Just how good is Koscielny?

Over recent weeks I’ve come to the realisation that Kos is not rated as highly as he should be in world football, I’ve thought it for quite a while but it’s been reinforced as of late. Reading articles, football comments (outside of here) and the like he doesn’t really get his due when talking about the best CB’s in the league let alone around Europe.

It’s strange for me and objectively I can say he is an incredibly fine defender, easily world class and could walk into any defence in the world and excel, Sergio Ramos in my view is one of the worlds most overrated CB’s and gets into team of the year season after season.

Kos was initially shaky but the level of consistency he given us year after year is incredible really especially considering the fact our defence isn’t particularly well organised, considering how good he looks playing for us imagine what he would like like in a well oiled defence such as Atletico, Juve, Spuds (I feel dirty after saying that) and Bayern etc.

On a lighter note looking at FIFA 17 there are 16 better ranked CB’s than him when a case could easily be made for him being in the top 10 and no this had no bearing on making the thread ha.

So what say you, how do you rank Kos being as objective as possible, hard I know.

I’ve thought he was World Class ever since he had Messi in his pocket few years back. There’s a tweet out there somewhere of a player saying something along the lines of dreading playing against him…cant for the life of me remember who it was.

Although on occassion he has been wanting against the more physical strikers. But that masterclass vs Costa recently was a middle finger to that.

One of the top 3 Centerbacks in the world.

Top3 in the league… not sure how high I’d rate him in the world. One thing that probably hurts his reputation is the idea of Arsenal’s defense not being great and us in general just not being great in Europe. Also it’s quite tough to rate single defenders as it’s mostly about partnerships at this level and how well they do together.

Absolutely world-class. Shame he’s 30 already!

I’d rather have Jonny Evans tbh.

Best Centre half in the Premiership, not sure where I’d rank him world wide though.

Very good CB, but I do believe Arsenal fans have a crippling tendency to overrate him when they put him in the bracket of best 3 CB in the world.

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Tbh I’m glad he’s underrated by the media and other clubs, because then that means less tapping up and keeping hold of such an important player. I hope at the very least he’s here long enough to earn a testamonial.

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2011

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Arsenal+v+Manchester+City+Premier+League+vjHAPgKoyQnl.jpg

2016

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/1_laurent_koscielny_2015.jpg

Just look at how he has bulked up. That’s the main thing to work on for a CB.

Scores too many own goals to be taken seriously by others basically. :smiley:

this is funny, I was reading his wikipedia page today and I realized he has spent most of his senior career with Arsenal:
3 years at Guingamp, 2 at Tours, 1 at Lorient. In fact, even in his youth career he hasn’t spend more than 4 years at the same club at the same time (he did spent 2 years at Brive, 1 year at Tulle Corrèze and then 4 years again at Brive).

He signed in 2010, so it’s been 6 years!.. maybe the last 5 at absolutely top level. That is with partners such as Vermaelen, Squid, Djorou, etc. quite amazing!

Just hope he remains VICE captain, don’t want the “skipper curse” to hit him.

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The Laurent Koscielny that arrived to Arsenal had a nasty inclination to make mistakes that lead to penalties. He is now a way better player than he was when he arrived. There has been an obvious improvement every season.

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Nothing short of absolute world class.

One player whose contribution to the team is always underestimate is Thomas Vermaelen. He was a rather great player for us until the injuries ruined his career. That’s not a coincidence that Barcelona paid 20M for him. During his peak with us, he was considered as one of the best (if not the best) CB in the league.

Some just have a rather poor memory with him.

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Pretty sure he would be starter for any team in the world

He has been known to make a howler for France, and that is when a lot of people normally get to see him since we don’t get to the later stages of the CL etc.

A fantastic CB though but that could explain it.

He is good and has improved over time but World Class is a term thats bandied about too often metinks .
There are an awful lot of Big name Big money guys out there who get transferered for silly money that arent as good ,but he’s no Tony Adams or Sol Cambell or for that matter even Keown, Bould !
Gets bullied by Big guys and his marking at set pieces can do with improvement but all big defenders make the odd blunder and when they do it looks real bad . Even the Tony Adams made them !

But he now has another good partner so Im hopefull the next 2 - 3 years can be good but Im worried about his back problems !

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Koscielny has one too many lapses in concentration and sometimes, as much as his interceptions and reactions are strong, his tendency to rush out leaves us exposed at the back as well.

He’s a very good CB. Certainly one of, if not, the best in the league. But to say he would start for any team in the world, that he’s a top 3 CB in the world, that he’s absolute word class is where you have to start saying people aren’t really being impartial in their assessment of him.

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Just out of curiousity, who are the top 5 best central defenders at the moment?

Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Chiellini, Boateng, Thiago Silva?

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