Arsenal: Per Mertesacker Can Rejuvenate Career

Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker is another of the club’s many polarizing characters, but he has a chance to rejuvenate his decaying career against Swansea.

Arsenal have quite a bit of polarizing figures. Olivier Giroud takes the cake, but Aaron Ramsey is not far behind him. Then there is Per Mertesacker. What’s funny about the polarizing views of our big German is that, whatever side of the camp you’re on, everyone agrees on a couple things.

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First of all, he is slow. Everyone, even beyond the Arsenal sphere, can vouch for that. Second of all, he is smart. Everyone can vouch for that too. The divide comes from whether or not you think his slowness is compensated for by his intelligence or whether you think his intelligence is overshadowed by his lack of pace.

Whatever the case, it was also pretty widely established that Mertesacker was on the decline. I was of that opinion as well. Arsenal seemed to be evolving away from Mertesacker and towards Gabriel. However, every time Gabriel has a chance of claiming the role, we are reminded of how valuable Mertesacker still is.

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Plus, if you look at the statistics, Mertesacker is right about at where he has always been (via Squawka.com). The only major difference is defensive errors, but I would bet that those level out by the end of the year.

Mertesacker’s intelligence is a saving grace at times. In matches where you really don’t notice Mertesacker or even when you do and you wonder why his stats are not better – his tackles and interceptions – that is because Mertesacker is putting himself in a position where he does not need to engage players. He doesn’t need to pounce on passing lanes.

It all comes back to his positional awareness. Mertesacker positions himself in such places that he snuffs out and absorbs attacks before they happen. It was once said that you don’t want a defender who goes to ground a lot, because as a defender you never want to be in a situation where you have to go to ground. Mertesacker rarely ever goes to ground. That is because he reads play so well that he can anticipate.

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Play like that does not have an age. Mertesacker is 31 years old. That in and of itself is not that old. But even if he were 33 or 34, what exactly is going to change about Mertesacker as he ages? He is not going to get any slower (I hope not…). He isn’t going to be any less intelligent. Mertesacker has an ability that’s built to last with age, much like that of a goal poacher.

He doesn’t rely on strength or athleticism to be effective. His natural size and impeccable intelligence get him all he needs. And that stuff doesn’t go away, at least not any time soon.

With Gabriel’s stinker against United, Mertesacker has captured a lot of attention through his absence. People are going to be watching and faith can be restored in Mertesacker’s ability to hold together this Arsenal back line.

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Swansea is the perfect team to do this against, particularly at home. If Mertesacker can cut out the defensive mistakes, we may see a rejuvenation of his Arsenal career. At least for another year or two.