Arsenal fans took to Twitter to slaughter Francis Coquelin for his performance in their team’s 1-0 Europa League defeat to Cologne on Thursday night.
Coquelin was handed only his fifth start of the season for the Gunners – four of which have come in the cup competitions – as Arsene Wenger stuck to his policy of fielding different XIs for midweek and weekend fixtures.
The midfield anchorman lined up in central midfield alongside Mohamed Elneny, but Arsenal struggled to cause the German side many problems and a second-half penalty from Sehrou Guirassy secured the win after he was upended in the box by Mathieu Debuchy.
Red Star Belgrade and Bate Borisov were goalless in the group’s other game, which means Arsenal still finish top of the group despite their defeat.
But supporters were frustrated that the Londoners had not continued the momentum established by last Saturday’s memorable 2-0 Premier League win against Tottenham.
A section of fans aired their disappointment at the performance of Coquelin, 26, for what they felt was symptomatic of his mediocrity.
This Is Futbol has rounded up some of the best tweets:
Elneny & Coquelin are awful football players. Absolutely no creativity in our CM and it’s costing us playing these two donkeys..both should be playing for a team like Koln not Arsenal #afc #arsenal
— Louis King (@Louisking1) November 23, 2017
coquelin could genuinely be one of the 5 worst #afc players in the last 20 years………awful
— paul marks (@fugseybear) November 23, 2017
Coquelin and Elneny are woeful woeful players. Should be absolutely nowhere near even our reserve side. #AFC
— Sam Swash (@swashy123) November 23, 2017
Giroud and Coquelin has over stayed their welcome in #afc
— xy axis (@oba_ego1) November 23, 2017
Dunno who’s worse Coquelin or El Neny? What does Wenger see in these players??? #AFC
— Aidan Clifford (@AidanCliff1989) November 23, 2017
How Francis Coquelin is ever allowed be ahead of the ball I’ll never understand #garbagemonster #afc
— John Carroll (@John_W_Carroll) November 23, 2017
I can not believe we have Coquelin and Elneny in midfield together. Not sure how any of them are eve professional footballers #Arsenal #AFC
— Elliot Wyn Llewellyn (@ElliotWynLlewel) November 23, 2017
Coquelin is such a hopeless player. He does everything but his job… #afc
— Sanket (@SanketGooner) November 23, 2017