Sometimes as a player you have a different view and you can't believe what we did as a defensive unit.
— Per Mertesacker
There are not a lot of German players out there who are successful in a foreign country.
We cannot take responsibility for every goal we concede, we all need to do our part across the field to ensure we win as a team.
I had a great time at SV Werder Bremen and I'm grateful to the club.
For a national player it is a good thing to get experience playing abroad.
Every footballer has his ups and downs.
I was talented at a young age, but I still had to grow and develop further.
Sometimes you need a humbling experience to think about a few things.
You learn a lot from defeats. As well, you need to learn from victories.
My father said, 'You're not going to make it.' That took a lot of pressure from me. I took football like a hobby.
The best players in the world play in the Premier League and therefore it is the best league.
If there is a really good player at U16 level who disrespects the coach, if you then say: 'You can go somewhere else then. That is not how we do things here.' That would be powerful.
In Germany I already know everything, I know every stadium.
I was lucky to get a professional contract. I wasn't that sort of talent that is considered to be a professional player.
That's what I love, getting the tube, not getting any recognition, trying to be as normal as possible. Sometimes you get a big Arsenal fan and they tell you they have a season ticket or want to have a chat, which is fine. Some want a selfie, but sometimes I just want to say: 'Let's just shake hands. It means more than a picture.'
That's why I kept going with my school - I wasn't talented. That's what's the difficulty - you want to define key talents when they are 12, 13 or 14? When I was that age I was nowhere near. People had given up on me.
I invested a lot in my fitness.
As long as you are winning it is a good day.
Playing at the highest level really is something special for me.
Goals often come from a mistake much further up the field, yet the analysis and blame will always be on the defence.
The more people that write me off, the stronger I get.
I want to show on the training pitch that I am ready whenever the manager needs me.
Things can change very fast in football.
It is an important duty at Arsenal for the experienced players to show the younger ones that there is a chance to make it into the first team.
There's always that mental battle, who's going to have that confidence to be on the front foot.
When people are acutely depressed, many of them seem to want to hide.
I wasn't that good at football aged 14 or 15. I didn't take it too seriously.
It's hard work to do important games for the club every three or four days, that is very physical.
For almost 15 years, professional football is about yourself: How can I improve? How can I make myself better? Before winning a game was the short-term reward that meant everything. Now, I can look at the bigger picture.
Living in London is very different to living in a little town in Germany.
I don't see myself coaching because the intensity of that is massive, and the intensity as a manager, for example Arsene Wenger, is even more.
I can't even count to five when I say my proper friends in football.
We have all the money in the world but do not realise how important the body is. A player on average has a seven year professional career, 10-15 if everything goes right. You have to do everything possible to be at your maximum.
Even at the age of 33 I was one of the most flexible at Arsenal when it came to my back muscles.
I was with Bremen in a good situation in the Bundesliga. I was the captain and was involved in everything to do with the club.
Arsene Wenger is a coach who has a very special personality. He has an experience that not many coaches have, and all at one club, at Arsenal.
Moving to London enables me to fulfil a dream and a further step in my career. The Premier League has always represented a great challenge for me.
Moving abroad brings you on both as a player and a person.
You always have to remain professional. I have always done so.
It is an important part of the role of a centre-back to focus on building up the game and initiating moves.
It is a lot of fun here in England and at Arsenal.
Mentality is a big part of every game, when you take the initiative and when you drop.
Doing something for others helped to not put that focus too much on football and to put things into perspective of how fortunate we are.
I loved the Olympics.
I had a totally different upbringing, totally different background, raised in Germany, small town, now I am in London taking care of 180 kids who think they are the one percent who can make it in professional football.
I've played for 15 years and played in five major tournaments. I know what it gives me in terms of the joy, in terms of the love for the game. But I'm done with it.
I've never had that dream in my head: 'I want to play Bundesliga or Premier League.' I was a fan, but it was never the dream that one day I was going to make it, because a lot of people had told me already that I wouldn't.
My home town called me a citizen of honour. So I'm a special citizen now.
I want players to think: 'OK, this has happened now, what is next for me?' That's a very big target because what are academies about nowadays? Is it really just to find one or two players? But what happened to the others? I'm very, very interested in that.
Talent is what you make of your situation.
