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The Wonderful Limitations Of Francis Coquelin

It’s hard not to like someone who knows their limits, or put another way, it’s difficult to like someone who is unaware of their limitations. That mate who has one too many and offends every person in the bar or that guy who tries to talk to every 8/10 that he sees. Alex Song springs to mind, a player who was tasked with patrolling the Arsenal midfield, protecting our often maligned back four and acting as our safety net when our attacks broke down. He did none of these things. In fact looking at his statistics this season, he wins a measly 0.8 aerial duels a game compared to Coquelin’s 3.1. In fact, despite his affection for joining in on the attack, his pass completion rate stands at a shocking 76% behind Coquelin’s 83%; whilst a fair amount of that is down to long ball tactics, it is also Song attempting through passes that not even Ozil would dare try. No, it is Coquelin’s limitations that make him so valuable to this Arsenal squad. He rarely joins the attacks, preferring to either sit back between

The Void In The Middle