To Those Who Have Written Off Koscielny
He had no hair
By Eduardo
July 2 2010
We have not signed the guy yet, but already some Arsenal blogs have been full of comments from people saying he is not good enough, not experienced enough, has no international experience, comes from an inferior league and much, much, more, and by and large these statements are accompanied by comments such as, "I have never seen him play" or, "from what I seen of him on YouTube".
Well I can only assume those making the comments are very young, or know little of the greatest backline Arsenal ever had, Seaman, Dixon, Bould, Adams and Winterburn.
Adams came through the youth system, and it is even possible that he would never have made it at Arsenal if Martin Keown(who had been preferred over Adams by previous Manager Don Howe) had not fallen out with George Graham and left because GG refused to honour an agreed £50 pay rise, - that would not do now, would it?
Seaman before he joined Arsenal was RELEASED by Leeds Utd, then played for Peterborough Utd, and then QPR, and was not an International - imagine the uproar now if we bought a guy with that background no matter how much POTENTIAL he was said to have.
Dixon was RELEASED by Chester City and Burnley and went to Bury, and was still playing lower league for Stoke before joining Arsenal, and of course he was not an international - would be seen as a joke signing by many if that happened now.
Bould made his debut as a right back at Stoke, and they did not rate him so they loaned him out to lower side Torquay who played him at CB and he did well. He returned to Stoke and did well in the second division, Arsenal beat off competition from Everton to sign him for £390K, of course he was not an International, in fact he barely got an England call up even when with Arsenal - there would be uproar by some of today's fans if Wenger signed someone with his background to be first choice.
Winterburn was RELEASED by two teams, Birmingham and Oxford, before coming through the divisions with Wimbledon (one season in Div 1) before joining Arsenal. He too had no international experience, and like Bould was almost totally overlooked by England during his long successful career at Arsenal, and lets not forget that nearly all of his limited playing time in his first year at Arsenal was as a right back, as he could not dislodge Kenny Sansom. Again if someone with his background was to be signed now it would be deemed another sign of how little ambition we have, or how low we have stooped.
So before you write off Koscielny because he has played lower league, or is not an international, or you just never have heard of him, please think of our famous back five and who they were and what they had achieved before they joined Arsenal.
One last thing, I see when Vermaelen is mentioned as a similar type signing last year it is accompanied by a lot of bull like, "but he played for Ajax, he is an International", forget the name Ajax, the Dutch league is lower ranked than the French league, and Belgium are hardly a major international side at the moment; and for me International football is well below club football in standard. I have never seen the guy play and have no idea if he will be more Cygan than Adams, but PLEASE guys at least wait to judge Koscielny until you have actually seen him play a few games.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:07:17:09:39:53 by Padre Pio.
Did they cost us 10 million each? Like Koscielny is going to? Im not slating the guy, I haven't seen him play, I don't think there are many that are judging the guy, as no ones seen him play either! so I think that you have exaggerated that point to the max.
He may be good, but should someone of his experience and age be worth 10 million pounds that is the question? Vidic only cost 7, Vermaelen 10 but he was well known before he came, just because you don't rate the dutch league doesnt mean it isnt a good league, it has produced probably far more world class talent than the english premier league has produced, and being captain of your national side is still a great accomplishment, this koscielny fella has never been capped at any level and in this day and age if you arent even capped at any level you do not deserve to be worth 10 million.
I personally think there are better options available for 10 million, that have greater experience with that kind of price range, which is what it boils down to the cost, he only cost 1.3 million last year, if he was so good why didnt we snap him up then? Clichy was in the 3rd division when we signed him so we obviously have an interest in the french lower leagues and have probably watched him for some time, why buy now when the price is 'inflated'?
I hope he is good for the sake of the team, we currently only have Vermaelen and Djorou on our books as capable centrebacks, as it stands, 2 centre backs, one injury prone, the other having only been here a season, we should be going for top defenders to replace Gallas and co. but we are more than happy to go into lengthy negotiations for a nobody who is suddenly going to cost 8 figure sums, there is better options for the price and they are in the EPL, also do you think because he is French, Wenger is more eager to sign him? There has always been that question mark for me, like Silvestre, if he wasn't french I don't think Wenger would have gone for him. But that's another debate for another time.
My only fear is that we won't buy enough depth. We need that extra DM as cover for Song if he has to drop into the CB position. Dare I say it but Flamini is available. Failing that Hangeland or Mertsacker are the giant CB we could do with and can you imagine Vermaelen in the DM position..... he'd be superb. Up front we are sorted with power, speed ability, we've got it all. I think Cesc is staying and if his head is right, we will be really really close again this year. It's the injuries that worry me more than anything and back to my original point, the lack of quality depth.
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
If we dont sign another experienced defender who is aso good, we are going to struggle. No debate about it.
Can We Now Trust The Process 🤔🤷🏿♀️ or Should We Still Remain Cautious 🙇🏿♀️
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.
Only Liverpool and man u hold him off
"When we had to suffer the team is a lion because they suffer together." 4 July 2020 at Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arteta on his team's first away victory at a club above them in the Premiership since September 2015 at Leicester.