The way that the Arsenal defence has been playing since that opening Premier League game of the season, when a combination of our inexperienced and youthful defensive pairing Holding and Chambers and the impressive Liverpool attack saw us ship four goals in about 20 minutes, you would think that they had been playing together for years.
But not only is the partnership between Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi very new, the German is also new to the English game and so the way the 24-year old has settled in so quickly and started to draw praise from football watchers is pretty incredible.
Mustafi is a very aggressive defender who plays on the front foot and to do that I think you have to be confident and composed and he certainly appears to have those qualities in abundance. Perhaps the reason for this is explained by a Metro report in which the centre back talks about his life outside the game, particularly his Islamic religious beliefs.
Mustafi said, ‘Being a Muslim is very important to me, more important than anything, although sometimes travel makes it difficult for me to always pray when I want to.
‘The Euros was a problem for me too, because it came in the middle of Ramadan and it would not have been possible to limit my food and fluid intake.
‘But as an athlete I knew that I did not have to comply on that occasion.
‘I study the Koran intensively but I also study other religions, too. But it is in the Koran that the prophets are closest to me — there and in the mosque when I go to pray.
‘My religion means so much to me and to my career. It helps me so much.
‘At the end of it all, I’m a person like any other who is on the Earth to strive for paradise.
‘That is my main task. And if I play a crap game it’s not the end of the world.’
While some fans might not like the idea that he is not too bothered if he and Arsenal have a bad game, I think we need to see that this relaxed attitude is actually helping him to perform. Football is not life and death after all and players who worry too much might just be hampered by that anxiety.
So while Mustafi is playing well and helping Arsenal to succeed, do we really care how important it all is to him?
Bob.
Mustafi was at Everton FROM 2009 until 2012 so his no stranger to the EPL
But i think he never played
Mustafi is correct, at the end of the day, football is only a game and looking at the dreadful events in the world we are fortunate if we are able to take football so seriously.
I think that mustafi is the type of person not to dwell on a bad performance but concentrate on doing better in the next game. A good attitude to have.