Shkodran Mustafi has risen from being maligned to being missed.
The German has spent most of his time at the Emirates being criticised by most Arsenal fans and it really did look like his time at the Emirates was over at the start of the season.
Mustafi was the last in the pecking order of defenders when this season began, however, a combination of injury and poor form from the defenders ahead of him made him become an option again.
He has been error-prone as was shown against Chelsea but he redeemed himself in the second half and put in an excellent performance against Bournemouth last night. However, he picked up an injury on the hour and what a bad time it is for him to be injured.
His strength of character in the Chelsea game showed just how far he has come, formerly when Mustafi makes a mistake of that nature, he would allow that to affect his entire game.
Mikel Arteta also commended the defender for how he moved on from his error, on that evidence I think that Mustafi might have a future at the Emirates.
I like that Arteta has given everyone a clean slate and I believe that Mustafi will take his chance, should he return from this injury and remain steadfast and think we could be talking about giving him a new deal next season.
You have to remember that he was not full of mistakes at Valencia and you do not make it into the German national team if you are hopeless.
He has also taken on so much abuse, been told to find a new club and so on and at no time did he throw his toys out of the pram or down tools or turn on the fans.
Finally, while he has been error-prone he was the best defender for Arsenal in their final games of last season but for some reason took the full brunt of the fans anger. Now, the fans are singing his name and quite a few are admitting that he will be missed.
God help us and our sanity if this dreadful and long time dreadful too, CB is still here next season. Of course we all feel sorry for his injury but that is a totally different and unconnected matter to his non ability as a good enough CB. We all know he is rubbish and being injured will not change that. Nor will one hour of a decent performance at Chelsea. Set that flea bite against his thick file of disastrous errors and you find the real truth. Please do not try to rewrite his history, as no one believes you. Nor should they, for the sake of their own sanity!
You call a player “dreadful” simply because he plays for a club you support and you do not think highly of him?
I have no problem if a player is criticized because his contributions to the team is below par but the sheer amount of abuse directed to them like they’re not human beings is disgusting.
You dimwits deserve the kind of treatment Xhaka gave you guys. You lot think being a fan gives you the monopoly of abuse?
I can bet that if I were you evaluate you lot in your personal lives and in whatever jobs you do, I’ll probably need worse adjectives to qualify your underperformance. Rubbish!
First sensible comment on this issue 👏👏👏
I hope the injury to Mustafi is not season ending, and that he recovers quickly.No one can accuse Mustafi of failing to give his all for the red shirt, but like Socratis and Luis he does not have the quality we need if we are to regain our status in the PL and Europe.This is my honest opinion, and the fact that no Club has come in for him during the past three “windows” when he has openly been available,suggests that I may be correct on this occasion.When he plays for Arsenal I want him to do well.
👍
@lmpenia
REAL TALK… Respect and BIG UPS Gooner. 👍🏿
Takes umbrage at the word dreadful and then uses the word dimwits. My advice is practise what you preach before criticising others.
Spot on Mart, excellent reply 👍
Impenia, NO! NO! NO! I call this player dreadful, correctly, because he is. Simple as that! If you are an Arsenal fan and have actually watched us regularly you cannot have failed to see his long list of costly mistakes. Good defenders do not make more than occasional errors and dreadful ones make constant errors. I have therefore used the correct word to describe Mustafi and whether you realise it or not is a matter of complete unconcern to me.
He is a good player.Was lacking confidence so that lead to all his mistakes.His stats are pretty impressive even last season.And the diagonals he made yesterday just proves his passing ability.Fans may be still angry with him for us losing top 4 last season but he is only human and we should move on.
I see a good unity in the squad now with MA than UE.Players helping players out,you can see the interview after the match with joe willock talking about friendships and praising seniors(ozil) for teaching him many things.So ya the future looks bright.The fans should start backing the team and the club.
COYG
Agree with this comment.
If the club are not going to invest then arteta needs all the players positivety and the fans full support.
It looks like there will not be anymore first team departures, so let’s get behind whoever wears the shirt, then review it all in the summer when many players are entering their last year.
As I see it our no.1 aim should be CL qualification, we have two difficult chances to achieve that and that should be our priority.
However, there is also the threat of relegation, which must not be ignored. Big clubs can get relegated 4 wins should see us over the line and Burnley seems like a good starting point.
You are fooling yourself ,as some immature fans choose to do, when you rather oddly try to convince us fans that Mustafi is “a good player”. Lokk at the facts , rather than your own club bias and note how often he makes costly mistakes. He has been doing so for ages already and one decent hour at Chelsea, after another daft error, does not even begin to disprove the fact of his being dreadful. Get real and stop being a child by fooling yourself. Face the plain truth and then tell that truth, that Mustafi is sub standard.
I don’t think that Arsenal can say too much about anyone on the back line until/if people start coming in. Right now there are glimmers of hope, disappointments and huge uncertainties.
We need at least one central defender – for me that is a given. Then depending on how Holding comes along (so far not promising) and how Saliba fits in we may have surplus players and be able to move some. Some people are very keen on Mavropanos but my very brief impression wasn’t positive (granted he is young and the loan spell may really help). We need cover though. Chambers was playing well of late so hopefully that quality remains (but hopefully is the word – he has missed a lot of time).
So X (the good addition), good Holding, good Chambers, Saliba as promised and a developed Mavropanos makes a good group of five. Need someone else as cover or maybe two if you feel you are at risk – so pick from there. If you aren’t comfortable with the quality then we need two new players and more movement is possible. At least one or both of Sokratis and Mustafi provide cover or starting depending on how they play and practice.
Same goes for Fullbacks – Bellerin seems to be really coming along now, but it didn’t look that way before – but he does get injured. Tierney has now had a couple of different injuries, not saying he is prone (which seems to be a click-bait word for some), but he hasn’t been good to my eyes so far. Kolasniac has strengths and weaknesses. Saka and Maitland-Niles are filling in great, maybe they become fullbacks, but you could make the argument that we need at least one there – right for cover for Bellerin.
This is just my speculation and to be long-winded, I can see why so many people have very different opinions about how we strengthen at the back.
The most extreme might say we need four starters, some think we are okay and the problem is further up the field. The answer is somewhere in between. I am leaning to a full back and a central defender…
We must either believe in MA and his coaching abilities or we don’t.
He gave everyone a clean slate, one that goes back before he has an imput in to our player.
As far as I can see, every one of our players have shown an improvement in, not only their play, but their attitude and commitment as well.
We should, therefore, wait and see exactly what materialises over the rest of the season and, of course, this current transfer window.
It’s not as if we are blessed with many choices anyway at present, what with injuries and suspensions.
Instead of continually criticising and writing off players, let’s get behind Mikel Artet, his vision and decisions …and YES I called for mustafis head and YES that includes MA’s decision on ANY other player at our club.
me too Ken – have not been a fan – but we have to support Arteta’s instincts and whomever he puts out.
I find that my optimism is so much better since he has taken over that I am quite comfortable in believing that he is picking the best team with what he has. I did not have that same feeling with Emery and Wenger at the end.
By all means we can debate who and what we need.
The match at Stamford Bridge was supposed to be his last chance, because he has made too many errors. But he surprisingly performed very well after that incident
I can only pray he would recover ASAP, because we really need him. I also hope he would not blow the extra lifeline given to him by Arteta, when he plays again in the future
Any report on how long he is injured for?
We are stuck with mustaffi, we are stuck with Ozil and we are stuck with xhaka. Until their contracts run out we will have to accept we are stuck with players not giving this club the value that that they should. It is something we have to put up with until such time we are rid of them off the wage bill because NOBODY will stump up for them.
Total agreement from me Reggie!
@Reggie-if that is the case then we also ought to include
AMN-If he’s not considered good enough to play in his natural CM position, then he needs to go. He’s been overtaken by Willock, ESR and Guendouzi so hardly indispensable.
Sokritis-Nobody can eversay wehave had good value from him.Heneeds to go.
Luiz-Ditto
Holding- Seems to be going backwards
Chambers-Can’t ever stay fit.Has to go
Kolasinac-A LB of LWB that can do everything but defend and cross a ball.Therefore has to go
Tierney-Never fit, so just give him away.
Ceballos-If he’s not considered good enough to get into this midfield then he’s obviously not good enough to keep.Logical that
Nelson-How many more chances does he expect? Get rid
Lacazette-A CF that can’t score goals.Been here before with Giroud,Bendtner,Chamach,Etc. Needs to go the same sway. Out the door
Pepe-A £72m player that cant perform consistently. Has to be got rid of.
Can’t wait to see what line up we will have next game. Or where the money is coming from to replace all these players.
We didn’t pay or dont pay a fortune for him. And for gods sake he is still young and learning. He has been doing a job because of injuries and whatever i think of him i wont slag him off for what he has done. Amn has the tools but he needs guidance and time.
@ Reggie. Was that in reply to my response to you?