Why the Arsenal defence has improved so much

There are various theories about why Arsenal have had a much improved defensive record in the last year or so. Last season, the Gunners conceded just 37 Premier League goals, 12 less than the previous year. That is almost a 30 percent reduction. The statistics look even better when you look at just the last 10 games of the season, when Arsenal conceded just five goals, while we were the only team all season who stopped the treble winning Bayern Munich from scoring. So is it just the fact that Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker have established a great partnership? There is no doubt that they have, as the stats provided by eplindex.com show. The reason for this, claims the report, is that each player covers the other’s weaknesses. We all know what the big German’s main weakness is, and he has been unkindly compared to such things as oil tankers for his speed and mobility. He also has rather poor tackling stats, only making one a game and completing just 67 percent of them. However, Koscielny is fast and agile and is brilliant at making last ditch recovery tackles. The Frenchman made one every 40 minutes and his success rate was a much healthier 83 percent. Koscielny’s weaknesses are his positional sense and tendency to mistakes, such as own goals, red cards and penalties. He does not have the same level of top flight and international experience as his defensive partner, but is learning from BFG all the time. They both struggled to get used to the Premier League, but have settled and have got much more consistent. Mertesacker is the organiser, while Koscielny is the athlete and they have really got a good thing going. There are other factors, however. We should not discount the affect of Steve Bould, who became Wenger’s assistant last summer. He was a huge part of the famous Arsenal back four and he really seems to have got them working well. There is also the protection ahead of them, and I think the improvement in Aaron Ramsey’s form has a lot to do with it. Basically, if the opposition is struggling to get possession in decent areas, they will struggle to score. Now we have Flamini as well, Arsenal should be even better defensively this season.