Mikel Arteta defends Shkodran Mustafi and hints he may have a future at Arsenal.
The Gunners have struggled in defence with most of their defenders underperforming weekly, especially Mustafi.
The likes of David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi have been below par and their combination against Chelsea showed yet again why they are a disastrous pair.
Mustafi has never been a popular player at Arsenal with most fans fed up with the player costing the team points. He has, however, been eased into the first team under Mikel Arteta as most of the players ahead of him in the pecking order have been injured.
With the news that Pablo Mari could be an Arsenal player soon, though that may be in doubt now, most people have been wondering if Mustafi would still be in the first-team picture.
Arteta, when asked if the German is part of his plans going forward responded,
“When he is my player and when he is training with me the way he does every day, of course” the manager said per the Mirror.
“The plans maybe in the summer were different with him. I came here, he is here and his attitude is always right and he wants to help.
“Yes he made a mistake, but it’s OK. I like more the reaction and I look more at the reaction.”
He continued: “I can accept a mistake, no problem. What I’m not going to accept is somebody makes a mistake and after he stops playing, and he doesn’t want the ball and doesn’t want to make decisions. That player is not acceptable for our team.
“But Musti after that [mistake], he tried to play every single time, he went for every single challenge and put his body on the line. He was down afterwards but he reacted and if he does that, he will overcome the situation.”
Well, that seems to me that Arteta is a fan of Mustafi and that the German could well have a future at the Emirates.
That is a bold decision by the manager. Hopefully, he is not making a grave error of judgement here.