Following Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of Monaco, a lot of fingers were pointed. Some looked to place the blame with Olivier Giroud, who missed a number of fantastic opportunities during the game. Others blamed Mesut Ozil, who had a particularly quiet and ineffectual game. The rest chose to blame Per Mertesacker, who had a shocker.
The big German played a major role in both of Monaco’s first two goals. In the first case, he deflected a wayward shot into his own net and in the second, he mistimed a tackle down the flanks, allowing the Ligue 1 side to pile forward and hit Arsenal on the counter. As a result of these two mistakes, Arsenal were more or less already out of the tie.
Monaco’s third goal just sealed the deal.
It’s always struck me that Per Mertesacker isn’t a natural fit for this Arsenal side. If The Gunners were a team who were used to sitting back and soaking up pressure, he’d be a good fit. But because Arsene Wenger likes his side to push up and play free-flowing attacking football throughout the game, his defenders often play high up the pitch.
As a result, it’s relatively easy for them to get caught out. Unfortunately for Per Mertesacker, he doesn’t have the pace necessary to deal with balls over the top and this heaps pressure on the rest of Arsenal’s defense. As long as Arsene persists with the big German, they’re going to be susceptible to counter-attacking football.
Perhaps Arsene Wenger has realised this. In Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Everton last Sunday, he benched Mertesacker and gave Gabriel Paulista a go. After a shaky start, Arsenal’s new signing put in a wonder tackle to prevent Romelu Lukaku going through on goal and then started winning header after header.
It proved to be a decent debut performance. Given the clean sheet, there’s a good argument to suggest that he should keep his place in the team. Whilst it’s tough to drop your captain, I can’t help but feel that this is the smartest possible step forward for The Gunners.
It could make a huge difference for the club moving forward.
What’s your take? Were Arsenal right to drop Per Mertesacker?
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