Whilst many Arsenal fans will look back on the Community Shield victory and remember Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s goal, attention has to be handed to Laurent Koscielny.
The 29-year-old played a huge part in the 1-0 triumph of Chelsea, as he continued his ongoing success rate whilst playing at Wembley Stadium.
This years Community Shield win is the fourth involvement the Frenchman has had with trophy success in the last 14 months, proving he is just as important than the players making the scoresheet.
Koscielny linked up with his long-term defensive partner, Per Mertesacker, and together the pair produced a performance worthy of stopping the Blues’ exceptional attacking flair.
And it was recent winner of the PFA Player of the Year award, Eden Hazard, who left the field suffering more than just a 1-0 loss, as he failed to get the better of Kosicelny throughout the game.
WhoScored Rating: 7.98
Koscielny fought off competition from Arsenal new boy, Petr Cech, to pick up the man of the match award, according to statistics provided by WhoScored.
The Gunners defender played the full 90 minutes of todays Community Shield victory, with the likes of Kieran Gibbs and Mikel Arteta being brought on as added protection.
Playing at his familiar centre back role, Koscielny was given a breath of fresh air after Chelsea confirmed their 2014/15 top goalscorer, Diego Costa, would miss the tie through injury.
That meant fellow French teammate, Loic Remy, was drafted in to ruin Koscielny’s afternoon, but the defender wasn’t having any of it.
With confidence set at a high standard with Cech in goal, the centre back wasn’t needed as much when it came to aerial duels.
However, he managed to pick up an 80% success rate, after making four defensive and one offensive aerial encounter, most of which came from Chelsea’s four corners and three dangerous free-kicks.
Koscielny went from strength to strength in this game, and Jose Mourinho was forced to throw Radamel Falcao into the picture after Remy offered very little when it came to finding the net.
In Falcao’s competitive debut for his new side, there was one man he probably didn’t want to make it against, and that’s an in-form Laurent Koscielny.
That was shown in the defenders 100% tackle success rate, having the likes of Hazard, Falcao and Willian attempting to break through.
It sometimes felt there wasn’t much more Chelsea could try, and in a game where Arsenal turned on the defensive strengths, Koscielny was the leading line in that new-look defensive picture.
Overall, it was a game in which Koscielny was fronted with very little in the way of Chelsea’s attackers, but there is something other than just a win that we can take from this game.
Already there is an unbelievable connection between Mertesacker, Koscielny and £11million signing Cech, who embraced the defenders in extraordinary fashion come the final whistle.
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