Why are the media hating on Mustafi after Arsenal draw? Harsh?

Arsenal played out a 1-1 draw with Paris Saint Germain last night in what was a terrible performance for the Gunners. Arsenal were lucky to come away with a point at the Parc de Princes and but for an Alexis Sanchez strike towards the end of the second half, a loss would have been nothing more than Arsenal had deserved.

After the game the usual match ratings came out in the media as a reflection of how each player had performed on the night. Nobody was expecting the Arsenal players to have picked up fantastic ratings but the decision to label new signing Shkodran Mustafi with a ‘two out of ten rating’ has shocked a few of the Gunners faithful.

Although the defence didn’t have the greatest game, with Ospina having to save the back line on more than one occasion, to rate Mustafi with a two does seem to be a tad harsh. The German international seemed to strike up a promising partnership with Koscielny at the weekending the Premier League, although there were clear signs of what needed to be improved on. However in this match, the two often seemed unco-ordinated on the pitch, especially as we saw the likes of Cavani easily beat the back line of defence on more than one occasion.

Despite all of this, Mustafi’s rating of two does seem harsh, although in reality, considering L’Equipe also gave the likes of Bellerin and Monreal respective marks of three out of ten, perhaps the French outlet were just unimpressed with Arsenal altogether.

We could have hoped for a better opener to our champions league campaign, but ultimately we shouldn’t be too disappointed with picking up a point away to PSG. What we should be disappointed with is our level of performance, but when it comes to the likes of Mustafi pairing up with Koscielny, it is a matter of time before I think the two will settle down nicely to offer a stronger back line of defence.

By AH

13 Comments

  1. L’Equipe gave the ratings they felt Arsenals players deserved, regardless of weather they were fair or not we have to admit that our defence Vs PSG were awful and I doubt that even had Arsenal somehow won the game that the ratings would have improved much.

  2. Mustafi and kos looked bad because Lb and RB were over run, lb and RB over run because ox and Iwobi could not be bothered to defend.

    So back 4 look pathetic, but it is ox and Iwobi to blame.

    1. Totally agreed! I was particularly unimpressed by Nacho, sometimes he seems too relaxed and casual when it comes to defending. e.g. on the Aurier cross that led to the PSG goal, he didnt even raise a leg to try and stop the cross. he just stood there and flinched. I think Wenger must recall Gibbs. That will wake monreal up

  3. Some people are jealous because we have mustafi. Just two games with Kos. The understanding will continue to grow. Kos didn’t start well with Arsenal when he got him. Mustafi haven’t been poor or great but good. He starts game slow I admit then grew into the game. We saw that against soton and psg.

    The media know how to hate on Arsenal. Our defenders should concentrate and create a better understanding.

    1. I’m not sure Arsenal having Mustafi is making people jealous but definately agree with you that our defenders should concentrate and create a better understanding.

  4. Mustafi is a solid defender but what worries me is , he sometimes goes missing and that is not what you want from your defence. Other thing I worry is for a German international, he is not that strong. He can be bullied around. Anyways patience is the key.

    It’s a shame how some judge players after 2 or 3 games. But we are not alone, every team deals with this. Pogba has already been judged after mere 3 games and he hasn’t been half bad like the media guys have made it out to be.

  5. The PSJ goal was an early goal and I believe monreal had no pace the cross was 100% sublime as the ball barely touched cavanies head but cavani was moving far to fast in the boys kept their cool all of them were offside so in essence the back line did ok what worried most we could not get our passes right even carzola pases went a stray the final third was none existent until the introduction of geroud he was a menace until that red card I was shocked at the starting line up luckily that got fixed at the 60th minuet

  6. I had to turn the sound off on the BT sport commentary because Owen Hargreaves ( I think it was he) was constantly droning on about how superb the PSG players were, yet said not a word when an Arsenal player did well. Admittedly this wasn’t very often, but his comments were hugely biased. I thought Mustafi wasn’t bad although I’m not sure I want to see him (or Coquelin) making runs into the opposition’s box from open play!

    1. Sour grapes from him. Perhaps he felt ‘Hargreaved’ that Wenger signed other injury wrecks but he never got as much as a look in.

  7. Lequipe are biased. Give all arsenal outfield players low marks and a nine for ospina. Basically they are saying that arsenal were very poor and were saved by their keeper. Actually that is not far from the truth.

    It would be interesting to see their marks for cavani, high because of the goal and scoring positions he got in to, or very low for missing so many chances.

    Actually there have been plenty of games where arsenal have dominated with lots of scoring opportunities which have not been taken, outstanding goalkeeper performance and we have not won. Generally this site (and the media in general) blames arsenal for not taking their chances, not criticise the opposition for poor performance and praise their goalkeeper.

    If it is the likes of chelsea then the media (and tv pundits) say they rode their luck, showed grit and determination to salvage a point.

    It is all media hype, they have to make a story.

  8. defence was poor but the media are not hating, Mustafi was very poor and deserves about 60% of the blame for Cavani’s goal.
    He left him unmarked to score a free header… he better gets his stuff together cos the Carrolls,Bentekes,Kanes,Huths,Zlatans,Morgans,Terrys,Ivanovics, score those kinda headers even in far more difficult situation.
    we cnt start missing Mertesacker’s height and awareness immediately we feel his lack of pace has been solved.

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