Shkodran Mustafi has had a difficult time of late, his game has been strewn with errors – some of which have proved very costly.
The German seems to suffer from an inconsistency with his performances, because on his day he can be an excellent centre-half, but at this moment in time there’s no doubt he’s struggling a bit.
It’s something Arsene Wenger acknowledges, but in typical style he has also backed the 25 year-old to come through this spell and rediscover some form.
“Mustafi is a young defender who has had ups and downs,” he said, “but I believe overall he has potential. Yes, his confidence is lower than before.
“He has played many games and most of the mistakes he made have been post-Europa League games because he was a bit jaded.
“On that front that is part of the fatigue factor which would be the explanation why he had some less good games.
“You have to remind them they‘re not as a bad as people think of them at the moment. And that nothing is permanent. Even if you go through a spell which is a bit more difficult, you can always come out of it.
“You remind them as well that what’s happening is not definite and it’s just a thing that we can have an influence on.”
If he is a bit jaded, it will be interesting to see if he plays today against West Ham, especially with the game against Atletico Madrid coming up on Thursday.
I would give him a rest as we don’t want a fatigued and thus error prone player against AM!!! It will be a strange day and will be interested to see how things pan out at the stadium!!!
This is entirely irrelevant to the topic, but Spurs have done it again, and here is Deli Alli looking sad.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43853453
That’s never irrelevant to any topic
Arsene still defending his players and trying to build up their confidence, right up to the end… I thinks it’s for the best that he’s leaving, but I’ll miss him!
Indeed! Even during the ‘banter era’ i’ve always tried to separate Arsene the manager with Arsene the man. Have as like many others thought he’s time is up as a manager but at the same time, love respect and absolutely adore him as a man
Yes The man is class .. Putting his neck out to defend a man whose mistakes have contributed to a noose put around his own.
It’s time to leave .. but will forever have my love and admiration.
A total “Mensch”.
Mustafi will put in a great tackle, and the next minute he’ll make a schoolboy error.
This reminds me of 2011 koscielny.
Thought the same. Before became one of the finest CB of the PL, Kos had a penchant for errors (ie vs. Birmingham City in the Carling cup final)
People aren’t robots, they make mistakes.
Hwever he’s a young German international which says a lot but in a team that isn’t good at defending so is exposed more than most CBs.
Mustafi is good, he didn’t get into the 2014 WC squad simply.. I feel he can get to his best with a DM around..
And a new manager/defensive coaching team
Sell.
Please give that guy a break! He may be making some silly errors but he is always energetic, technically good and scores important goals. But he is only 25 for goodness sake! That’s like 22-23 in case of an attacking player. Kos was 24 when he came from Lorient. Do we deride someone like iwobi or did we ever deride an error prone Ramsey when he was 22-23?? No right?? And can we really hold one player so bloody accountable for a defence that has been utter shit for the past decade when it is clear that our defence gets… Read more »
I’m just excited about Arsenal football again
“Struggling” he’s an absolute liability right now. Positionally clueless and lazy.
Not the player who went 21 games unbeaten at the start of his Arsenal career.
What happened? He’s been ‘Wengerised’ (trademark pending).
What you need pending is a heavy thump to the head!
Support and encouragement. What a gentleman, not sure I could manage to stay so focused.
He’s been our better CBack frankly. Over 12 14 matches past, he has put in some massive blocks and stops for us which have been unheralded by those who prefer to pick faults on him solely. Over last 3 matches, he has had a a couple of poor choices but he isn’t the only one. What we need this summer is not to replace Mustafi but to build around him with a better player to the aging Koscielny or the as yet unproven Holding and Mavropanos or Chambers. People tend to gravitate towards finding a scapegoat to blame and then… Read more »