"The Spain Under-21 international is sitting at a table in the team hotel in Lugo, Galicia. Through the window, the sound of rain falling; in front of him, the famous scene from The Full Monty, cinematic representation of a defence so perfect, so instantly identifiable it became part of popular culture; a backline never to be bettered. Until now? Last Saturday, something strange happened: Arsenal let in a goal."
"In fact, they let in two. If you've gone loads of games without anyone scoring, when they do it's like it [hurts] more, Mosquera says. But the other team plays too and it's hard to keep that statistic going. Until Brian Brobbey's 94-minute equaliser for Sunderland, Arsenal had won eight consecutive games, keeping a clean sheet in all of them. Thirteen and a half hours had passed, like something from another time, something else for their new centre-back to embrace."
"I didn't know Arsenal had that identity in the 1980s and 1990s but I like that, yeah, Mosquera says. It's good and you see that now as well: a team that's like a rock, that's making it very hard for opponents. To win games you have to generate danger too, your forwards need chances. The key is balance: it's not just defending, and that's not just the defenders."
Cristhian Mosquera sits with teammates in Lugo, Galicia, reflecting on Arsenal's defensive identity and the cultural resonance of The Full Monty backline. Arsenal recorded eight consecutive wins with clean sheets until two late goals, including Brian Brobbey's 94th-minute equaliser for Sunderland, ended the run. Mosquera notes the difficulty of maintaining such a streak and stresses the need for balance between defending and creating chances. Arsenal's defensive statistics are exceptional, and Mosquera's personal profile includes a 13m transfer fee that he describes as significant. David Gordo calls the transfer a bargain, and north London observers broadly agree on Mosquera's rapid impact.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]