Mertesacker talks about Koscielny partnership and injuries

On Koscielny's performance against Southampton being a bit shit:

It’s not that easy. One [player] came back from a long-term injury and then he is just fit for two or three days, and then he has to play. For example Laurent, he has to play. He cannot train for two or three weeks because we have no players left. It’s always tough at the moment. Players come back but they have to play immediately.

There is no time or room for building automatic understanding or the kind of things you need to prepare for. We have a big squad but obviously we need fit players. We could do with a small break but we haven’t got a small break, so we need to prepare ourselves again for Sunday.

On the constant injuries:

We have suffered. We have been through that all season. At one point, you want to be consistent in your lineup, especially the back four. We have to find that. It’s difficult for us at the moment but what keeps us going is our spirit.