8/10/2019 Koscielny TOTY Article

1/2

Why Laurent Koscielny deserves a place in the PFAs Team of the Year

By Nathan Russell (@nathanhrussell)

You see that desk over there? Theres a pair of glasses sitting on it. Theyre nicearent they? Theyre my rose-tinted glasses and Ive taken them off to I can tell

you objectively, despite being an Arsenal fan, why Laurent Koscielny should have

made it into the PFAs Team of the Year. Whilst some will say that accolades

dont matter, the Frenchman has been a rock at the back for Arsenal this season

and deserves recognition.

Chelseas Gary Cahill and Manchester Citys Vincent Kompany are the two centre-

backs that make up half of the back four of the PFAs Team of the Year. The two

defenders have total scores with Squawka of 911.82 and 582.38 respectively;

Laurent Koscielnys score of 1038.72 shows how solid he has been throughoutthe season in the Premier League. Out of the trio, Kompany has won the most

tackles, with Koscielny having made one less with a total of 41; Gary Cahill has

won a total of 26 tackles thus far.

Who wants to take a guess who has made the most interceptions out of the

triumvirate of defenders? Koscielny has made 83 interceptions in the Premier

League this season, which is more than Kompany and Cahill combined. The

Frenchman, who signed for Arsenal from Lorient in 2010, also leads the way

when it comes to the number of clearances made. The impressive statistics dont

stop there: Koscielny also has made the highest number of blocks out of the three

defenders.

You may be wondering why the PFAs Team of the Year matters so much that Im

writing this piece. The truth is that it doesnt, I just want the best players in the

best league in the world to be recognised and praised accordingly and thats

regardless of whether they play in red and white or not. If we are to consult

another set of statistics just to be sure: Koscielny is also the highest rated out of

the three players when it comes to the Premier League ratings provided by

WhoScored.

The good thing about comparing these three centre-backs in particular is that

they are all aged 28 so there can be no discrepancies when it comes to

experience, or the lack of it as the case may sometimes be. As you can probably

tell by this article, I love a good statistic so lets take a look and compare the

Transfermarktplayer values for the defenders in question. As we have already

seen, Koscielnys total Squawka score is a 78% increase on that of Kompanys.

Shouldnt we then expect the former to have a higher transfer value? Of course,

the player values used arent set in stone but at 31 million, Kompanys market

value is almost double of that of Koscielnys, which is 16 million.

8/10/2019 Koscielny TOTY Article

2/2

Now, you could take those statistics and wonder why Kompany is so highly rated

over the other two defenders (Cahills market value is 500,000 more than

Koscielnys if youre wondering). Of course, Kompany has won the league and

perhaps isnt having is best season so the statistics used could be a little unfair

on the Belgian. Regardless of the reasons why some fans seem to rate Vincent

Kompany over Laurent Koscielny, I would rather have the Frenchman in myteam. Some might say that football shouldnt be broken down into mere statistics

but the fact of the matter is that they leave me dumbstruck as to why Arsenals

28-year-old defender didnt make it into the PFAs Team of the Year.