Arsenal: 3 things Pablo Mari did right in his debut

Arsenal finally witnessed the full debut of new signing Pablo Mari and it was exactly what you’d want. Here are three things, in particular, he did right.

After crashing and burning out of the Europa League, Arsenal came into Portsmouth looking… shaky. But amidst other storylines, one of the side plots was watching the full debut of Pablo Mari, who finally got out on to the pitch, in the starting XI, for Mikel Arteta.

There were rumors over the weekend that Mari had already been signed permanently for the £5m-ish fee that he was supposedly going to cost. All that coming before he even took a step on a competitive pitch was high praise enough, but seeing him against Portsmouth, I’d have forked up the money too. Easily.

Despite a wave of initial pressure, the Gunners were able to properly defend their goal, and Pablo Mari was a big reason why. The hosts took eight shots. Mari blocked four of them all on his own.

Of course, there wasn’t much more of a need for that when the second half rolled around because the Gunners took such total control over the match, but Mari did his part when called into action, and it became such a telling debut.

Here are the three things, in particular, he did absolutely right. We start with No. 3.

3. Distribution

It’s not enough to just defend anymore. There’s so much more to the overall effectiveness of a centerback, and with Mikel Arteta, we see which kinds of centerbacks he prefers. Guys like David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi have been skeptical defenders who have intelligent attacking instincts. They distribute well.

Sokratis is more the opposite. A better defender who isn’t the best on the ball. Arteta has favored Mustafi and Luiz.

Pablo Mari did so well on the ball, picking out his passes, breaking through lines of blue shirts, and not always just turning around and dumping it back to the keeper. He had ideas with the ball, and those ideas are going to serve him well.

On to No. 2.