Laurent Koscielny is pleased that his defensive partnership with Per Mertesacker is improving and tipped the German international to become an important figurehead at the Emirates.
Having beaten off competition from Johan Djourou to become a regular starter in the absence of Thomas Vermaelen, the Frenchman also spoke positively about building on last night’s clean sheet against Marseille.
“Personally, things are getting better and better with Per,” Koscielny told the Arsenal website.
“He is a very experienced player, he is an international player, he knows what the very high level is about. We know that the English league is very different than the other European leagues and there is always time to adapt. Soon he will become a key player in this team.”
Arsenal’s stand out player at the Stade Velodrome on a night that saw the Gunners take top spot in Group F, the former Lorient man also touched on why it is so important the whole team take responsibility for defending Wojciech Szczesny’s goal.
“We played as a real unit. We did the job together and defended well as a team. To defend well, it’s not only down to the four defenders, it’s the whole team.
“We did it well on Wednesday night so I cannot see why we could not do it at every game. We have to convince ourselves that we can repeat this kind of defensive performance. We proved in Marseille that we can do it and our keeper didn’t really have any big saves to make.
“We knew that if we created spaces behind their defence we would have some good chances and we kept our belief until the end. We are top of the group now but there are still a few more games to be played for. But we are on a good run, we have built some momentum and we need to continue.”
Great defensively display yesterday by our very own Bart Simpson. He strikes me as a real confidence person who, with a solid partner beside him can really flourish. Another couple of performances like last night and, whisper it, Wenger might have a CB headache on who to pick when TV5 comes back….
It TV and LauKol all the way…. no headache …..
Don’t want to rain on your parade mate..but LauKol ? That sounds like a constipation relief product.
@Padwoir- So be it then…. I mean that’s what he is doing right now to us, relieving our constipation 😉 🙂
or maybe a new headache pill going by his comment
@Merlins Panini Lol yes mate, or that. Like the new name btw.
Squillaci can’t be happy.
Who is Squillaci? Never heard of him
I thought he was brilliant last night, the standout performer by a distance, he is quite correct theres no reason the team can’t consistantly perform as a defensive unit, it all comes down to confidence, and fingers x’d those first green shoots of confidence recovery will blossom in the coming matches,
and look at the big smile on his face as he breaks into a celabratory Morris dance with Ramsey. Bless.
COYG.
Squillaci who?
Knock Knock
I still think kos is more Fido Dido than Bart Simpson. Great display by him last night. We might now be over our centre back crisis, but now we have the right back furore.
Ha ha ha ha ha…yes Fido Dido!!!
Very correct mate, well done.
Bart Simpson? More like Beavis if you ask me.
No I see Doug from the old nickelodeon cartoon.
Vermaelen – Koscielny all the way.
Or kos at right back and BFG – Vermaelen in the center.
I like having Djourou, Kos, Verm, and Per as our CB team.
U can’t have a defence without tv5 in it chaps.
The man is awesome. The way he had Carroll in his pocket at the grove was hilarious. The big pony had never been bullied like that and as soon as we went down one goal, he drove the team forward. Fitness providing, he can be the best cb in the world.
Ps didnt like the way mert got intertwined by remy last night otherwise him and Kos were top and Another decent performance by jenkinson. Happy days.
Just like koscileny, squillaci is not complete shit as it’s usually been made out by some incredibly intelligent gooners.
Given he will never be as good as kozzer and TV5 but he was never meant to be. He was bought as a 4th choice CB, and he is a damn good 4th now 5th choice CB for arsenal.
Great trip, great win and great defensive performance from Kos and our BIG FUCKING GERMAN!!
And it’s always been key that the team defend as a team. You can’t have the offensive players shrugging their shoulders and going oh well, Alex and the defence will cover it when we lose the ball. Not good enough.
We all saw against Chelski last year how good we can be if we defend as a team and if we keep it up, we’ll be turning corners and getting back on tracks before you know it.
Oh and fuckin well done Kos and Jenks last night. Awe. Some.
Happy for jenkinson great game last night, was getting slated after only a few games into his arsenal career hope he gains confidence from his last few games. Come on you gunners
This is off topic but what the hell happened to The Ox. Haven’t heard a word about him since his sweet goal. You’d think we’d take a gamble with him, seeing as Walcott seems ineffective atm.
So if all the first 4 keep being available for selection we may not see poor Seb on the pitch again for us (especially, prem, CL & FAc) yet we’ll continue to make his bank balance better and better right?
Ha ha. World of professional football
[…] himself has acknowledged his performance, but wants to build up from there, both individually and collectively as a squad.Well said lad, […]