Arsenal Player of the Month: December
Posted by Young'un in Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Premiership | 1 January 2012
Had you placed a bet on Arsenal being in 4th place going into the new year back in August, after the Old Trafford debacle, you would probably now be indulging in some substantial wealth. The turnaround in the club’s fortunes over recent months has been remarkable; one that Arsene Wenger has put down to incredible spirit within the squad.
The new additions have undoubtedly had a positive effect on the squad. Per Mertesacker is growing with every game, not literally of course, he can’t really get much taller, and is proving to be the calming influence we all craved for. What he lacks in mobility, he makes up for in his reading of the game. Should he continue to improve, there’s no reason why he can’t become one of the best defenders in the country.
Fellow newcomer, and previous Player of the Month winner, Mikel Arteta is another candidate. His performances have been consistent and borderline outstanding. His pass completion rate of 90.3% this season is one of the highest in the Premier League. Should you want to hear me drool over the Spaniard some more, I wrote an article on his influence and growing importance to the side here.
Robin van Persie has continued his remarkable goalscoring habits, even if he narrowly missed out on breaking Alan Shearer’s record for goals in a calendar year, with four strikes in December, including a goal of the season contender against Everton. The cynics among us would argue that the prospect of breaking the record played on his mind a little bit and was detrimental to the team during the frustrating draw with Wolves. Even if that is the case, it’s hard to knock the captain’s contribution; not just in scoring vital goals but in his outstanding link-up play in and around the box.
One relatively recent addition to his arsenal of tricks is the way he shifts his feet to get to the by-line, and then manages to scoop a cross in towards the back post. This is an incredibly difficult skill to execute and one that would be devastating if his teammates got into such positions more often. I could talk about van Persie all day, and seem to have done so far too often. Unlike the previous two months, however, the flying Dutchman does not pick up December’s prestigious award.
That honour belongs to arguably the most improved player in the country: step forward, Laurent Koscielny. His arrival last summer for £8million raised more than just Carlo Ancelotti’s perennially erected eyebrow. His debut campaign was a bit of a bumpy ride, kicking off with a baptism of fire at Anfield on the opening day: being on the receiving end of a red-card offense by Joe Cole before getting sent off himself. More ups and downs were to come; as outstanding performances against Chelsea and Barcelona in particular were intertwined with some sloppy mistakes; not least of which his part in conceding the now infamous goal at Wembley in the Carling Cup Final.
I was of the opinion that both he and Wojciech Szczesny were equally at fault; not one more than the other. Every man and his dog knew that the Polish keeper’s supreme confidence and self-belief would allow him to recover from the mistake but some feared the worst for Koscielny. Coincidentally, it has made him stronger, and with a real learning curve of a first season under his belt, Arsenal fans are now seeing the very best of the French defender, who is slowly getting the recognition his consistent displays have merited for a long time.
In a nutshell, he has all the attributes one needs to succeed as a top-level centre-half: pace, aerial ability (he wins an average of 2.1 aerial duals per game, one of the highest levels in the Premier League), and excellent intelligence in his reading of the game. He also possesses an exquisite passing range, and genuinely one of the cleanest first touches in the league: Koscielny is capable of plucking the ball out of the air with the same authority as the most seasoned of strikers. These attributes often make him the instigator of Arsenal attacks, and he has recently begun to bring the ball out from the back in the same manner as Thomas Vermaelen and, before him, Kolo Toure, to much success.
As some of you may know, I rate each of the players after every match and unsurprisingly, Koscielny has hit the illustrious 8 rating on two occasions during December. He has been consistently brilliant since the opening day of the season; often having to play at full-back to compensate for injuries, and doing so with minimal fuss. For me, he is genuinely one of the finest defenders in Europe. Whether everyone else will soon appreciate this is another question.
November: Robin van Persie
October: Robin van Persie
September: Mikel Arteta
August: Wojciech Szczesny
Follow me on Twitter for more insightful musings.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.reallifenews.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1344
