BFG adds German efficiency to the Arsenal team

Per Mertesacker has been the acting captain of Arsenal in the absence of Mikel Arteta for the last year, and he believes that he brings some organization and planning to the team, making sure everything is in the right place to get the team dynamics working correctly.

“It’s not about me or anyone else, it’s about the club,” the BFG said on Arsenal.com. “We want to dedicate our lives to that club, and that means more to me than just performing well individually.

“I think there are characters in the squad that just take care of their game and try not to lose energy, which is what you need.

“You always have different types of characters but my personal approach was always that I would feel good if things were put in place, were planned and were organised. I try to communicate well on and off the pitch so the lads know that when I say something it’s honest and it’s the truth.

“Everyone has their own personality and brings something to the team. Our dressing room is really lively.

“We have different characters and the young, talented players sometimes look up to the more experienced guys. In that case, I have a role to play.

“I do it in an honest way. Things that I learnt and grabbed during my career that I think are important would include being genuine to all the lads and treating everyone equally and differently.

“That’s something I try to do in the dressing room. There’s no hidden secret – I just try to contribute.”

A lot of Arsenal fans think that Mertesacker is too slow to run the defence, but there is no doubt that he is vastly experienced and can contribute to keeping the youngsters calm and concentrated. Although Arteta is nominally the captain off the pitch, it is the German that keeps everyone in line and collects the fines from players that are late for training and such.

He is not called the BIG GERMAN for nothing! If he tarts shouting at you I am sure every one listens!

Tags experience Germany Mertesacker

5 Comments

    1. Yea !!! Collecting fines from whoever is late for training actually makes him chase opponent’s attackers.
      There’s nothing you can say that will make me think he deserves first team football than Gabriel.

  1. Any true Arsenal fan will appreciate Mertesacker’s contribution to the team and the club, before he arrived our defence had no voice, always kept quiet when opposition was tearing us apart. Then he came in and added some spine to the mentality of the players, more specifically to Koscielny who’s grown in leaps and bounds ever since our BFG joined the club. I for one won’t mind him retiring at Arsenal or being a coach, because despite his lack of pace and his limited ability his football brain is really up there with the best, knows how to read the game and is a true defender that likes to sit deep and soak in the pressure.

  2. Merti is a natural leader but unfortunately Arsenal fans are gullible and listen to the garbage spew towards him he added the solid backbone and xp to our defence that we were lacking. All you will ever here from the Arsenal bashing pundits is merts slow . He is also quick at anticipating the tackle. which anables him to perform his role effectively. You always here get per on a one on one by hating pundits but how often do you see him get beat like that? Rarely only in a leg race it happens. He is also one of the more crisp passing CB averaging over 90% pass accuracy every season.

    Players like kosc n vermaelen, chambers have done well when paired with big per

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