Preface

27th February 11 as

he lay bereft on the turf

Not much of a hero

more of a smurf

He kicked the ball

into Szczesny and not into row Z

A tap in for Martins

what went through his head?

Another year without

a trophy, 6 years then gone

So did the fans turn

against the hapless Laurent?

No we would never

give this lad stick

As 10 days earlier he

gave Messi not a kick

We had been used to

Keown, Sol and Tony

Suffered with Gallas and

some ex United pony

We needed a Toure,

intuitive, swift and brave

We had found that man,

some now know as Dave

Before the Arsenal

He started at

Guincamp in 2004

Lower French leagues

and a right back what’s more

Up to Ligue 2 with

Tours in 2007

Now playing in the

centre in the starting 11

One more year his

talent shining

Lorient made him the

first summer signing

So significant his

impact after only a season

Grimandi called

Wenger with very good reason

Lorient were not

happy and put up a fight

So we gave them cash

and Le Coq, saw them right

2010/11

The fans were bemused

another French unknown

But it has worked

before we had no right to moan

Sent off on his debut

in front of the Kop

Two challenges in

injury time over the top

We could see the

potential even alongside the Squid

He was looking a

bargain at 8 million quid

The whole of January

without conceding a league goal

Djourou and Kos were

the heart and the soul

Starting February

challenging on 4 fronts

Finishing March

looking like…….

Fourth place again

becoming the norm

But no question in

Kos a new Gooner was born

2011/12

In his second season

Vermaelen now fit

The BFG arrives so

where does he fit

Still in the team

when fitness allowed

With the Belgian or

German 3 not a crowd

A season best

forgotten by the Arsenal defence

The worst I have seen

I won’t sit on the fence

Every fullback

injured from August to Jan

Kos played all over

like only he can

One of 5 players to

play at right back

We stayed in the game

thanks to ‘you know who’ in attack

The only performer at

the back until spring

Till 5-2 we beat the

Spuds let the season begin

He scored v Milan the

so nearly night

And scored at the

Hawthorns of what delight

Third pace secured

the fans on a bender

They also voted him

our season’s best defender

A new 5 year deal a

pay rise he taken his chance

And further reward

the Euros with France

2012/13

Mertesacker fit and

Vermaelen promoted

An injured Koscielny

sadly demoted

In the early season

the pairing looked strong

But this is the

Arsenal so it would not ast long

The mistake was clear

Vermaelen could not lead

With him in the side

we looked more likely to concede

Playing to high up

the pitch okay if BFG was faster

But he’s slower than

an oil tanker a recipe for disaster

Out of both cups,

what’s occurring we say?

Wenger under

pressure, Bayern away

A massive decision

he’s dropping his fave

About bloody time

he’s calling for Dave

A clean sheet in

Munich and all because

The defence is so

solid with BFG and Kos

We never looked back

from February on

None lost, 2 drawn

and 8 that we won

The big German looked

solid with Kozza beside

The Frenchman

restoring solidity and pride

So the second year

running how fitting it was

The goal taking if to

Europe was scored by the Kos

And finally…

His timing, his

bravery, game reading interceptions

Have no doubt altered

many perceptions

We knew he was good

he has always impressed

But the last few

months place him among the world’s best

The first chapter’s

over in the story that was

Only the beginning of

THE LEGEND OF KOS

Dave Seager

Follow @goonerdave66



Passionate 50+ ST holder who has been making the journey to N5 regularly since the early 1980s – although his first game was in 1976. Always passionate when talking about The Arsenal, Dave decided to send a guest blog to Gunnersphere in the summer of 2011 and has not stopped writing about the Gunners since. He set up up his own site 1 Nil Down 2 One Up which he has now sold and since the summer of 2013 with a friend he launched a new project to offer new and aspiring Arsenal writers a home. Gunners Town is that platform and Dave writes here too. He is also the author of 2 Arsenal related books. Follow @goonerdave66 !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”);

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