Is Laurent Koscielny the best centre back in the Premier League?

I wanted to write an article about yesterday's game, especially as I wanted to use the title '2 steps back, 3 steps forward', but I've decided to revolve my latest blog piece around our fine French centre half, Laurent Koscielny.

This time last year, he was good. Good at best, he often looked like an accident waiting to happen to me, despite having the odd really good game, such as Barcelona at home when he was outstanding and the game last season where he most showed his true potential.

This season, he has turned from a decent centre half with potential into a top class, great centre half with the potential to still get even better. His performances this season have been fantastic, especially when you bare in mind how much the defence has been changed this season, in terms of fullbacks, a new centre half coming in, and the defence changing so much from game to game around him.

His tranformation and improvement this season have been nothing short of sensational and he is a candidate for the title of 'best centre back in the Premier League' at the moment. I don't necessarily think he is THE best about, but in terms of form, and in terms of performances this season, I think he's been the best in the league this season.

I still think Thomas Vermaelen is better than him, he's exceptional, but we haven't had the fortune of seeing him at centre half this season really. But these two playing together at centre half, with Szczesny in goal, could be a big catalyst in our future. Two top class centre halves and a really good goalkeeper with the potential to be top class very soon are brilliant assets for Arsenal to have. And when was the last time this was the case?

He has decent pace, strength, he's a great tackler, he's got good positional sense and he reads the game extremely well. That's probably his best asset actually, much like Vermaelen, his anticipation and reading of the game are, again, top class.

His improvement should be acknowledged more, and I think it would be if he was English, but apart from Jamie Redknapp, I don't think I've seen or heard anyone in the media or in punditry praise him this season, and say just how good he really is.

So, the answer to the title is 'no' in terms of generally, but 'yes' in terms of form and consistency this season. I don't think there is another centre half in the league that's been better than him this season. Plus, would you swap him for any other defender in the league? He can be the best in the league, and may well prove to be in the future.

It's time he was acknowledged. A top class defender, who will only get better. Bring on the Koscielny- Vermaelen partnership!

A big change is needed

Sigh. So, another Sunday afternoon, another evening of post -match frustration and another defeat for Arsenal, which makes our chances of a top four finish this season all the more unlikely. It has also been another missed opportunity on a weekend where all our top four rivals have dropped points. And it's another weekend where there are more questions than answers at Arsenal football club.

You would have thought that the glaring faults of last Sunday's defeat at Swansea would have been eradicated against Man Utd, given the faults were mainly mentality problems. But they weren't. After a good opening ten minutes, we fell into the present routine of sitting back and letting the opposition dominate the game and we just attacked when we had to.

The defending was sloppy, the tactics were non- existent and the amount of bodies going forward was embarassing. It was a first half performance of a lack of ambition, a lack of quality and a lack of solidity.

But, to be fair, we came back in the second half and got much better, created a few chances and eventually scored (oddly at the point of the second half where we looked least likely to score up to that point). Great play from Koscielny set up Rosicky, who played a lovely pass and Chamberlain controlled it beautifully before cutting into to slot in Van Persie, who finished excellently. But apart from that goal, and the performance of the exciting Alex- Oxlade Chamberlain, there wasn't much to cheer today as we still went on to lose.

This was largely down to the most bizarre substitution I've ever witnessed, as Wenger took off our star performer on the day, in Chamberlain, for the ever- increasingly useless Arshavin, who came on and made no effort, looked dis- interested and was largely at fault for Welbeck's winning goal. Unless he was actually injured, this was the most stupid substitution I've ever seen. He was our most creative player, it was at a time we looked like we could go on and win the game, he was the player troubling Man Utd most and we took him off, for Arshavin as well!

Not only did it have attacking consequences, but it had it's defensive ones too. Arshavin's pathetic attempt at stopping Valencia on the right allowed him to come inside and set up an easy tap in for Welbeck. Two points lost, all because of this rubbish player and our manager, who looks like he has lost the plot.

For Wenger, it's either time to go or spend some money. He's got a week now in which to do so, we don't have a game in midweek so it's a great opportunity to get busy in the transfer market. We NEED players if we are going to finish in the top four. We need a striker and a centre midfielder. Wilshere might solve that, but we still need at least one attacking player and another defensive player, probably a left back or centre back. And that's just for now. We also need to keep Van Persie fit and keep playing Chamberlain.

If he isn't going to do that then he may as well go. Because I genuinely think he is costing us more than he is benefitting us. Many problems are still there, we need players and he's refusing to buy them, his defensive acquisitions are an absolute joke and they've been holding us back for 7 and a half years, and the defensive frailties will always be there as long as he's in charge because he refuses to coach his defence and use tactics to make it better, and make us a more solid unit.

So time to spend some money on bringing in new players, which we need to do, or go. If it costs a lot, then so be it. It would cost more to miss out on the Champions League.

Why Arsenal need a change

Arsenal have looked abysmal for periods of the last two league games. They've looked really good during spells of those games, like the first half against Fulham and a couple of spells against Swansea in the first half.

But the problems are mounting. I was talking to another Arsenal fan on Twitter prior to the Swansea game and he agreed that we need to switch to 4-4-2 for some games. Today might not necessarily be one due to the midfield/ possession battle but for home games against teams outside the top 6, we should be doing this. A second thing is we need a change of mentality. We just don't seem as attacking at the moment. We seem over- cautious when in the lead and seem to lack urgency and a game plan. It's like they're making it up as they go along. Players are getting draggedout of position and often don't look like they knoe whether to attack or defend, whether to close down or stand off.

We lack creativity too and our passing game isn't as good at the moment. We seem to too eager to get the ball out wide and crossed into the box, where there is usually just one player (van Persie) there. Our game plan often makes no sense, which links into the 'we seem to make it up as we go along' point. We shouldn't lack the passing ability or the ability to dominate possession seen as we still have very good technical players such as Ramsey, Song, Arteta and Benayoun to do this. It bemuses me how we seem less determined to keep possession and carve open defences like we used to.

Similar to this, in terms of our game plan problems, is how we just sat back at Fulham in the second half after playing really well in the first half. Why did we do this? We had control of the game and just seemed to invite Fulham on to create chances. We took this into the Swansea game, sitting back at 1-0 and trying less hard to attack and score. Wenger has nevstyle, but it's just another example of centre backs being a lot less comfortable when they have two strikers to worry about. Also, imagine how amazing van Persie would be if he had a partner with him.

This transpires to the fact that Wenger needs to do this, or go. He needs to sign a couple of players, or go. We need a manager who isn't afraid to spend money, and who is going to change the team's approach (i.e. 4-4-2 and play with more urgency and a game plan). Imagine if we had Demaba Ba and van Persie up front together. If we sign 2 players, we could be a very good side. But at the moment we are just 'decent'. We need a breath of fresh air and changing the approach and signing new players would do this. I know it's not easy to sign players in January bla bla bla, but come on, if you offer enough money, and go for the right players, there will be options. It's going to be more costly if we miss out on the top four.

Additonally, not signing players and bringing excitement and a breath of fresh air to the club isn't going to persuade the likes of van Persie to stay, especially if we dobecause it's two on two all the time and they have more players in the box. Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi caused Rio Ferdinand and Phil Jones havock the other week when Newcastle beat Man Utd 3-0. Not that I think we should adopt their long ball style, but it's just another example of centre backs being a lot less comfortable when they have two strikers to worry about. Also, imagine how amazing van Persie would be if he had a partner with him.

This transpires to the fact that Wenger needs to do this, or go. He needs to sign a couple of players, or go. We need a manager who isn't afraid to spend money, and who is going to change the team's approach (i.e. 4-4-2 and play with more urgency and a game plan). Imagine if we had Demaba Ba and van Persie up front together. If we sign 2 players, we could be a very good side. But at the moment we are just 'decent'. We need a breath of fresh air and changing the approach and signing new players would do this. I know it's not easy to sign players in January bla bla bla, but come on, if you offer enough money, and go for the right players, there will be options. It's going to be more costly if we miss out on the top four.

Additonally, not signing players and bringing excitement and a breath of fresh air to the club isn't going to persuade the likes of van Persie to stay, especially if we don't manage to qualify for next season's Champions League.

The club needs a boost, the fans and the players need something to be excited about.

Time to freshen up and change, or go.

Match Ratings:

Szczesny 6
Djourou 6 (+1 for the assist, brilliant pass to be fair. Abysmal for most of the game)
Mertesacker 6
Koscielny 5
Miquel 5
Ramsey 5
Song 5
Benayoun 7 (Thought he was harshly taken off)
Walcott 6 (+1 for the goal, great run and finish. We saw a lot of that last season, hardly any this season, so that's more like it. Hope he does that more often now)
van Persie 7 (Scored and looked a class above anyone else on the pitch when on the ball, generally)
Arshavin 7 (Looked a lot better going forward today, best I've seen him play in ages in that department, but is a liability defensively)

Henry 5 (Gave ball away for the winner and didn't even work back)
Rosicky 6
Chamberlain 8