Re: Per Mertesacker - Defender first, footballer second!!

by Twoism Thu Sep 15, 2011 1:18 pm

Let's not jinx him, shall we? He's solid so far, couple of more games then we can see which combo is the best.

Remind me of Sunderland game last year when Toto & Kozz were insane. That one turns out well. Not saying Per is the same but the reaction was somewhat familiar.

by Sushi Master Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:02 pm

What? No way, man. Per is a very experienced and consistent defender. You're not gonna see childish mistakes from him. He's our most experienced defender by far, actually. Even more than Squillaci since he's a regular for Germany.

by Twoism Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:40 pm

Yeah, he has everything that we need. I'm not questioning his ability, just find it rather quick to judge him, couple more solid games then I will be back to this thread and praise him with all I got. I'm just worried the second he makes mistake, everything will be thrown at him just like some defenders we have in the past.

by Twoism Thu Sep 15, 2011 2:43 pm

Arsenalfaithfull wrote:Koscielny has the biggest potential of all our cbs in my opinion. He is made for CL football. If you go back to previous Arsenal vs BVB threads, i even predicted Kos would be the MOM for us .

What he does lack is strength- which is is Achilles heel against burly PL team But surely that is something that can can be worked on? I think he has the highest passing ratio of all the cbs in the league (or its up there at least). I would not mind if he played as a cover DM for us during the Afcon months.

I am quite impressed with the German. Its already been said, but where he lacks in speed, he sure as hell makes up for it in positioning. We have tried playing with 2 ball playing cbs at once in the past Gallas-Toure, Gallas-Vermalaen, Vermalaen-Kos, Kos-squallaci... and its safe to say that those partnerships never worked. In mertesacker we have some one who will not be as mobile in attack, but will be a beast during those set piece plays (iliminating majority of the problems of last year). All in all our defense looks quite good... although bringing in a Samba or a Cahill would be not bad of an idea.

Sagna---Mer---Cahill/Samba---Vermanator
-----------Wilshere------Koscielny

Good luck penetrating against that defense!

TV and Kozz were great actually.

by usman111 Fri Sep 16, 2011 2:26 am

TV AND PER MIGHT NOT WORK imo

by Wilson37 Sun Sep 18, 2011 2:02 am

Too early but really disappointed with Met..
Samba showed us what is to have passion and how strong he is in the air.. And may be having premier league experience is different..
And he really wanted to play for us.. This make me bang my head..

by Sushi Master Sun Sep 18, 2011 2:04 am

Chill, he's been great in all the other games. Wasn't so good today, but really, I he did his job. None of the goals came directly from his actions, only the Szcensy save.

by Emaharg Sun Sep 18, 2011 2:04 am

Wilson37 wrote:Too early but really disappointed with Met..
Samba showed us what is to have passion and how strong he is in the air.. And may be having premier league experience is different..
And he really wanted to play for us.. This make me bang my head..

We all know both would fail in a high line, Cahill was the only one who could of actually played a high line out of the defenders we were seriously linked to.

by Wilson37 Sun Sep 18, 2011 2:09 am

Emaharg wrote:
Wilson37 wrote:Too early but really disappointed with Met..
Samba showed us what is to have passion and how strong he is in the air.. And may be having premier league experience is different..
And he really wanted to play for us.. This make me bang my head..
We all know both would fail in a high line, Cahill was the only one who could of actually played a high line out of the defenders we were seriously linked to.

Samba is also slow.. But he is a superb in air.. Not afraid or not shy to take the ball..
And i cant understand why we keep playing this high line.. Remember against ManU.. they were banging in goals and we still kept playing the same and bought the biggest defeat in our history...

by Eman Sun Sep 18, 2011 3:53 am

I highly doubt Samba would have solved all of our problems today. It's not as though Mertesacker was single-handily responsible for every mistake, and you can be sure that Samba would also struggle in the defensive style we play, especially since tactically he is worse. Mertesacker will come good I think, but even if he doesn't, this is still only one game in which he hasn't been great (I still don't think he was bad).

And I really disagree about Cahill being a better choice. Bolton have been conceding for fun as well you know, with Cahill not exactly shining in the process. For 17mil, he could have been a disaster IMO.

by Wilson37 Sun Sep 18, 2011 4:37 am

Its too early now to make a picture of Met.. But just see how many clearances he makes.. How many contacts with the ball.. He seems too shy and always seems running away from the ball... No challenges or marking players.. And he is always at the wrong place..
For a comparison, how many contacts will Vermelen or Kos have in a match.. How many headers.. How many tackles..
You may say that its not his way.. But because of his laziness he demands more effort from his partner and puts pressure on him.. i see Kos having a tough time to cope with so much work (against Dortmund and today)..
He has a great disciplinary record.. But i dont think he can maintain that record of 1 yellow card and be a successful premier league defender...

by Jay29 Sun Sep 18, 2011 4:45 am

People are looking at Mertesacker's height and expecting him to be some sort of aerially dominating beast that throws himself in the way of challenges like Samba.

But he's not that sort of defender. He's an intelligent, cover-type defenders who excles at positioning himself well to either tackle or intercept the ball.

I said when we signed him that to get best out of him, he'll have to play alongside Vermaelen, who's aggressive and aerially dominant. Koscielny is too similar in style to Mertesacker for the partmership to really work.

by Wilson37 Sun Sep 18, 2011 4:57 am

I always thought Vermaelen and Kos are the same type.. Fast aggressive ballwinners who like to advance and intercept..
And we are playing a highline.. & This is not helping Met at all...

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