Pablo Mari has discussed his partnership with David Luiz.
Arsenal defender Pablo Mari has discussed how easy it is playing alongside David Luiz as he heaped praise onto his central defensive partner.
The 26-year-old has made a solid start to life at the Emirates Stadium since joining Arsenal on loan from Flamengo in January, looking instantly comfortable alongside Luiz in our defence for the wins over Portsmouth in the FA Cup and West Ham in the Premier League.
Speaking about how he’s settled alongside Luiz, Mari was full of praise for the former Chelsea man, hailing his quality and admitting it makes his job alongside him very easy.
“We know that David is an unbelievable player,” Mari told the Arsenal official site.
“He’s had a good career and is a good football player, and also playing with him is so easy. These two games with him in the starting XI were nice because I only focused on my job and I didn’t need to focus on other jobs.
“This is easy when you want to have a big game. We know he’s an experienced player and sometimes when you need to do different things in the last minutes, like when you need to make calls or something like this, he can do it. For us, it’s easy to play with him.”
Luiz didn’t get off the most convincing start when he joined us in the summer, but credit must be given where it’s due – he has improved immensely since Mikel Arteta came in as manager.
And now Mari’s comments highlight just how important his experience and leadership qualities can be to this squad, even if many would like us to spend big again on a central defender in the summer.