Tir Na Nog
Changes Opinion Every 5 Minutes
Country: Ireland
I personally think Mertesacker is our best defender in the Emirates era, excluding someone like Toure who was still around from before the move. I mean it doesn't say a lot as the only competition is Koscielny. Gallas was alright for a small period. However as been rightfully pointed out our team was not defender friendly for lack of a better way of putting it. We played very offensively, were very poor at stopping counter attacks, would leave few men back, played a high line. For a CB of Mertesacker's profile the odds were stacked against him. Yet there was a period from like 2013 through to most of 2014/15 where Koscielny and Mertesacker as partnership were brilliant. At one stage for several months they were statistically the best CB pairing in the league even outperforming Terry-Cahill for example.
Put Mertesacker in a Mourinho team for example, where they play a much lower block, have a plan for dealing with counters, have a midfield shielding the back 4 and he'd be held in so much higher regard in general.
I personally feel he did exceptionally well for a certain period given what he was up against, his reading of the game was world class even his lack of recovery pace was a huge flaw, one which did end up getting exposed.
Put Mertesacker in a Mourinho team for example, where they play a much lower block, have a plan for dealing with counters, have a midfield shielding the back 4 and he'd be held in so much higher regard in general.
I personally feel he did exceptionally well for a certain period given what he was up against, his reading of the game was world class even his lack of recovery pace was a huge flaw, one which did end up getting exposed.