The first player I bought in Fantasy Football this season, was Sead Kolašinac.
I had only watched him in pre-season, but that was enough to persuade me. He got an assist in his first game against Leicester which gave me confidence for my purchase.
However, for the next two games he was nullified, first by being placed in the wrong position and second by not even playing!
Despite this affecting my overall FF points in the Daily Cannon league I stuck by him, and his performance against Bournemouth proves I was right.
More to him than meets the eye
Everyone loves to talk about his strength which we have seen in abundance.
He’s already bounced numerous opponents off the ball to all our delight. However, I, like many others, was surprised at how calm and skilled he is on the ball.
When Kolašinac has the ball, it’s very obvious he is an intelligent player. In the first 5 minutes, just before he set up the goal against Bournemouth, he linked up well with Ramsey with a great flick and later in the match he did some great ‘one touch’ passes with Alexis that made the wing back look like a midfielder.
Kolašinac has shown this in previous matches as well, with his assist for Welbeck against Leicester. He has this composure in the oppositions’ half that other wing-backs don’t have.
I don’t see Bellerin, Monreal or (the recently departed) Ox having this composure, whether that be with shooting, passing or crossing – which I look at next.
His crossing
Now this was something we were all excited to see from the big Bosnian.
His assist record last year was great and he hasn’t disappointed, already getting two assists this season. It’s so refreshing to see a wing-back get the ball and actually expect him to give a decent cross.
What’s different with Kolašinac, compared to our other wing-backs, is he always has an idea of what type of cross he wants to put in and who he wants to cross it to.
Sure, not all of them work out, but you can understand what he was trying to do.
Compare that to Bellerin, whom I feel never knows what he’s trying to do with a cross and just hopes for the best while not having any variation in his crosses.
Kolašinac has shown his variety with low hard crosses (the triple square cross) or the floaty cross that resulted in Welbeck scoring. That play for Welbeck’s opening goal highlighted all the skills Kolašinac has brought to Arsenal, his passing, acceleration, composure and finally a cross that pretty much forced Welbeck to score.
Next, Sead Kolasinac’s defending
His defending
Bournemouth didn’t really threaten Arsenal’s goal, so it was difficult to see Kolašinac defensively in the game.
At least we know he isn’t a centre back, thanks to Mr Wenger’s decision to play him there in previous games.
From what I could see, despite getting forward numerous times, Kolašinac did manage to track back and help Monreal, though a few good crosses by Bournemouth did come from that left-hand side.
The real test will come against Chelsea next week.
Another benefit of Kolašinac in defence that was evident in this game was his aerial duals. The combination of his strength and height at 6ft helped him win 60% of his headers and will be important at set pieces, where Arsenal have struggled in the past.
If Kolašinac can stay this consistent for the whole season, then I can’t see why he can’t be a potential player of the season for us.
The first real test for him in this position will be against Chelsea next week. Hopefully he can replicate his performance against them from the Community Shield and get on the scoresheet.
Kolašinac got 11 points this week in fantasy football, and I expect he’ll get a lot more.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t prevented me from dropping down the league tables (currently 111 in the Daily Cannon Classic league), with other players being great disappointments. Perhaps the smart thing to do is just to make Kolašinac captain.
Link above will take you to the Daily Cannon Fantasy Football League where we’d love you to join us, you shouldn’t need a code but if you do it’s 1702234-623279).