny his value becomes immediately obvious. He does have a few major blunder wheels in him a year which makes highlights and is why general fans underestimate him but Arsenal would not have made top 4 last few years without him. Absolutely key player.
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Unless you're Nesta or Rio etc then you shouldn't be that important that the team crumbles if you come off injured.
Bailly and Smalling are excellent defenders yet Rojo and Jones has arguably been our best partnership this season.
I like Kos as a player but not having competent subs doesn't make him better than he is.
 
cyberman said:
Unless you're Nesta or Rio etc then you shouldn't be that important that the team crumbles if you come off injured.
Bailly and Smalling are excellent defenders yet Rojo and Jones has arguably been our best partnership this season.
I like Kos as a player but not having competent subs doesn't make him better than he is.
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Oh I'm not comparing him with Rio or Nesta or Sol or Tony Adams. Compared to current PL defenders I definitely place him top 3 and depending on tactics easily Top 2. Only Alderwiereld I can say is better at the moment.
 
He got lucky he came off early in that second half. Arsenal opened up a bit and Wenger moved the bus. The defense was under significantly more pressure in the second half than they ever were in the first. Might add to his legend though and with that all being said i think he's one of the best defenders the league has seen.
 
Today simply proves things we already knew. 1. He's Arsenal's best defender. 2. That doesn't count for much.

He's a great CB, and would probably show it more under a defence-friendly manager like Conte or Mourinho. But he's more like top five in the league than top three.
 
giorno said:
You'd win the title with alexis, kos would be a luxury(and yes, he's better than your CBs)
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I wouldn't swap him for any of our CB's tbh, maybe Smalling because he blows hot and cold and Jones because he's injury prone. I think Rojo and Bailly are just as good if not better defenders though.
 
A real dearth of quality, not just at centre half but all over the pitch in world football at the moment.

We are just waiting for the next batch of world class players IMO.

The Dembele's of this world to usher out out the old guard of Robben et all. Anyhow i digress, good player but no Rio
 
He is okay, decent but that is about it. To be fair it can't be easy with the likes of Gabriel and Mertesacker next to you. But then my club had Lucas Leiva at centerback in the last game so take that with a fist full of salt.

We are not in the era of world class defenders, both in the Premiership and worldwide. The era of Vidic, Carragher, Terry, Ferdinand, Carvalho, Campbell, Toure, Evra, Neville etc is well, well past. I am not sure if there is even one bonafide world class center back in the Premiership at the moment; David Luiz would well be a shoe in for team of the year and he was a joke in the last world cup and when he last played in the Premiership (okay, to be fair, things change and he has improved). The Tottenham fullbacks are decent, Azpilicueta maybe but l honestly feel that Liverpool, United, City and Arsenal between them do not have one world class defender. It is a bad joke that Jagielka is anywhere even near the England set-up.

Internationally only Ramos, Pique, and Hummels stand out for me at the moment.
 
Because he didn't play last night, let's pretend he's brilliant and the result was solely down to him not playing. Nothing like a player being overrated in absence.
 
I reckon Kos anticipates well, is reasonably quick & is comfortable with the ball. But he isn't big enough & can be really wild with the challenges.

Decent clogging invisibility too.

But Arsenal could do better.
 
Have never seen him as anything special. He is comfortably arsenal's best defender tho.
 
He's their best defender, which isn't saying much. However when I hear him being labelled as "world class" I'm completely baffled by that statement mainly because he simply isn't.
 
montpelier said:
I reckon Kos anticipates well, is reasonably quick & is comfortable with the ball. But he isn't big enough & can be really wild with the challenges.
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He's too prone to brain farts. Also not good enough positionally and his decision making is not great.

Looking at the way he positioned his body against hazard on his goal, should probably work on that too. That was ridiculous to watch honestly
 
JON.B said:
He's their best defender, which isn't saying much. However when I hear him being labelled as "world class" I'm completely baffled by that statement mainly because he simply isn't.
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He benefits as much as anybody from Arsenal refereeing. He'd be badly exposed without that.
 
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