Shkodran Mustafi says he’s frustrated at the lack of communication between officials and players in English football and believes the introduction of VAR hasn’t done much to rectify incorrect calls during matches.
The Germany international appealed to referee Craig Pawson for a foul in the build-up to Manchester City’s opening goal at Wembley on Sunday but saw his calls fall on deaf ears as Sergio Aguero raced free on goal to net past David Ospina.
In the aftermath of the match, Mustafi was heavily criticised for the way he focused on complaining rather than defending, particularly by Gary Neville with whom he’d worked at Valencia for a short period.
On whether he still felt a sense of injustice about the way the situation played out, Mustafi said: “It is how it is. In the Carabao Cup, you have the video assistant referee as well. It seems that it is not helping that much or maybe we are just complaining too much.
“In my opinion, there were a few situations where it could have been a different decision from the referee. But at the end of the day you have to accept it. You have to accept the decisions and hope that they are going to improve as well.
“Obviously we are looking to improve but I think it is important that referees look at themselves and try to improve because sometimes, you know, I have been playing in a lot of leagues all across Europe now and it seems like the referees in England, they don’t even want to talk to players. It is something that is very important to have that connection with the referee so he can explain why he decides something that you see differently.
“Here, if you go to a referee, it seems like he doesn’t even want to explain to you why he took a decision or to tell you how he saw the situation. I don’t want the referees to give me everything but at least they can try and explain why they make certain decisions.”
While it’s hard to defend Mustafi for what was a poor performance on his part last Sunday, the issue he raises about the officials is one that Petr Cech also brought to the fore earlier in December.
You’ll remember our veteran keeper was incensed at the way he was booked by Mike Dean at the Hawthorns when he simply asked for an explanation about the award of a penalty -given to West Brom when Calum Chambers was adjudged to have made a handball; a clearly wrong decision that cost us two points.
We’re not suggesting officials hold a round-table convention each time they make a decision, but treating the players like adults from time to time, wouldn’t hurt.
As for VAR…right now it seems like only the Beast from the East is a more disruptive influence on English football.
He’s not wrong, but that’s a separate topic.
The fact he spent so much energy talking about his frustration with refs and only a fraction of it barely acknowledging his own stupidity (which has been more frequent than bad calls, he’s even benefitted from poor ref calls) is further evidence of the general lack of accountability running through the squad.
Both Jack and Wenger have both spoken of refs and poor decision, with little acknowledgement of how awful our attitude was or our tactical organisation, etc.
It’s utterly endemic, and Wenger is the root of it all.
#Perspective.
That’s true. He has benefitted from poor decisions too.
Exactly. Two separate issues. The refs are wankers but Mustafi has zero to complain about in regards to Ageuro’s goal.
There was no foul in the build up to the goal. Mustafi was caught off guard, Aguero outclassed him. End of. Just sell this guy already.
Well he did put his forearm into mustafi’s back. I know it was soft as shit, but those are given as fouls 99% of the time. Even in my football league, where sometimes it seems like anything goes.
Hilarious. If you had said those weren’t given as fouls 99% of the time you would be closer. Mustafi himself probably does that 25 times a game.
Well Guess Danny and I are in a minority (not that it makes us wrong)
Aguero looked at him and stepped towards him and obstructed him. That my take on it. It was a foul, Aguero after the match said he did it and felt lucky to get away with it.
That being said, Mustafi should not be looking for the foul, he should have turned round and chased him down…. or better yet, get goal side of him before the goal kick.
Foul or not Aguero won the battle between them. He essentially pulled Mustafi’s pants down in front of the world…Rather than man up an simply pull his shorts back up Mustafi wet himself.
He didn’t put a forearm in his back…..he just gave him a little pat on the back and said “I’m gonna go and score a goal now mate, cheers”
Mustafi was bad, but the focus on him for the first goal tends to ignore the lack of organization generally. Why, for example, were Koscielny and Chambers playing Aguero onside? Were they all planning to step up into the line Mustafi was holding? Was Mustafi supposed to step back into their line? Was there any plan? It’s almost like one of them said to Aguero, ‘look, we’re going to give you a nice little pocket of space here that keeps you onside and gives you a great chance to run, unchallenged, onto an overhead pass’. And Aguero said, ‘that’s awfully… Read more »
Can’t be offside from a goal kick..
It was a goal kick so no offside. But i agree, it wasn’t just down to Mustafi. If there’s 2 or 3 CB and 1 attacker, then you should have one defender challenging in front to get the first ball, and the other defender should be sweeping behind. The ball went over both Mustafi and Aguero, so it should have been Koscielnys or Chambers to cover. At least one of them should have been closer to Aguero at the goal kick. Mustafi was a bit weak, but the other defenders should have covered better.
We do seem to live in a strange world where by the referees decisions are not only final but cannot even be alluded to in post match interviews. To say “I thought the referee made some bad decisions” is deemed a finable offence and as a result we see managers clamming over when asked about key decisions in games. I don’t see why they deserve so much protection and why they shouldn’t be culpable for their mistakes.
It’s pointless talking to a plank.
In rugby the refs don’t mind talking the players or explaining calls. They even try and work with the captains to make the game as smooth as possible. Same goes for umpires in cricket. Football refs are a bit like FIFA when it comes to honesty and communication.
Rugby refs yes. Cricket… not really.
surprised that Mustafi would want to talk about something that would draw attention to his dismal defending on Sunday. Hopefully he’ll do better tonight.
On the other hand, the last two games have been one in the eye for those who say we have no consistency – Ostersunds and the Wembley game were essentially a model of consistency in terms of performance levels. Let’s hope we’re inconsistent later on tonight…
A lesson referees could learn from their colleagues in Rugby Union, where there is constant communication between players and referees
In rugby the players are also polite to the refs though. Call them sir and don’t surround them every time they make a decision. They also normally accept a decision without complaint even when they feel it’s wrong. If a game when they’re pumped up and knocking seven shades of shit out of each other can do that I don’t know why football can’t. Bit of a 2 way street. Saying all that football refs are twats in general
Mic them up like in rugby then
I know I am going to be getting a lot of stick for this but even if I were the Ref I wouldn’t be talking to him. I just hate way he goes down in a jiffy.. puts up that face of his and pleads. Infact most of our players have been doing that too often and it is so annoying to see. If it goes on like this.. then I believe the Refs are going to stop giving us those odd decisions that should be going our way. First man up you lot and then complain.
Have you ever seen a live game??
troll
He talks way too much for an under-performing defender who should be fighting for his future at the club.
We maybe lacking in creativity on the pitch but we are more than making up for it when it comes to excuses.
I understand, as a player you cant come out and admit that we are a bit shit as a team right now but this is pushing it. I mean he’s got a point but after Wilshere and Wenger earlier this just comes across as clutching at straws.
I’m sure the ref would have been only too happy to speak to Mustafi after the Aguero goal went in and tell him how weak he was if that’s the kind of feedback he’s after.
It wasn’t a foul.
Big fuck up at the worse time in a big game. Can’t help but feel that has ended his Arsenal career.
Not the best time to talk about it but he was probably asked by a journalist and gave an honest answer.
But the Aguero one. It wasn’t a foul. I’m not sure they need explain that one.
I think he should e-mail the Ref
That must be why we’re so shit then. All we need to do is march on FA headquarters and demand refs to speak with our players. I’d suggest getting goalside when defending a long ball might be more effective.
This is one of the reasons I liked Clattenburg–yes, I know he seemed to want a lot more attention than a referee ought to get–but you could see him explaining his decisions to players, telling them what he found objectionable, etc. Maybe he was self-important, but he didn’t act like he was above the players and that it would damage his authority over them to speak to them.
I feel I need to defend Mustafi a bit and I’m probably going to get coated for it but here goes. I think we would be remiss to sell him because he has made a few errors this season. He is only 25 and playing in a team where he is afforded no protection. Is he worse than Kos was at his age? I’m not so sure. I think a lot of our issues are down to us having two very similar style defenders whereas Kos had a very different foil in BFG. Let’s be honest is he the best… Read more »
I can’t disagree with any of that, what concerns me is that we have SO MANY players who aren’t improving, and in many cases going backwards.
None of our young players seem to be kicking on at an age where you’d expect them to, and the experienced ones appear to have lost faith/belief.
The current crop is nowhere near as bad as they appear, but Arsene simply isn’t get the best out of them, and half the time I can’t even tell exactly what the plan is.
Yeah it is true, the problem we have is a lack of experience coming into the team to help the young players when things go badly. A lot of them have grown together and enjoyed the good times but are now in a situation that they haven’t faced before. They need some more experienced heads around them to pull them up by the laces and keep their heads up.
And I include some of our more senior players in that as well. This is an entirely different situation to what most, if not all of them have faced. And they are struggling no doubt about that but when a few errors lead to calls to just get rid how would anyone be able to play with freedom? We really need to rally round the boys and offer them more support now times are shite than when times are good surely.
‘And they are struggling no doubt about that but when a few errors lead to calls to just get rid how would anyone be able to play with freedom?’
Why do players at other clubs manage it ? Cos this isn’t an arsenal problem in any way. It’s a football problem & it is worse, often significantly so, at other clubs. It comes back to the same lack of mental strength among our squad.
But as far as the PL goes we’re renowned and ridiculed for the level of art form we’ve made of it.
It is indicative of the modern culture of football that nobody is afforded time or mistakes before they are lambasted on social media and from the stands. These are professional well paid sportsmen but they are also human beings with emotions and feelings. I know one thing I would care more for a club if I felt like people wanted me to do well there. I doubt I’d give a fuck more than picking up my massive wage if people were constantly having a go at me.
I agree with you drew….but there’s an underlying point to what you are saying (I think anyway) that you want to deflect some level of blame onto the Arsenal fans. Yes, our fans could clearly be better but let’s be clear : Arsenal are not at any disadvantage compared to other clubs when it comes to this.
This “X was bad then became good later on” argument is something I see a lot and it really annoys me. Yes Koscielny was poor and inconsistent then got better, but Djourou, Senderos, André Santos, Squillacci, Gabriel and others all started poor & inconsistent…and remained that way and never became good enough defenders for a top club. Koscielny overcoming inconsistency does not mean mustafi will, just as Vardy becoming a goal demon aged 28 does not mean Welbeck will
Squillacci was a well respected international when he came and was widely regarded as a great signing. So your argument doesn’t stack up, the same goes for Gabriel. Djourou and Senderos were young players who didn’t develop as we had hoped so again this argument doesn’t really work here.
I also find it odd that he’s suddenly been asked to play in the center of the 3 when he’s played his whole career on the right, even at right back for Germany!
I know his passing is good but Kos is better in the air in my opinion and far better 1 on 1 so probably would have stopped Aguero’s goal last game. Another strange decision to add to the growing list…
I think there’s a big difference though between Mustafi & Kos in his first couple of seasons. Kos made huge mistakes which ruined otherwise good performances & we always thought if he cuts them out he could make a real player. For me, Mustafi’s mistakes are just part of quite a few overall poor performances. Incidentally, the Sunday Times in the summer (hardly a red top gossip merchant) said the reason we were trying to sell Mustafi was that the club were alarmed by his unprofessional attitude to his fitness. It’s something I don’t find that hard to believe, is… Read more »
I think it’s hard to judge anyone when you have a manager who seems to have lost his ability to communicate and implements a system that clearly isn’t bringing out the best in anyone anymore. He’s made some terrible buys, sure, and Mustafi might be one of them – but we can’t give up on him this easily. For one, we’d be selling him at a loss at his lowest value. Secondly, we have to believe the next coach can do more to highlight Mustafi’s strengths and mitigate his weaknesses. He’s been good enough to start for Germany, fucks sake.… Read more »
Drew, totally agree on the balance of the back line. We’ve got all starters right now that want to step up and get the jump, dive in. And then there’s Chambers. Nobody is holding the structure and organizing it. Said it the other day, we need a new and improved BFG. Also agree I was surprised to see Mustafi in the center of the back three. What I fear is it’s an attempt to take some pressure and focus off of Kos’s achilles.
I bet any referee can defend better than Mustafi though.
Move onto another league where complaining is viewed more acceptable than the actual defending?
Very tired of this guy. I”m just very tired of it all, actually.
Sometimes you have to let the ref speak for you neither than you losing focus on defending, look at our first meeting how wish our players protect the off that involved David Silva the goal couldn’t have count ,but all our players loss focus and let silva go on freely. Focus on wining the ball back and Let the ref speak .
Such a bad signing. One of the infamous “2016 Three Amigo’s” along with Xhaka and the Spanish bloke whos name I’ve forgotten
Maybe Mustafi should focus on what he is being paid to do and not making one school boy error after another.
I don’t want to hear anything from this bunch
I am amazed after the manner of the defeat and his recent performances Mustafi doesn’t just shut up, more poor decision making perhaps. The Cech thing was completely different, it’s charitable of the author to compare the two. I like a lot of things about Mustafi but he is the type of person who is either going to sink or swim.
Be glad fella. One less person to tell you you are shit
His chosen playing style is calamitous.
Mustafi is alias Johan Djorou. He is one of the first to go if Arsenal sign a new mgr