Arsenal Fail to Cope Without Laurent Koscielny at Stoke

After three wins on the trot, many Arsenal fans hoped their team had turned a corner. If they had, they spent the first 45 minutes at the Potteries reversing back around it. Their dire first half against Stoke City undid much of the good work undertaken in the past fortnight.

The main problem at Stoke was agonisingly familiar: a lack of defensive depth. Laurent Koscielny’s persistent Achilles problem prevented him from starting the game, so Arsene Wenger was forced to field a back four including teenagers Calum Chambers and Hector Bellerin. Add rookie goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to the picture, and Arsenal’s back-line was hugely inexperienced. 

"We gave them a present," Wenger said, according to Jack Gaughan of the Daily Mail. "We were too tender at the back from the start today. When we responded it was too late in the game. You have to be committed and focused from the first minute."

Wenger added: "We were a bit soft to cope with what they offered us. Stoke started strongly and we were not decisive enough in the defensive challenges."

That naivety was exposed within just 19 seconds. By half-time, Arsenal found themselves 3-0 down and the game seemed effectively over. Arsenal’s trio of young defenders had been cruelly exposed by a rampant Stoke.

Bellerin was substituted at half-time as Wenger sought to change his team’s fortunes. Chambers may have been unlucky to be shown a second yellow card, but his sending off won’t mask a poor performance at the heart of the Arsenal defence. Behind him, Martinez may have played his last senior game for a while: The clamour for him to challenge Wojciech Szczesny as permanent No. 1 presumably ends here.

Clive Mason/Getty Images

In fairness to the younger members of Arsenal’s defensive unit, they were not helped much by the experienced players around them.

Kieran Gibbs has enjoyed a good season but in this game seemed all too willing to allow crosses from the right flank. His negligence was punished with Stoke’s first two goals.

Per Mertesacker also endured a difficult day. Alongside Koscielny, he has built a reputation as a reliable component of the Arsenal team, but he seems to struggle alongside other partners. When he is paired with Chambers, he plays on the left-hand side of the pitch, and it seems to disorientate him. 

With hindsight, Wenger might wish he had rested Koscielny at home to Southampton and thus been able to field him against Stoke. However, Arsenal might then have lost to the Saints. It’s a tricky juggling act, but it’s difficult to feel too much sympathy for the Arsenal manager: He could have made his job far easier by recruiting an experienced centre-half in the summer transfer window.

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Arsenal’s second-half fightback demonstrated a measure of character, but it is difficult to praise the spirit of a side that collapsed so easily in the first half. Real mental strength is about showing concentration for 90 minutes.

Nevertheless, there were a few positives for Arsenal on the day. Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey ended their goal droughts, and the Gunners even managed to score from a corner. The biggest boon of the day may have come away from the Potteries, with Newcastle United’s defeat of Chelsea ensuring that Wenger’s 2003/04 outfit remain the only “Invincible” team of the Premier League era.

Unfortunately, the present day team are riddled with vulnerabilities. Arsenal’s mini-resurgence has ground to a halt, and Wenger is left to pick up the pieces again.

James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout the 2014-15 season. Follow him on Twitter here.