Arsenal: Arsene Wenger threw Shkodran Mustafi under the bus

Shkodran Mustafi is falling under intense criticism for his role in Arsenal’s 2-1 loss to Newcastle United, but blame the man who put him in the manure pile.

Arsenal fans are known for their ability to scapegoat. Once a mistake is made, that player then becomes solely responsible for every subsequent mistake that the team as a whole makes. Unfortunately for Shkodran Mustafi, that burden is now his to bear.

Here’s something to think about – that first goal against Newcastle, which everyone is blaming Mustafi for, was unstoppable by Mustafi alone. He had two runners to watch for and the one that he chose ended up scoring a fantastic goal. Which part was his fault again?

The fact of the matter is that Arsene Wenger sent a defense out there that was doomed to die, and Mustafi died right along with it.

For starters, Calum Chambers is not a right back. He is the slowest guy on the team next to Per Mertesacker, yet he was tasked with shutting down a wide angle for Newcastle. That was never going to work.

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Secondly, Rob Holding has been a non-factor all season. He wasn’t even particularly bad, but was he someone that Mustafi knows and trusts? Absolutely not. They don’t play together all that often, although, to be fair, when they did last play together against Chelsea, it was superb.

And Nacho Monreal? He was the worst of the bunch. He was simply atrocious with his inability to stay put. His lack of pace is a massive problem and it left Holding having to cover for him far too often, which left Mustafi all on his lonesome in the middle of the pitch far too often.

Mustafi was isolated against a team that was hellbent on beating a very beatable defense of the top. Yet it was the German who tracked most of the runs, defended most of them quite well, saved at least one goal with a fantastic tackle and another with a superb block and created that first goal.

But no, please, tell me more about how he isn’t good enough. Sure, he made his mistakes, as any defender would do when asked to stand alone against a quick-strike attack with literally no speed around him.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Newcastle

This was a horrible defensive showing, but yet again, it’s even more horrible to foolishly try to pin it all on Mustafi, who did the absolute most with the manure heap that Wenger threw him into.

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