Arsenal Finally Developing A Backbone - A Closer Look

The champions of any league in Europe will have a few key ingredients behind their success. It's ingredients that aren't particularly out of anyone's reach. If someone like Fulham had these key features, they wouldn't win the league, but they would've survived.

 Down to these ingredients then; firstly, you need to have a solid a backbone to the team. A strong 'keeper with three/four/five committed, disciplined and talented defenders that will work together under extreme pressure. The next factor is to have a good spine to the team. An experienced 'keeper, centre-back, midfielder and striker. All match winners and influence the team in some way.

Togetherness in the ranks, all teams need to work as a unit almost like they're one person in defence and attack. Flair, creativity and depth are all key aspects as well as you can't succeed with just a good spine, you need meat on those bones and you can only get that with quality players to give you depth and quality. There are other points to make but, I'll be here all day otherwise.

The reason why I bring it up is because of the news surrounding Laurent Koscielny. The Metro have reported, this morning, that the Frenchman has signed a long term contract with the club that will tie him down until 2019. This should fend off interest from any predators that are lurking in the darkness.

This is fantastic news for the Arsenal fans as Laurent Koscielny provides that backbone I briefly mentioned earlier. He and Per Mertesacker have created solid foundations for the Arsenal team to go on and build.

What the Gunners need is a new central midfielder and a striker to strengthen that important spine. A bit more meat on those bones and Arsenal have a title-challenging team once again because their rivals will inevitably strengthen even further.

However, thanks to Koscielny's actions, the Emirates outfit now have a backbone to proud of to get the process started.