Koscielny: Tackling is very important for a defender

New hard man Laurent Koscielny has stressed the importance of being able to win one-on-one tackles with an opposition player.

The Frenchman comes fresh from a season where he held the remarkable stat of not having lost any one-on-one tackle, and he reveals that it's something that he works very hard in training on.

Koscielny said: "Last year I was in a team with very good players and we were playing well. I didn't lose any one-on-one tackles. It's something I work very hard on in training and I will keep on doing this here at Arsenal.

"Tackling is very important for every defender and by working harder in training it makes it easier. I can then take this into the games.

"[At Arsenal] it's gone well so far, everyone has made me feel very, very welcome. They have helped me to settle in with my new surroundings.

"Of course there are many, many Frenchmen around the club and it has been a great help having them around me when it comes to settling in. Everything is going well.

"It's true that the Premier League is hard physically and it is more intense than the French league so in that respect I've had a big jump in standard. I'll keep working hard in training and soon I'll get used to everything.

"Against Liverpool it was quite a performance. With the Joe Cole tackle I was more concerned about my leg than anything. As for the cards it did spoil it a bit for me but generally I thought it was a decent performance."

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