Arsenal: Let’s Stay Grounded With Shkodran Mustafi Criticism

Arsenal was hit hard and fast by PSG and Shkodran Mustafi looked bewildered, but it’s not like this was the worst thing in the world.

Arsenal supporters were not happy with Shkodran Mustafi early on. Although, to be fair, the 44th second goal by Cavani was a combined bumble by Mustafi and Koscielny. The Frenchman was nowhere to be seen and Mustafi, in the process of figuring out how to cope, lost track of the one man he shouldn’t lose track of.

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He made a few other poor decisions throughout the match, but again, we have to be fair to the man, Koscielny was not on top of his game either. It looked like Arsenal were completely unprepared for what was thrown at them.

All of the communication between Koscielny and Mustafi that we saw against Southampton was seemingly lost in translation of this higher-paced match and it lead to David Ospina having to bail out his outfield players on a handful of occasions.

Yet we have to look to the positive things he did as well as a sign of whats to come. Sure, he is going to take time to settle, but he also made some solid plays on the night. Mustafi learned to be more careful and more diligent in his decision making and, as the game dragged on, began clearing the ball away more times than not.

The German finished with ten clearances, more than anyone else on the pitch. He was not going to let Arsenal get into any more risky scenarios so long as he could avoid it and his abilities did intervene on at least a couple occasions to prevent a clear goal scoring opportunity. 

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Plus, Mustafi showed yet again that he is an aerial threat, winning more aerial duels than anyone else on the pitch. Again, he has proven that the future with this 24 year old is bright.

We absolutely should be critical of him, as we should with the entire defense (minus maybe Hector Bellerin). They were unorganized and unprepared. But you have to also give credit where it is due and Mustafi deserves credit for what salvaging he was able to do. He was not deserving of the overly harsh criticisms raining in on social media.

Next: Arsenal and PSG Combined Starting XI

In time, he will be everything we wanted. You can see glimpses of it now. Give him a handful of matches.