Welcome Bac

all you see is Bacary Sagna

I think there are a good many Gooners who would have spoken very highly of Bacary Sagna before this season. In 2007-08 he was selected to the team of the year by his fellow footballers and has maintained a high and consistent level across his Arsenal career since. In recent seasons he has stepped up his attacking play and improved his crossing, while maintaining his defensive tenacity and physical strength.

This year, he started on that same trajectory despite the team’s miserable start but we have been robbed of his services by a broken leg sustained at White Hart Lane in a game that halted the mini-revival after Blackburn.  His absence may have been softened, only for his understudy to also come up lame. Instead his period out has seen our attack suffer, teams regularly profit from attacking down our right flank, and recently a run of dropped points that has undone the real revival we enjoyed post-Tottenham.

His return could not have come at a better time, as we enter into a period of very difficult fixtures across three competitions. He hasn’t featured much yet as he regains fitness, but with a little luck he will be up to full speed very soon. It’s good to see you, sir. Welcome Bac.


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Paid The Kos To Be The Boss

Tackling The Shit Out Of All And Sundry

You would have to say this man has come quite a long way since that dark day at Wembley when he and Szczesny combined to fluff their lines and allow a last-gasp winner to concede the Carling Cup to Birmingham City. Yet Laurent Koscielny has simply transformed himself from then to now. While there were promising signs last season of his worth, there were many skeptics about the wisdom of bringing a player with only one season of top flight experience under his belt, and one of Europe’s ‘lesser’ leagues at that. 


Kos has put paid to those doubts with a string of commanding performances, reaching their zenith at Stamford Bridge in the 5-3 victory that announced Arsenal’s reemergence as a Premier League side to be reckoned with. Watching him play you get the sense that he just loves to defend. He is Arsenalish from a time that seems to pre-date Wenger, but at the same time a quintessential signing from the manager.


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