Arsenal: Per Mertesacker deserves future considerations

Arsenal witnessed a complete masterclass by Per Mertesacker, but what does that mean for the future? Well, it means more than nothing.

There was not a single expert out there who was singing the praises of Arsenal’s desperation center back Per Mertesacker before the match. The kindest thing you could hear said was that he was a veteran, so therefore probably wouldn’t mess up that badly.

But in terms of being in the game itself, they gave him no chance to succeed. No one did.

Which is why what actually happened is so shocking. The big, lumbering German did not make a single mistake. He was absolutely sublime in winning the ball back. His clutch aerial ability reminded us how much we missed it and he conducted that back line like he’s done it hundreds of times before.

It was a perfect performance, plain and simple, and you could see the German was just happy to be out there again, for his first start of the year.

The fact that Mertesacker was able to come back and lay down the law like he did raises so many questions, but the biggest one is obviously what this means. It was amazing to watch, but it was, after all, just one performance.

At just 32 years of age, Mertesacker is far from ancient. John Terry was still playing for several years after that.

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Can you gather where I’m going with this? Mertesacker absolutely positively deserves future considerations. As in, it would be foolish to rule him out of the future of this Gunners defense. Sure, there are plenty of talented, younger, more athletic backs ready to come back from suspensions, injuries and loans, but Mertesacker stepped up when no one believed in him and he delivered like no one else could.

He captained the side to an FA Cup victory over dreaded Chelsea. That in and of itself is convincing enough, but what makes it more convincing is when you stop and think about it. What made Mertesacker a liability was his pace and being easily exploited in a back two.

But with a back three instead, Mertesacker and just sit back and enjoy himself, letting his two mates do the athletic work. If those two mates consist of (choose two of the following) Rob Holding, Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi or Calum Chambers, then that is one of the stronger defensive units in the game.

Listening to the game on Sirius XM, one commentator referred to Mertesacker as a lighthouse for the defense and I can think of no better way to describe him. And isn’t that exactly what we have been missing? Koscielny isn’t the type, Mustafi may get there, but he isn’t there yet. Holding will get there eventually.

But Mertesacker is there.

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I’m not saying we drop everything and reinstate Mertesacker as the defacto center back, but the prior consensus had been to sell him immediately. That is not what needs to be happening anymore. He needs to be given some opportunities to prove that this is his new self. We’ll go from there.

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