I must admit that I am getting a bit worried about the German international centre back signed by Arsenal last summer, as Shkodran Mustafi seems at times to be going backwards in his development as a top class player. Those fears were not helped last night by the fact he was dropped from the first team by Joachim Low last night as Germany cruised past Mexico into the final of the Confederations Cup.
Maybe I am making too much of this and Mustafi will be back as one of the first names on the Arsenal team sheet of Arsene Wenger when the new season starts, but I cannot help but feel that he has lost his way a bit of late. When he first came to north London the German looked the real deal and we were all talking about him and Laurent Koscielny being the best defensive pairing in the EPL.
In the latter stages of the season, however, after a fair few costly errors and rash decisions, many of us were not too fussed when Mustafi was not in the side and both Rob holding and Per Mertesacker looked more solid when Wenger gave them a chance. Now we have Calum Chambers fighting for a spot as well, so do Arsenal and Mustafi have a problem to solve?
Bob.
That guy is gud..Every great player @ one point in their careers experience that.. He will b bak stronger !
That he was directly responsible for one in four group stage goals does not mean he has been dropped. At that rate, Germany would have to drop 4 players? His towering header against Chile kept Germany in that match.
OT
“My individualism can sometimes play against me, but I know I need my team-mates and they need me,” – Alexis Sanchez. After the game against Portugal at the Confederation Cup.
I think fans read too much meanings to his body language during games. He is just a determined player.
Mustafi is a top player am sure he will come back to his best.
The reality is this arsenal defenders are average
Even those who claim koscielny is world class I can assure you go speak to other fans pundits and they will laugh
He is decent but extremely error prone, it has become less over the years but not completely eradicated. The rest well what a comedy set of defenders they are Gabriel weakling Pualista, Shokdran clueless mustafi, Keira’s Donkey Gibbs , Per Slowcoach Mertasacker,(f.a cup final performance makes up for his years of letting us down)
I rate Monreal he has been consistent and is a decent player
Bellerin,Holding are the only 2 who have potential to become world class under a manager like Jose, Simoene,Conte they easily could
Wenger I’m not so sure
Want to challenge forget the strikers, Midfielders
Sort the bloody defence out what was it 44plus goals conceded enough said
I rmember few.spanish correspondents saying mustafi was good but nowhere near 35 million good,fans expecting a koscielny replacement will be disappointed etc
I believe he’s not there yet but he shown enough when he first got here to show promise
Concentration seems an issue still
Never understood the Mustafi hype. He is good, but Holding has actually been better. Mertesacker in a back three is better too because he has two players to cover his only proper weakness, pace.
FFS, it’s pretty much a reserve team that they’ve taken out there.
Are the likes of;
Neuer
Hummels
Howedes
Boatang
Ozil
Khedira
Gotz
Muller
Gomez
Schurle
also on the decline?
Yet another nonsensical “article” from the pen of Bob.
Sorry, you are wrong because mustafi is in the confederation team. The truth is mustafi played terribly against chile directly causing the goal scored by sanchez. He lacked composure in the game and that is why he was dropped. He deserved to be dropped on the back of that performance.
I’m not wrong, I know he’s in the squad but was dropped to the bench for the last game, I did say it’s pretty much a reserve squad, NOT a complete reserve squad.
Come on then, name a player, any player who doesn’t make mistakes, people like you are only interested in when players under perform or make a mistake.
I understand your point but also mustafi is one of the most experienced players at the tournament and it is a knockout competition so can’t afford to pick a player after such a bad game. What i was pointing out was he got dropped due to his last performance not because the coach decided to go for reserve players. I am not just hating on him and i think he is a good player.
It’s even worse that our defender, Mustafi was dropped from a German reserve team. If he isn’t good enough for the reserve team in a semi final, I shudder to think of his fate in the next world cup squad.
how many of our players would make it to german squad? only alexis n ozil now ozil is also in doubt. dont say kosielny, he is not as good as hummels or boeting
It’s a common symptom of signing for Wenger – sign up, lose form and get dropped from national team.
Yeah? What players has that happened to then? If your gonna try and criticise Wenger, then at least try and use something that is at least vaguely based on reality.
Ozil. He was given a wing role in the wc after the year he signed because he was out of form and not trusted.
Germany have taken their 3rd choice team still that team is better than our 11.
players like. leno,stegan,hectotor,kimmich,draxler,brandt,Rudy,goreztka,even rudugar will walk into our best 11
He had a bad game against Chile , therefore he deserved to be dropped and from my understanding the German coach carried other players to look at in this tournament, so its going to be a hell of a competition for world cup place in all positions for German, even our Ozil may not make it into the squad
We should be worried about Sanchez’s comments on sky sports about staying at Arsenal “i dont know” & where he will play next season “cant tell you but my mind is made up”
Now that pisses me off greatly, tell us what ur plans are then we can move forward. No bids for him yet thats one reason why he says that but if he wanted to stay he could easily come out & say at least for this last year or something we can work off. Be doesnt stay lomger than 3 years at Udinese, Barca & now Arsenal. City or Munich are the destinations, id prefer Bayern tbh… lets make a deal for one of their stars in the deal!
How can Arsenal ask people to be unified when the same mistakes are being repeated by the same person year after year?
I’m sorry but Arsenal are a joke.
They have no respect for their fans when they blatantly lie about ambition and signing new players. Every Arsenal fan regardless of their optimism know this is a blatantly lie.
If they cannot deliver they should sell the club to someone who can.
The FA Cup is meaningless because it leads to nothing. What defines success is the PL and CL.
This season is so disappointing – such a monumental failure.
His legacy is as dead as our title challenge.
I don’t want to see a venomous atmosphere at home next season but the truth it is needed.
Plus we are losing Sanchez.
Well done to Gazidis and well done Wenger.
I have actually had enough of this transfer window circus already, people seriously need to get a grip! Losing their sh*t over rumours and assumptions.
The transfer window is open for another 2 months, yes, 2 MONTHS!! So if when the window closes we still haven’t made any signings and Alexis has left for Man City, then by all means, lose it, go absolutely crazy, scream from the rooftops, but until then, please, please keep it together!