Per Mertesacker says that Arsenal’s ability to win in different ways is proving a real positive this season, but warned also that there’s a long way to go in the title race.
The Gunners beat Man City 2-1 last night to leave themselves 2 points behind surprise leaders Leicester, but with so many games still to play it’s about finding real consistency that can bring the title back for the first time since 2004.
“We haven’t proven anything yet and we haven’t been that consistent that we can talk about that,” he said.
“We go game by game and concentrate on having a gameplan and trying to implement it. That has been our strength so far against the big team and it makes us stronger as a unit.”
Speaking about a more versatile team this season, he said, “We are capable of doing different things sometimes and that is what makes it harder for the opponent. That is our thoughts and that is why we implement them into games sometimes but we are still dangerous on the counter attack and that makes us a real threat.
“Last season we played at City and we showed some different kind of match-plan. That is what we had in the locker already but this year we are more consistent and it is what makes us a bit better as a unit.
“Sometimes we need to adjust, we don’t have all the players available at the minute, we think that is best way to win against City but we need to trust that way as well – it is not only thinking about it, it is also about putting it in to practice.”
To win against a team like City without so many key players is a confidence boost, but it’s going to be tough for a small squad to keep up that intensity over the Christmas period.
Fingers crossed.
Im a little worried we are not going to hv any player back from injury for atleast three more pl matches. It seem like our players are starting to show tireness during the end and hving three matches in a week wouldnt help either
What about Arteta? I haven’t heard anything about him in the last few days, but I thought he was supposed to be back around Christmas. He might be able to give Ramsey and/or Flamini a break, even if only for half an hour or so.
Top man, everyone looks up to him.
Surely we can play the Jeff against Newcastle and still win
Still buzzing today. We could’ve easily scored another 2 with the Cambell and Ramsey miss. Well done boys! Think if we win the Premier league, even the neutrals will give us a clap. Proper well run club thanks to Wenger
What a man. His display against city was outstanding. Both his and Koscielny’s styles and qualities were typified last night, pure class. Per’s reading of the game is up there with the best of all time and more than makes up for his lack of pace against even the most fleet of foot and sharp minded attackers.
And to think that some people were upset that we got him over Cahill. In my eyes he’s one of the premierships great defenders. He’s not pacey, but he’s not actually that slow. His anticipation and reading of the game means that he’s rarely caught out.
I think we should talk about winning the next game instead of the title. Agree with the wise man in our defence.
Him and Čech are the grown-ups around here. Listen to them, young whippersnappers.
I was skeptical about the Man City game due to the number of players we had missing. This current group of players keep on proving me wrong and I see no reason why we won’t be be able to achieve good results over this busy period! We have good work-rate, maturity and goals with this group so I see no reason why we won’t be able to maintain these levels
It often goes unsaid about how amazingly well this team has developed a breathtakingly clean and accurate defensive unit. The sheer number of interceptions and amazingly low foul count even against savages like West brom, is staggering. We can battle against the oaves, but in such a technically brilliant way. Wenger and his players have become masters of great defending through harmony and, defensive awareness, speed and technical quality. And no diving, cheating, time-wasting etc.. It just makes me so proud to be a Gooner. Class all round. Thank you Arsene. So much.
“…oaves…”, a much under-used epithet. Keep it alive.
Mert put in a giant performance last night. I wonder if anyone has a clip of him putting his leg out to stop Aguero, just took the ball off him and strolled up the pitch
there was a moment last night where the BFG was tracking back in the area and looked like he was going to try and block, but he peeled away at the last moment so he could cut out the square ball and obviously because he had every confidence in Cech’s ability to save a shot. And it turned out that the Citeh player bottled the shot and tried to square it, and the BFG cut it out. At least that’s what it looked like from the East Upper.
I loved that. Almost as much as the goals.
I love pre game when they talk about per’s lack of pace. And then he goes out and shows them about prefect reading of a game,timing and power.
It will be the same next game how will he cope v this fast guy or that fast guy.
Answer he will stand off and intercept every ball aimed at said fast guy
Absolutely brilliant how giroud got under the skin of city defence.
Hilarious how that nicolas oatmeal guy had to double team giroud in the end cause his hold up play from long ball was that good.
This next stretch of three matches is going to be key for our title chances, need to take all 9 points. Sure we’ve got the big stretch in mid-January to mid-March, but what is going to be such a challenge right now is that we will pretty much have to go with the same squad in all of the matches on the 26th, 28th and 2nd with little ability to rotate with the exception of maybe giving Chamberlin a start and possibly Gibbs or Debuchy, but the key players are all going to have to play all the matches. Sanchez… Read more »
Southampton away, Bournemouth home, Newcastle home. Those are our festive period matches. I think we really need to win the first one, i.e. Southampton away. We will be tired for the other 2 but since we are at home, I think we’ll manage.
He is a true leader. Still think that we would not have lost the game against Chelsea if he was palying. It’s not just about pace. It’s all about what he brings in.. Top player.!
Per is one of the outstanding performers that often gets short shrift. Cue red herrings about his speed. He made 8 critical interceptions against City but you won’t see that sort of statistics paraded by 7amkickoff on his ‘stats’ since it won’t suit his narrative. He wants to show you what he wants you to see. Worth noting how much Wenger spent on Per and Koscielny as oppose to City on Otamendi and Mangala (64m++) Another player worth mentioning who kept our lines compact and Silva in check is Flamini. Clearly he isn’t Coquelin bless with the younger man’s youth… Read more »
Your constant whining about 7amkickoff is puerile and pathetic, but maybe it’s just me
Could someone post the clip of BFG cleaning up Toure
I will confidently say Arsenal will be champions of the league come May. But i have one worry. The press and pundits wont give us our due credit. If you have noticed, they are bracing themselves for an Arsenal win by undermining our success so far. They say, other teams are not playing well. Other teams are not stable but i beg to differ. City have the same manager and have invested a lot of money on their squad. Chelsea started the season as champions. made investments on their squad (however questionable) but they are given a pass because their… Read more »