Per Mertesacker has revealed that after a tough first year at Arsenal the prospect of a long-term future at the Emirates is now a real possibility.
The German international struggled to come to terms with the pace and physicality of the English top flight during his debut season but has overcome initial difficulties to become Arsene Wenger’s first choice centre-back this year.
Reflecting on his development the BFG admitted he had no choice but to put aside criticism from fans and the media to focus on a much needed improvement.
“It took me maybe one year to enjoy London and settle down,” Mertesacker told the Sunday Mirror. “But I am very happy now and I might stay here longer than I had thought.
“It was a strange first year for me. It took a while to prepare myself physically and mentally for the Premier League. The confidence is increasing now. I didn’t care about what people outside were saying, but you always think to yourself what can you do better.”
Mertesacker’s partnership with Laurent Koscielny has been a key factor in the Gunners recent upturn in form, with the pair starting almost every game since defeat at White Hart Lane in early March. Touching on how the defence has worked to implement much needed changes, the German continued:
“Inside the club is what matters. We know our mistakes and we analysed it a lot. We worked to change something and get another approach.
“The unit in the back four is the most important thing. Maybe the Tottenham game, when we collapsed in five minutes, was a little turning point.
“Everybody realised the team shape has to be right and that you can’t have one single player doing something else to the others – you have to be responsible for your team-mates.”
One of the key factors in Mertesacker’s improvement has been the faith shown in him by Wenger, something that has not been lost on the former Werder Bremen man.
“It was a big trust in my person and qualities for the manager to pick me ahead of Thomas, the club captain. I know he has been forced to defend the decision a lot of times.
It was a huge statement for me and I tried to take that as a motivation.
“Also, I know he trusts me and that if I make a mistake I won’t be replaced or changed straight away.
“The manager has always believed in my qualities and that is a huge thing for me. I will do my best to try to give something back to him.”
Earlier in the season Mikel Arteta told Arseblog News he felt the BFG was the most underrated player in the Arsenal squad and with 29 Premier League starts to his name (the third highest total in the Arsenal squad behind Cazorla and Arteta) the stats to a certain extent back him up.
Per’s certainly been a steady presence in the heart of defence recently, lapse against West Brom aside, and with another season under his belt is well placed to go from strength to strength next term. He’d do well to make a start by keeping a certain Dutchman quiet this afternoon…
Good news. Keep it tight today boys, and i think we can get something from today.
Let’s do all we can today and stop the mancs from getting the record total points. They wouldn’t stop chirping if they did, there fans are just the worst.
Come on you gooners!
EXACTLY! They really have the worst fans (well beside barca fans) 😛
The sack. Gotta love him. Like all players in their first year they get totally trashed in the media after their season. Just like koscielny did when he was easily our best defender inn his first season.
Great partnership theyve formed. Long may the clean sheets continue. Long may the spuds stay put in the ladder.
Coyg!!!
So if he gets a tap-in does that make it a sack-tap?
….getting coat heading for the door.
P.S.
Love the BFG!
Over the last ten years Arsenal has bought too much deadwood and too many flakey wannabe’s. We need a lot more like Mertesacker. Per is reliable, loyal, honest and gives 100% every second he plays. He is a total professional .
Please get the Sacker on a long term contract ASP.
A typical german, reliable, loyal honest and professional… Very underrated, long may his good form continue
Just like a Skoda.
I believe you mean ‘typical Frenchman,’ oui?
why wont you spend 50million on cavani!
Per may be honest etc but falls well short of EPL standards. Wenger seems unable to find a reliable CB. Until something changes next season will be like recent years. He is to loyal to players who are mid table quality.
You sir, are retarded. Mertesacker has nearly 90 caps for Germany and is easily one of the best CBs in the premiership. To “fall way short of PL standards” by definition that would mean he’s not even in the mid range of PL standards, ie comparable to the likes of Shawcross, Senderos, Olson etc. If you really think that you need your head examined. Furthermore, Kos is also top class, so open your eyes and support the really good players we already have rather than filling the blogosphere with inane and factually incorrect nonsense. COYG
I love mert. But would want vermaelen to get back in form so we can keep on rotating all three cbs because they are all great. Dont want the case of burnout or in red by playing same pairing everygame ,so its crucial vermaelen to get back to his best.
Pertesacker is such an unusual defender, so elegant, so great to watch. Slower than a redneck being quizzed on nuclear physics, dribbling non-existent, stays on his feet, not particularly aggressive in the air, but shit is that man composed. His lack of pace means his positional and spacial awareness is second to none in world football. He’s a great example of an intelligent player adjusting his game to mitigate the effects of his weaknesses. And I still reckon that was an epic red card he got. Red misted, committed, glorious, utterly heroic. If my boys have to get their marching… Read more »
we need some quality players this summer
Always loved this man even though I used to get abuse from ppl telling me he’s crap and too slow (I disposed of these people through swirlys). Reads the game better than most people and I hope he stays for a long time.
Come on Per do your thing today and kick pepi le puke in the back “accidentally” of course a we know a football to the head can be almost fatal.
COYG
Good management by Arsene to keep faith in him and to keep picking him when he was struggling, had he been dropped you get the feeling it would have shattered his confidence, and some players never recover from that.
I think he is underrated, but only by fans of other teams – and who gives a fuck what they think!!
BFG to Stomp RVP today!!!!! COYG 🙂
Be careful. He could be undone by a fast moving MU striker. The latter might fall in the box. It’s a dive but you can’t trust these match officials. The ref might rc the defeneder and give rf a penalty.
It has happened before and don’t bet onit happening again with decisions favouring the rf because he wants to set a new points record.
I played this match on fifa world class, Mertesacker got sent off and conceded a pen 6 mins in, Van persie missed it, straight counter from that and 1-0 arsenal.
Won it 3-1 in the end, i’d love that to happen, although now i’ve told everyone it won’t happen.
Also, footballl manager is gay
Couldn’t be happier about the recognition this guy fnally gets. Everyone already knows how useful he is in the air but he also reads the game so well, as well as anybody in the world tobe frank and his positioning is fantastic. The partnership with the Boss is the reason why I feel confident going into games even with the lack of a proper defensive mid. The only fault I have with him is he occassionally switches off e.g. against West Brom, but even then he played a hell of a game up until that point.
To be honest, I think his greatest strength is that he switches off significantly less frequently than all our other centre-backs. WBA aside (and I always tell myself the sun was in his eyes anyway) I don’t recall a recent goal that was solely his fault. For me he is the most interesting defender to watch in the league. For someone who has NO pace to be so consistently world-class at a top club like ours shows how well he understands defending; positioning, awareness, composure, bravery, heading, tackling, blocking. Other defenders can get away with mistakes through their pace, but… Read more »
Anyone except Giroud, right parisian? 😉
Actually, make that “anyone including Giroud..” right? 🙂
Really like BFG. Such a calming presence at the back and I think a very genuine team player. If only he had a bit more pace and agility. Would certainly be among the world’s best centre backs just because he has such a good football brain.
True, but look at Theo, all the pace and agility in the world, but no “football brain” if he had one he could be one of the best strikers in the league!
behold!
Too slow to get away fast enough anyway. (jokes aside)
For real though stay as long as you please big fucking german. It’s been a pleasure watching you this past year. Cool head, positionally astute, and actually defends! Top it off with being just too fucking adorable a mean feat for such a big guy).
Stay mert.
I never understood the hate against Per, and how anyone can doubt the ability and skill of a German international capped more than 80 times is beyond me.
He only scores against the Spuds. I’d say that’s total commitment. Sign him up!
He scored against fulham last week maybe he got confused because they wore white and they had an ex-totten’m player in the shape of Dracula.
Has anyone else heard the rumour that Van Persie only moved to Manchester cos he’s taking it off Norris from Coronation St, what a sick man
Absolutely love our BFG. His speed is really not and issue. I just really wish he would work on his balance a little bit. Slips on the pitch a bit too often.
Anyone any thoughts of the papertalk about cesc returning. I mean if barca were ‘rebuilding’ surely cesc would replace xavi? I dont get their stories sometimes.
Their stories are fairly easy to understand. Make money.
I woke up with only one thing on my mind today. That Skunk that swallows little kids is coming to the Grove. So for all you who will be at the stadium, do him right. Up the arse.
what does .b.f
Big mert to keep the skunk quiet, arsenal to win, Ramsey to score
And celebrities the world over take cover, Eric.
TV5 is getting pushed aside, but i still believe in his abilities.
I would love to see TV5 in a holding midfielder position. He’s a ball playing defender anyway, so surely it wouldn’t be the worst idea to experiment with him I that position.
Yes? No?
I brought this up on this forum a while ago, totally agree
No mate holding mid needs a ton of positional awareness, something that Verm lacks discipline in. We should be patient with him at CB, he will return to form and return to his best.
He would have a much bigger gap to fill in order to become a sufficienty good DM to play for Arsenal, compared with the amount of improvement he needs to make in his original position.
So yeah, I think he should stick to working out and up his game as a defender and fight to get back his place.
Keep seeing stuff about Cesc being surplus to requirements at Barca, I imagine there could be some truth to this, there is no way they could afford Neymar without selling him, and I also suspect that they don’t truly laud him as one of “theirs”, Thiago Alcantara is more likely to be kept of the two, I don’t think we would be favourites to sign him in the slightest, but my God I would love it if we managed to get him back, I’d sooner spend £25m on him than Jovetic. Can u imagine a choice of midfielders next season… Read more »
i think there is a buy-back clause in his contract and wwe have forst choice if he is ever on sale. I think Barfa also have to give us half of his transfer fee if they sell him on, so we could potentially acquire him at half price.
*we (have first choice)
PM is a slow burning disaster. He rarely attacks the ball carrier and is not fast enough to cover behind the other defenders (as for the pen. in the ManU game). The sooner we get a fast right sided CB the sooner we will challenge for honours. PM may be top Championship standard but Arsenal- the way they play- needs much, much better.
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