master-stroke by Wenger youth recruitment and development policy. AW is constantly being criticised for buying young talents and giving them a chance in the first team and giving them long term contracts and there many examples when it didnt go well but with Coq apparently it was entirely down to luck!

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Let us ignore the fact Coquelin was not part of Wengers plans for the last couple of years (ever since he was no longer exempt from the quota rules) and Coquelin was not offered a new contract despite it running out. Oh, and ignore Coquelin was sent to the Championship to run out his contract.

The masterstroke of youth development would have been to get Coquelin into our team when the need for a combative midfielder was necessary. Not wait until there was literally no other option!!

Wenger has had nothing to do with Coquelins development over the last couple of seasons (in fact there has been no significant development, he was ready 3 years ago) and putting him in the team was out of necessity not choice.

Crazy to say Wenger deserves credit for developing Coquelin when in fact he has stalled Coquelins development for 3 years.

Godlee you must be gutted to see us doing so well.

obviously there was a bit of luck but if you have an open minded manager who sticks with players then this kind of thing will happen. Coq wouldn't get a similar chance at other top clubs, and he could have got dropped after a couple of games when Flamini came back. From what I recall not many of our fans were hyping up Coq at that stage anyway? it took about 15-20 games of consistent quality performances before he got the credit he deserved.

Either way it's a pretty pointless argument! We have a top class player at the end of it.

Crazy to say Wenger deserves credit for developing Coquelin when in fact he has stalled Coquelins development for 3 years.
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Not really true, Wenger tried to tell Coq he was a holding player and Coq thought he was a box to box. And he's now a brilliant holding player... so Coq was stalling his own career if anything. doubt he would have signed a new contract so easily if he felt Wenger was the one holding him back

The main point is that Coquelin has solved a long term problem that should have been solved a long time ago.

And it is very doubtful that without 6 or 7 injuries we would still not have solved that issue. And that is why Wenger is lucky. He had no solution to a glaring problem, despite having the solution in his squad fr 5 years

comment by internal solutions (U19964)
posted 1 minute ago
Crazy to say Wenger deserves credit for developing Coquelin when in fact he has stalled Coquelins development for 3 years.
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Not really true, Wenger tried to tell Coq he was a holding player and Coq thought he was a box to box. And he's now a brilliant holding player... so Coq was stalling his own career if anything. doubt he would have signed a new contract so easily if he felt Wenger was the one holding him back
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Yet on loan he played not only DM, but also RB, LB and in wide midfield defensive roles. Yet Mr Wenger couldn't get him to play to his strengths????

All I'm saying is that the way Coq broke into the team is completely normal. Considering no other manager/team (or even a D'Jeezus Mackaroni on football forum) saw anything special in Coq before AW was forced to play him because of the injury crisis, I have no idea what your point is.

I don't need to defend AW because his record in bringing young player and turning them into very good player speaks for itself.

If Coq had the same take on events as you (AW stalling his development), I'm sure he would have not signed a new contract knowing he could have got more money elsewhere if waited for a free transfer, specially knowing that he could very easily find himself warming the bench again next season if AW does buy someone else who is more useful on the ball, to compete with him.

Considering no other manager/team (or even a D'Jeezus Mackaroni on football forum) saw anything special in Coq before AW was forced to play him because of the injury crisis, I have no idea what your point is.

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I think you need to check your facts.

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If Coq had the same take on events as you (AW stalling his development), I'm sure he would have not signed a new contract knowing he could have got more money elsewhere if waited for a free transfer, specially knowing that he could very easily find himself warming the bench again next season if AW does buy someone else who is more useful on the ball, to compete with him.
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Why, he had broken into the team when he was offered a new contract. Where would he get better than Arsenal?? He was playing in the Championship one month, then offered a new contract at one of the biggest clubs in Europe the next. Of course he was going to sign. He wouldn't have got more money elsewhere, he would have ended up at a mid-table club somewhere in Europe on mid-table somewhere in Europe wages.

He played RB and CM at Lorient and apparently did ok, and then come back and got chances with us. He looked promising for us but he wasn't ready to be a starter, and then played on the wing for Freiburg I read.

Also it's hard to get Coq to solve the long term holding mid problem when he thinks he's a box to box player....!

Now that he listened to Wenger he's career is kicking off. I already admitted Wenger got lucky, luck happens you need to take advantage of it. At the end of the day we signed him at 16, we don't sign player we unless we think they have potential to play for us

All I'm saying is that the way Coq broke into the team is completely normal
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Also, it is not!!
Being sent to the Championship with no contract on offer after the end of the season is not a normal starting point for a player to break into a team!!

I can vouch for DJ here, he's always seen something in Coquelin.

Tbf, when Coq initially broke through, (11-12), I liked him too. Just assumed He'd lost his way.

2011, Tu Meke

http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/44224

comment by Victory to Gaza (U9966)posted 9 minutes ago

All I'm saying is that the way Coq broke into the team is completely normal. 
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DJ

So after breaking into the Arsenal team and being available for free in the summer the best he could have wished for is "mid-table club somewhere in Europe"? in that case what is wrong with the way AW went about dealing with a player with this sort of quality?

comment by Victory to Gaza (U9966)
posted 1 minute ago
So after breaking into the Arsenal team and being available for free in the summer the best he could have wished for is "mid-table club somewhere in Europe"? in that case what is wrong with the way AW went about dealing with a player with this sort of quality?
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What is wrong? That the answer to a lot of our problems was ignored to the brink of being released?
Nothing, mate.

What is wrong is Wenger has seen him training for the past 5 or 6 years, whereas arsenal fans only saw him in a handful of appearances.

I'm still not sure what was going on behind the scenes here. Sounds like Wenger had a tough time convincing him to stay back and do a purely defensive job.

Much like Alex Song actually. Who was eventually sold. I wonder if Wenger's latest comments were a shot at him.

Yet at Lorient, at a young age (18 or 19 I think), he had more than one game where he played without any forward instincts? And he was used as a man marker?
Suggests the management of the player was not very good.

Chelsea had Matic, sold him and had to pay £20m+ to get him back. We could have sold Coq a few back instead of keeping him on our books and loaning him out.

Yeah, I'd call not being able to convince a player to do what he's good at, as bad management too, DJ.

but when he did convince him it's luck and not good management

No, what is luck is that Wenger never had him in his plans yet he proved to be the solution.

Only took him about 5-6 years

And I never described it as luck 8bit, more a slow, painstaking process which eventually found a solution due to the circumstances. Although the way DJ puts it is applicable too.

make up your mind mate, is Coq "That the answer to a lot of ... problems" for "one of the biggest clubs in Europe" OR is he a "a mid-table club somewhere in Europe" sort of player?

comment by Victory to Gaza (U9966)
posted 38 seconds ago
make up your mind mate, is Coq "That the answer to a lot of ... problems" for "one of the biggest clubs in Europe" OR is he a "a mid-table club somewhere in Europe" sort of player?
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He is both. No top club is interested in buying him. And there are players out there better than him we could get.
But his style answers a lot of the issues we have had.

Gabriel, a mid-table club somewhere in Europe player, answered problems that needed solving.