Per Mertesacker admits he’s disappointed to be spending so much time on the subs bench but insists he’ll remain professional knowing that ‘things change very fast’ in football.
The German international hasn’t started any of Arsenal’s last three games, missing out on the away defeat at the Camp Nou and the two victories against Everton and Watford.
The 31-year-old, who has one more year left on his contract, played the majority of the Gunners games up to the end of January but has been usurped by Brazilian Gabriel in recent weeks.
“I have to admit that this is something new to me,” Mertesacker told Sport1. “I have been around for quite a while and this has not happened to me before. I am fully match fit, but I am not playing as much as before.
“But I will not give up. I might get another chance. Things can change very fast in football. Every footballer has his ups and downs. You always have to remain professional. I have always done so. That’s why I’ve survived in the business this long.
“I am listening to the manager and he knows he can count on me, regardless of what happens. I want to show on the training pitch that I am ready whenever the manager needs me.
“The team needs every player, so you cannot rule anything out. I have to remain positive. That’s the best way to deal with the disappointment of warming the bench.”
There’s nothing untoward in Per’s assessment of his current situation, in fact, his comments are the epitome of professionalism.
The Independent suggested recently that Mertesacker may not be offered a new contract, meaning first team minutes could be further limited next year should Wenger look to blood long-term replacements.
Per remains a very good defender and a stalwart of this club in recent years. Very rare that his ‘lack of pace’ has actually cost us a goal
Yes, it’s almost as if there are other aspects to being a defender than just pace.
But surely if you had a team of the 11 fastest players in the world…
Sure, Smaug, just imagine a team that fielded 11 Theo Walcotts. They’d be so fast that they couldn’t possibly lose, am I right?
By that thinking Theo must be our best player.
Though conceding that penalty against chelsea in the home game was stupid, I generally like the BFG.
Did he concede a penalty? Not just a red card and a freekick?
Conceding a pen but staying on the pitch would have been better for us.
11 v 11, we would have beaten them.
Leicester away, barca home, Spurs away, Chelsea home, Zagreb away, Watford f.a cup. Just to name afew.
Might have escaped Per but I can see why he deserves his place on the B E N C H
You may be right, but he is being exposed by poor defence work from the rest of the team in almost every single one of those games and if that continues then whoever is back there will get the blame for us conceding. I’m not saying he should be starting right now, just that he’s been great for us and I really hope he is at the club next year.
Gabriel is a lot more suspect than Per. He is clearly benefiting from a different midfield combination. Per had to deal with Ramsey/Flamini Flamini/anyone all season. Think Arsene has got this one wrong. Per still our starter imo.
Changes had to be made. A lot of combinations were not working. I don’t the manager there was anything wrong technically, he just had to freshen things up which meant a few changes had to be made. I’m not sold on Gabriel yet. He is still making a tone of mistakes but he reminds me of a younger Koscienly or Vermaelen. Let’s hope he is more Koscienly than Vermaelen.
Two clean sheets in a row would suggest otherwise. I do like Per but sometimes his body language makes me think he could stand to work a little harder and be a bit more committed.
We were trying to play a high line with Per in the team. That doesn’t work. Whether Per is a better defender than Gabriel in an individual matchup doesn’t matter when we play a system that doesn’t suit him.
If you look back we were letting in almost a goal a game due to Per being on the halfway line and someone putting it behind him. You can’t do that and expect to win games. It wasn’t all Per’s fault but sometimes it isn’t about individual fault it is about finding players that can play the system you’re using.
I think we will see him back against West ham.
How can you not love the BFG after reading this? No matter what you do, you can’t put a negative spin on this. I would extend his current contract by a year or two (max) so he can be around the team. He is 31. He has a few years in him. He never relied on his pace to begin with.
Yes let’s continue to reward people on their good behaviour and not their performances+behaviour.
His performances are good 90%+ of the time. Everyone has off days.
Would rather reward good behaviour rather than players that throw tantrums/holding out in the hopes of a better pay packet.
and it’s not like Gabriel has actually outplayed him either…
I’d give him a 12 month contract. Great experience to have in the squad and decent backup
Per, nothing personal, but you’ve made some very idiotic calls (for a world champion defender) against Chelsea and Barça in the first leg that cost the team way too much. I believe this is the wise course of action at the moment.
I think it’s safe to assume he won’t be taking your comment too personally.
You never know 😮
Let’s not start with the sentimental rubbish….it’s a position we need to improve on in the summer. Hummels or Stones…along with Kos, Gab and Chambers.
Let Per find another club while still at a competitive age.
Everton rejected a bid of £40+ from Chelsea in the summer for Stones. No way are we going to be spending that on a young and currently very, very error prone centre back. If he weren’t English there’d be nowhere near the hype that there is.
If Hummels leaves I can only see him following Klopp. I’d go for Aymeric Laporte, looks absolutely unbelievable. Though I think he may have just done his ligaments or something..
That said, be happy to keep Per. Still very much unconvinced by Gabriel at this point.
I don’t get why people keep saying we need a centre back. Kos is one of the best in the league, Mertesacker and Gabriel are both solid partners and Chambers looks to have a great future. If Gabriel doesn’t cut out the errors next season and/or Per regresses I could see us getting someone in next summer, but I can’t imagine giving up on either of the four we have this summer.
John Stones isn’t even good. If we buy English players it needs to be before they’re over hyped and over priced. Not after.
Stones needs a ton of work to be the finished article. If we are buying off another PL club, Jose Fonte would be a better purchase, though he’s close to 30 now.
Chambers is likely to be the next in line from our squad. And if we’re looking outside the PL, I still maintain that Terence Kongolo deserves a look.
Give chambers more game runs and I guarantee you he’ll come out way better than stone. Better looking too, with better haircut and all that. Maureen singlehandedly started this Stine cult. Now he is way overrated.
Mertesacker has been more consistent than Gabriel who is error prone. I think the German lost his place because of his lack of speed which obliges us to adapt even if he does everything else correctly. Wenger probably thinks we are more balanced with Gabriel than Mertesacker. Löw did the same thing when he dropped the BFG.
Although the decision to choose someone else over BFG is surely a lot easier, when the alternatives are Hummels and Boateng.
I really do not want to speak ill of Gabriel, but since he has a tendency to be even more offensivly-minded than Kos, those two are anything but balanced.
Has been a good servant but go get someone better in the summer. Time to be brutal in terms of squad building.
Well said Mike.
With Pep and may be, the demystefied One coming back to the Epl, next season will be one hell of a season. Arsene needs to be brutal on team building.
Arteta, Flamini and Rosicky are certainly leaving. Szczseny, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Mert and one of Giroud or Walcott might follow suit.
Sign a CF, CB, replace Gibbs if he leaves and if the Xhaka rumours are true, we are good to go. We have a brilliant core already. Make it even stronger and we will be contenders, Pep or no Pep.
Mertesacker is too slow against world class speedy strikers. Definitely a great squad defender now but we can do better. This isn’t kindergarten this is football and you gotta be cold to be the best.
Give me a thumbs up if you’d prefer Per, or a thumbs down if you’d prefer Gabriel.
Personally I think it’s down to who the opposition is. Mertesacker has strengths, so too Gabriel; Merte has size, calmness and intelligence on his side, whereas Gabriel has pace, agility and tenacity. I also think people are ignoring the fact that without Cech in goal, the pace of Gabriel to cover the gap between defence and the keeper becomes vital. If Cech was fit I think we’d have seen more Per, as Cech can intelligently leave the box to clean up – not that Ospina can’t, just that Cech is so assured. And those two offer so much defensive height… Read more »
What’s the option for none?
I’ve been the biggest critic of Gabriel but he has done well in the last 3 matches after some horrendous performances recently. But I would be very sad if Mertesacker were to leave this summer, such a model professional and a great role model to the younger players. That moment at the Etihad when he yelled at Özil to greet the away fans…how can anybody not love this guy?
Exactly. Hugely influential player. Baffles me our fans demanding experienced players are sold when our problem is lack of cover every single season.
Its so wonderful to read the comments of many mature fans out here who aren’t abusing BFG.
Always liked him and yes he might not have much pace , but he still gives his all till the last minute .
Per, the pace at which the team needs to play in other to win matches is too fast for you. Besides, the build up of play from the back with your timings has become a risk to the extend that the opponents do close the play. You worth a backup player than start up.
Your second point is completely unfounded. Per is a far better (and largely underrated) passer from the back than Gabriel (or Koscielny for that matter).
You can make an argument that his lack of pace causes problems in defence (with good reason on some occasions) but how often does he take the ball away from opponents with his extendable legs and moreover, how often does he get the ball before it gets near them?
When the team doesn’t defend well the defence is exposed. In this case he’s been caught out of position a couple of times and we’ve been punished. The Chelsea sending off and the Barcelona home game where we conceded stands out from my memory.
I’m sure he’ll get some game time as a sub. I think the current first team that played against Watford is our best. I think Wenger should stick with that.
If ain’t broke don’t fix it!
COYG
Absolute pro. And a great influence at our club.
Love our BFG
I love big Per and I think we should keep him around as long as we can provided he stays as he’s an excellent professional and a very good player. But I don’t think he’s a good enough player to command a starting spot in a title-challenging team. He is smart and magnificent positionally but he lacks the ability to recover if he is beaten. His game is reliant on never making any mistakes and that is a dangerous game when you are trying to play proactively as we do. Just my thoughts
@MathieuDebuchy: No games, Au Revoir
He might be staying when he ends his loan spell – He can tie Hector’s bootlaces for him and polish his jet pack.
The sentimentality is nauseating. He isn’t good enough for arsenal and we should be looking for better
His pace is a massive weakness
His decision making is poor – obvious examples Costa and barca
His weakness in the air. For a guy so big he is terrible he should be an absolute beast
Slow passing
On a positive he’s a nice guy. Expect a 3 year contract and new club captain
Although few could argue with your points about his failings, I think you miss what he brings to the club, not least the professionalism he is demonstrating with the above comments. This is a World Cup winner, that experience for players of Bellerin’s age, and even Gabriel will be vital in their development. There are few players in the league who read the game as well as Per, and it is unsurprising that his poor form coincided with Kos being injured, and his having to work with Gabriel who the manager himself has said has communication challenges. It is not… Read more »
Yes, the errors he made when Ramsey and Flamini were the midfield base ahead of him. That seems like a fair assessment of any of our defenders when those two were our midfield pairing. I love Ramsey but he and Flamini together were the absolute opposite of midfield security and the team as a whole suffered for it, most notably our back four.
As a ‘leader’ why is he failing to communicate with his 2 cms about what he expects from them? Why isn’t he bossing them around?
This is a guy who, correct me if I’m wrong, after the spankings we got at chavski city and Liverpool each time he referenced lessons learnt. Sorry that’s not good enough. A lot on here ref his 100 caps or being a world cup winner. Christ that’s like saying John terry won the cl
I love Per but his error against Barca and Sp*rs which lead to Kane’s goal and the way he just stopped in the build up to Swanses equaliser makes me think some time out of the team is a good thing.
Not many people have mentioned that it was Per’s tackle and pass that led to Arsenal’s equaliser against Spurs to make it 2-2.
Props to him for that, but he needs to get his core job right first.
I honestly feel he should have played less this season. that gabriel was mostly cr*p and a liability was probably the reason he did not miss many games.
if wenger does not strengthen this area in the summer, expect more of the same next season.
If playing against pace is his only Achilles heel, then he is still a good defender. Almost all teams have quick players and more often than not, Per can cope. Even quick defenders make errors. His influence cannot be simply replaced, he loves the club and he will be able to coach the younger defenders coming through. He is a must keep.
But when he ducked that header against Liverpool, let sp*ds steal the ball for kane, passed to 30 sec flam against barca, nice guy but I find all his statements about what we need, when he doesn’t listen to his own too often triped out advice… 4th backup only now, he should step down a level and play his last couple of years somewhere else
A proper pro not like that whinger debuchy.
Nice to see a lot of support for Per. I hear so many people slating him for his pace & the mistakes that he has made, but he has played in the majority of our big wins & I’ve lost count of the times the big man has delicately put his toe in to rob the ball from the opposition in a crowded box. I’d keep him around for a couple more years & depending on how Gabriel does in the run in I would consider buying another centre back. I saw a lot of Otamendi playing for Valencia last… Read more »
Gotta love him. You want players to be frustrated by not playing, but his is all class as a person and will get his chance again.
Absolutely. Per and kos last season were like crockett and tubbs. Perfect partnership. We’re going to see so much more from the bfg.
I love Per and he’s been a great signing. He was signed about 2 years too late but still, a great addition to the club.
But at the highest level his time is up. Assuming he won’t fancy being third choice next year it’s time for an upgrade imo.
I think in a nutshell, people love Per for his presence, attitude and leadership skills and wouldn’t mind either Gabriel or Per on the bench as the backup but the real solution is Wenger to spend big on a quality defender to partnership Kos. Whoever is playing at the back must be loving playing behind the blossoming partnership of CoqNeny.
I think u got that right, so spot on!
He’s surely off in the summer. Gabriel clearly isn’t in the side because of form, Wenger has decided he and Kos are the default starters and that Per is the 3rd choice. Barring injury (which is almost a guarantee when it comes to us) Per won’t start for us again this season. He’s not going to accept a position on the bench in his twilight years as a footballer so he’ll have to move on and we will have to find a new 3rd/4th choice CB.
Sign him up. With our injury record, we need the cover. He will get games with us whether he is 1st or 4th choice. BFG is a Gooner at heart.
I’ve posted on here that Per is a slow fuckin bastard, the advantage of that meaning that he can be 35 and still be a slow fuckin bastard. No loss on that front I hope we keep him and use him when needed though as he’s great, but as people have pointed out, will he accept a bit part role? I think Gabriel has done progressively better, but I’d argue for a good, established defender to partner with Kos or give him a break because the guy plays way too many games and we look like shit when he’s not… Read more »
There’s nothing wrong with the Rammni combination. It was when Coquelin came back and was paired up with Ramsey that we really suffered. We let in 9 goals in 5 games. A lot more points drop. Ramini had no problem with City or a high pressure match against Olympiakos. We should also do well to remember they had to hold with Santi, Coquelin, Alexis out and no Welbeck or Walcott back. It is facile to simply repeat red herrings about certian players. Fact is players need time to find each other and sync up. Per was an easier player to… Read more »
Over and out.
That photograph is ace! They both look like the fact that they are in suits while others are doing their work is the only thing on their minds.
Good attitude to have.
I think he meant the leg room on the bench is not spacious enough.
A 31 year old German World Cup winner as your back up CB is a very good position to be in, I’d think. Given he’s never relied on pace to be a good defender, he has a few more years to offer.
John Terry has never been castigated for his lack of pace. And whoever picks the German national team saw fit to pick the BFG and he’s a world cup winner. So wtf are people on about?! He’s a natural leader and captain (and how many times over the last half dozen years have we heard everyone and their mom state that we’ve been serverly lacking in this department). The longer he stays at AFC in whatever capacity, the better.
Hope Wenger makes a run at Varane from Real. He wants out and is going to be amazing. I think Gabriel could be real good but I know Varane will be.