Arsenal: Why would David Luiz suddenly learn now?

Former Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker has backed David Luiz to “recover from his mistakes,” but why would anything change this late in his career?

Per Mertesacker knows a thing or two about overcoming mistakes. His time spent anchoring the Arsenal defense gifted him that. And using his newfound power of foresight, he has predicted that David Luiz, the supposed solution to the defensive woes here at the club, will recover from his Premier League mistakes.

Back when Arsenal had to face down Chelsea in the FA Cup and Per Mertesacker had to be run out there after a season of sitting, I was terrified. But when the big German put in arguably his best performance ever, he erase any doubts that he would leave a lasting legacy of love and appreciation at the club.

Since then, he’s taken on a post-playing career roll at the club and whenever he speaks, I tend to listen, because he has some intelligent things to say.

That said, he got this one wrong. Way wrong. And not because I have any ill feelings towards David Luiz or his ability. We knew exactly what we were getting when we signed the guy.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

And the mistakes are just part of it. Which is why I always found it kind of funny that he was the solution to Shkodran Mustafi being weeded out. Because we just changed the look of the defensive liability, but didn’t really improve the defense.

Again, this is going to sound harsh, but I’m speaking solely about his defensive abilities. Obviously Luiz is a player. But the one thing I always enjoyed having a laugh at while he was wearing blue was his mistake making. It felt good to know that other Premier League teams struggled with what we so often struggled with.

I don’t know why Mertesacker thinks that, after being a professional defender for so long, Luiz is going to suddenly learn from his mistakes. It was a refusal to adapt that got him booted from Chelsea, now he’s supposed to adapt at his new digs and stop making boneheaded mistakes? Not likely.

Again though, that’s fine. We know what we got and there’s no point complaining about it. But there’s also no point in believing in some false premise. It would be like saying that Per Mertesacker was suddenly going to get faster in his last year with the club.