Source: Daily_Mail
Sweet harmony: Almunia reveals new look Arsenal are now united
Manuel Almunia has praised new signing Thomas Vermaelen and revealed that the Arsenal dressing room is now a far happier place to be after the departures of Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure.
The goalkeeper claimed that new £10million summer signing Vermaelen has improved the team's defending and gone some way to adding steel into a side that was too easily outmuscled last season.
Equally damaging was the internal unrest at the club, with Adebayor and Toure, who have since joined Manchester City for a combined £37million, at the centre of several bust-ups. But Almunia says harmony has now been restored at the Emirates, with spectacular results on the pitch.
Almunia said: 'All the players, we have a better relationship with each other and, if the dressing room works, then, on the pitch, the team works as well.
'It's something that is right. Everybody comes into the dressing room with a better mood. It's crucial to have a good relationship with each other.
'It's true that this season, at the moment, we don't have any trouble or any problems inside and we appreciate that.'
Almunia admitted he was aware of Arsenal's defensive problems last term - they conceded 37 goals - but said that he and his teammates had worked on becoming a more solid unit, an effort only added to by the cool presence of Vermaelen.
The hard graft in pre-season has paid immediate dividends, with Almunia conceding only one goal while Arsenal have scored eight of their own in the first two games of the season.
Almunia said: 'The things we had to improve were the communication, our positions on the pitch, how to work as a unit and as a team. There were many things to improve.
'All the team is defending well. The midfielders and strikers are defending all together and Thomas Vermaelen is a good signing for us.
'He's a very good player, a good defender, great left foot, good in the air. He is complete. But we have to keep going.
'Thomas looks like he's been at the club for more than a few months. He's a very calm player. He's a very tough player, a great defender.
'He is very relaxed and that makes the people around him relaxed aswell. Not only William Gallas, but me, Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna aswell. We have confidence about this player.'
Meanwhile PSV Eindhoven winger Balazs Dzsudzsak's agent has hinted that Arsenal are interested in signing him.
The 22-year-old has been linked with a move to the Emirates in the Dutch press and his representative Jozsef Baranyai said: 'I've heard about rumours of the supposed interest of Arsenal.'
