Shkodran Mustafi performance against Burnley receives praise from Mikel Arteta.
Shkodran Mustafi has been one of the players who has divided opinion since he joined Arsenal. The German has often been prone to making silly mistakes and a recent one was his mistake against Chelsea that cost David Luiz a red card after the Brazilian tried to help save the day.
He, however, recovered well from that mistake and even created an assist as the 10-men Arsenal played out a well earned 2-2 draw.
He got a knock in his next game against Bournemouth in the FA Cup and he was scheduled to miss their game against Burnley.
But he surprisingly started the game and gave a good account of himself once again.
Arsenal kept a clean sheet in that game and Mikel Arteta singled him out for praise after the game.
He assured the German that it was ok to make mistakes as long as he doesn’t wallow in self-pity.
He said, as quoted by the Mirror: “Yeah, I said to him that he could make a mistake but I like his reaction afterwards and the courage he had to play and make decisions.
“He’s been training really well and I think you could see today how good he was.”
Mustafi still has many detractors but only the blind would refuse to accept that he has shown significant improvement under Arteta. He was one of the best players on the pitch yesterday and was a rock in the Arsenal defence.
No one is suggesting that he is the future in the Arsenal defence for the next three years or so, but as it stands right now, he is fast becoming a reliable defender and the manager has acknowledged that.
Yep, making less mistakes is good, and he has improved lately. Good performance against Burnley. Agree that he is, of course, not the future. We need 2 CBs that are 6’3″ or more and can jump. Still too many heading opportunities for opposition in our penalty area. I’ll be so glad for the day when I can relax when opposing team gets a corner or free kick into the area, like in the days of Adams and Keown and Bould.
We will have those tall CBs in Saliba and Mari, but we still need a quicker CB to accompany one of them
Mustafi doesn’t play around anymore after the fatal error at Stamford Bridge and his distributions were excellent in Bournemouth. If he could produce high defending stats during Wenger’s and Emery’s tenures, he must be able to produce better performances with Arteta’s system
If he keeps his good form till the end of this season, he must be offered a new contract. He is still 27 years old and rarely gets long-term injury, so he could be our main CB if he keeps his focus
Mustaffi has a great work ethic and he has to be commended for his efforts. He isnt trust worthy to be our CB going forward but he is a very good back up, his attitude is spot on but he lacks a bit of consistency and reliability over a long period. He has all the tools but he has deficienies in his decision making to make him a very good player.
He had a very good game, especially compared to mediocrity around him.
Good to see you back, Declan 🙂
I am so happy for Mustafi for the quality he has been displaying lately. I will give some credit to Arteta for his perseverance and encouragement to these players.
Even Mustafi must have realised he needs to in good performances to command a good salary at his next club. Meanwhile Arteta has already got his replacement on the bench while we wait for his value to rise so we can add to our transfer kitty after selling him in the summer.
Every player can have a good game. Mustafi is not good enough. Emery did the same with Mustafi at times, played him when he is not up to Arsenal standards. We need much better players than Mustafi.