Laurent Koscielny says his partnership with Per Mertesacker is down to good communication and the German’s calm presence on the pitch.
The pair (per) have emerged as Arsenal’s first choice centre-halves, with captain Thomas Vermaelen relegated to the bench, and the French international says the quality of his partner makes the relationship work.
“We communicate on the pitch well,” he told Arsenal Player. “His experience is vital and it helps us work together on the pitch, so we try and talk to each other a lot and it is important at the back to have an understanding.
“Per is a very good player. He reads the ball well. He is clever, attacks the ball and wins headers whereas I can go behind and be quick and cope with the long balls.
“He is good technically so he is good for the defence. Per is calm on the pitch. He is good for me, he uses his experience, this helps me, and he helps the team.”
And the duo have received the backing of Arsene Wenger who put them straight back together after Mertesacker’s one game suspension for his red card against West Brom.
“They’ve done well, I must say,” he said. “Vermaelen had a very good game against Norwich but we were on a run of good results and good stability and we don’t concede goals at the moment so that’s why I keep them together.
“It’s a very difficult decision. Thomas is one of the best defenders in England, like the two others. I told them at the start of the season we have three outstanding central defenders.
“It’s about game by game that I make a decision, and it is about partnerships as well.”
It’s incredible how things can change so quickly in football! This time last season or the year before, Who would have thought that the Kos-Per partnership would be considered by all as our best CB pairing!
I think Blogger had a reckon. People have always thought kos and verm were too similar. The both attack the ball early. Mert takes a much more tactical reading to the game. I think mert should at least be assistant captain in a few years. He needs to be more vocal though. That way he can orchestrate the defence well and get our offside traps 100% accurate
heh. i don’t think we’ll ever see a 100% accurate offside trap! is always a risky game. agree these two are the best we have though. i think kos is head and shoulders above the rest and mert is very good at covering space, intercepting balls and is a remarkably good distributor from the back. i think one of vermaelen’s big issues was how poor his distribution came. i can’t count the number of times i have seen him try really difficult long passes forward at a stage of the game where we should be keeping possession. i think he… Read more »
Finally FIRST! You don’t get selected in a German team keeping the likes of Hummels, Bender, Howedes, Weisterman on the bench if you are not exceptional. Per is definitely very tactical and reads the game quite well. I will refer to the game against City (at City) where his interceptions were sublime. He is also very calm as Kos said and highly experienced (international stage aswell) something that Verm is not. Verm has to stop stepping up without looking at his team mates, attacking the ball when the easier option is to drop and jockey. If he cleans up this,… Read more »
totally agree. well said bud
Great comment but I cannot allow Percielny, reminds too much of the Dutch skunk! How about Kosacker? Pronounce it co-sacker and it brings forth images of NFL brutes wiping out offences, think of Na$ri or the aforementioned skunk as quarterback……wham! Kosacked!
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6 + 4 = A perfect 10, love them.
[…] an Arsenal point of view, Laurent Koscielny has been talking about his relationship with Per Mertesacker and how the duo complement each […]
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🙂 MUAHAHAHAHAHHAA
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U Mad?
Hey can I come? *walrussy smile*
Can you BOARD a plane arsh?, think about it, can you?
Bitch Please
Here come the Per-ns
love our defenders so much (especially Per) but it hurts everytime I see Vertonghen bossing in a Sp*rs shirt.
with those 4, we’d have the most CB quality in the league!
Apparently (according to a Vertongen interview) he wouldn’t have been a CB with us, he said he chose to be a spud because Wenger wanted to turn him into a defensive midfielder.
yeah. I wonder why he was so against that seeing how much he enjoys bombing forward. would’ve thought Verm being here would mean he’d come for sure.
oh well, HIS LOSS.
yes and it looks like he would make a pretty good DM too. his passing and technique is amazingly good. oh well, not everyone has good taste!
We should play the Verm in a crunchy defensive mid role now that we dont have a larger than life striker up top, better balance while giroud is out i say….. lets slaugter the mancs!
Actually a pretty good idea…I’d love to see his driving runs from midfield and tenacious tackles destroy the likes of Carrick and Rooney
he would be tencious in the tackle but his eagerness to get forward, seemingly at any occasion, wouldn’t offer much protection. if he could as discipined as Arteta (not Song) i think he’d be perfect there – he’s a great footballer
Kozzer says “he is good for me, he uses his experience, helps me, helps the team” that must be true. And I feel that has been the biggest problem with vermaelen, even though he is captain you just don’t feel his experience and leadership on the pitch. For example does he tell kozzer? “hey you stay back, i’m going in for that”……………without telling his fellow C.B you’ll find him and kozzer both attack the ball leaving acres of space behind them and most of the time the ball fall into the wrong hands and we are right away punished. Per… Read more »
Per Mertesacker is the sort of defender who you teach kids to learn from. You can say “Look at Mertesacker. He has absolutely no pace whatsoever, but that doesn’t matter. If you get your positioning right, you will never have to chase anyone.” Pace helps, but you can’t gain it from watching someone run. I could watch Per all day. Great player.
Whilst Per doesn’t have that much pace, when he does get motoring he’s not actually as immobile as many people think. As an example watch his turn of pace to keep up with a galloping Berbatov on the weekend (from that chance they created down the right-wing which Szczesny had to push over the bar). There’s no doubt that he is incredibly slow off the mark though which lends to the perception that he is as mobile as an ocean-liner performing a 180 degree turn in choppy seas. Regardless of speed though we have all seen how important his other… Read more »
Exactly! He’s not a gifted athlete at all, but he’s a wonderful footballer. Bless him.
Koscienly indicates to Arsene that Per is good for him. Throughout his speech he does not ever speak highly of the benched vermaelen. Just praises per more and more: rightly so I must add.
All this could be the spell nervy times for vermaelen at the club, especially if he’s stripped as captain during pre-season, constant links to williams e.t.c He might feel he’s no longer needed and a certain barcelona might have some stupid ideas over his availabity.
He has fallen too fast this vermaelen, fucking wake up!
Koss likes to harass his opponents, perfect for sunday. Skunk needs some of that imo.
Harass here means “literally give him a kick up the arse, poke him in the nose and eyes then kick a ball to his face”
I love the way they celebrated after the goal 🙂
There is a bromance there.
I must be one of the only Goonerd on Earth that thinks Per really isn’t all that? I mean, he’s disciplined, and he can intercept very well, but his lack of aggression, poor balance and the fact he genuinely is too slow (both goals vs the Spuds as more agile defender would have prevented) makes me feel, in my opinion, he isn’t a world-class defender. He compliments Koscileny of course, him and Verm I agree are too similar, much as I love TV5, but I feel another tall CB is still much needed. (Go on Arsene, £20mil on Hummels) Props… Read more »
Vermaelen may have the pace of a sprinter and the agression of a tiger but there is a reason he is on the bench and Per is on the pitch. For all those qualities, Vermaelen lacks tactical and positional sense. Defending is not all about pace. Its more about preventing a situation where you have to chase after the ball having been in no position to intercept it in the first place. Prevention is better then cure after all. Its the media who defines everything for the masses and some people have actively bought into it. Tony Adams, Steve Bould,… Read more »
How can you be so contradictory?
Mertesacker isn’t all that but Mertescielny’s record speaks for itself? Takes two players to make a partnership.
You love Vermaelen but don’t like Mertesacker typical Vermaelen fan boy shows what you know, Mertesacker may lack pace but Vermaelen lacks a brain i know who i’d rather have.
Have been loving Per and Kos, they have formed a solid understanding. Couple that with Ramsey and Arteta just in front of those two, and I’m extremely pleased. Lots of covering for each other, communicating with each other and lots of responsibility being taken.
[…] 来源:[Arseblog News] […]
LMFAO Vermaelen one of the best defenders in the league one of the worst more like it, Wenger is just trying to trick Barcelona into buying him.