Wenger Revealed How He Improved Arsenal’s Defence Plus Recapitulated 2015 Year

Arsenal has had an impressive 2015, winning trophies, the FA Cup for the record 12th time and the Community Shield. On individual level, players like Mesut Ozil and Peter Cech continue to break records and Gabriel Paulista and Hector Bellerin impress in defence.

Gunners goalkeeper, Peter Cech has broken the all-time most clean sheets record in Premier League previously held by David James at 169. He acquired his 170th clean sheet against Bournemouth when they won 2-0.

While speaking in a press conference, Arsene Wenger added more praise about his goalkeeper. ‘I said many times that it is maybe the most underrated position in football and goalkeepers are more important than everybody thinks,’ Wenger said, as reported by Arsenal.com.
‘When you look at his record it is absolutely fantastic, because considering the number of games he played and the number of games he had a clean sheet, that speaks for itself. On top of that I must say I am surprised how quickly he integrated into our team. It looks like he has always played here for us… how quickly he became comfortable inside and important inside the team, is amazing.’

Peter Cech had equalled James’ record in Arsenal’s fixture against Aston Villa but failed to achieve another for the next two matches. He finally achieved his 170th clean sheet against Bournemouth. Inconsistency still shadows Arsenal from time to time but Wenger believes they have the ability to get past and respond to set backs.

He specifically talked about their 4-0 defeat to Southampton and their response to Manchester City after that. ‘When I speak about consistency that means that you want to win every single game,’ Wenger said.

‘I still feel that we were a bit unlucky on the day [at Southampton], we had maybe not recovered completely from the Man City game or maybe we were too confident from the Man City game. On top of that, the first three goals were a bit unlucky. I consider that we didn’t turn up with the wanted performance on the night.’

Arsenal has also witnessed tremendous improvement in defence. Especially in the form of new faces, Hector Bellerin and Gabriel Paulista. Both have impressed on the field and Wenger has given heads up for Paulista’s availability ahead of their first fixture of 2016 against Newcastle United.

Wenger added, ‘He is ready. I played him in a few games since the start of the season. I play him in training with Koscielny, with Mertesacker, we have three central defenders [and] that will be needed, but how I rotate them I haven’t decided yet. I trust him completely. He wants to play more, of course. I think as well that he is happy here and I’m sure before the end of the season he will play more games.’