Arsenal defender and captain on the day Per Mertesacker has hailed the team performance put in by his side against Bayern Munich, after the north London side picked up a vital 2-0 victory at home to the German champions.
It was a tough start to proceedings, with Douglas Costa showing the world why Bayern invested so much money in him and it seemed it could be a long night for the Gunners, but Per believes that the overall team play of the home side was the factor that stood tallest at the end of the 90 minutes.
Our defensive unity from the start and for 90 minutes. I think that stands out today because we knew that they would have good possession, a lot of possession, but we had to keep our focus on our defensive unit and stay as strong as possible and keep [them from scoring] for as long as possible. That was the key tonight.
We know that we can always score out of nothing and today Olivier came on and made a goal after a set-piece. In every minute we can be dangerous. We had good chances but our team play was outstanding today and that was the most important thing.
The German World Cup winner then went on to discuss the maturity of Arsenal’s display, with them allowing Bayern to have the lion’s share of possession but defending well as a unit to prevent the likes of Arturo Vidal, Thiago and Thomas Muller making effective runs in behind from midfield positions.
Yeah, it was better. They can create a lot of chances when you press too high. They can come out of dangerous situations so we tried it the other way, stayed more compact in our own half and it worked out completely. We got them on the break we had good counter-attacks, great chances and kept a clean sheet over 90 minutes, which is a good sign against this Munich side.
Per ended by discussing the threatening Robert Lewandowski, who troubled the Arsenal defence but couldn’t quite get himself on the scoresheet and the German defender believes that the team effort meant the Pole was unable to continue his fine form.
I think that was a team effort. It was difficult for him. He always tried to come a bit deeper to get the ball and get into the holes. It was difficult today for him. I think he had a great chance in the second half but we have a great goalkeeper for him.
It was not easy for him but I think he will score some goals in this season and he’s in good form at the moment.
I’m sure he will continue his run.
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