Arsenal: Defense can still be built around Shkodran Mustafi

Arsenal’s defense is the big question going forward, but despite the individual mistakes, Shkodran Mustafi can still be the centerpiece, if things are done right.

A lot of people are disenchanted with Shkodran Mustafi. In his short, two-year Arsenal career, he has proven to be able to hit the highest highs and the lowest lows. He kicked off his North London career with 19 unbeaten matches in a row, which was quite the feat, but he has also shown, this year in particular, that he can mentally check out of matches.

Which is odd, because he displays such clear intelligence and awareness in matches more times than not. It just seems like in the rare moments that he does check out, he is preyed upon and turned into a weakness.

Against Atletico Madrid, he was a solid and reliable defender and very keyed into the match. He wasn’t taken advantage of because he did not give his opponents the opportunity to do so.

Still, the biggest question going into this summer is how to repair a broken defense. It has been a complete systematic failure this year, with individual mistakes plaguing the team, mostly of the mental variety.

Some recommend personnel changes, but if you look at the young, talented defenders that we have – and yes, they are talented – I’m not so sure that it’s personnel that’s the issue. I think that it may just be time to play more towards players’ individual strengths.

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Last time the defense fell apart was about the same time it started falling apart this year, only last year. In response, Arsene Wenger swapped to a three at the back and the results were fantastic. Teams couldn’t pierce this back three.

However, one prerequisite of a back three is having three athletic centerbacks who have the instincts required to play a proactive style. Nacho Monreal was not a centerback and Laurent Koscielny was not the coordinator needed to sit in the middle of the three.

This all came to a tilt when, after switching to a back four, Wenger briefly allowed the back three again against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, this time with Mustafi as the hinge and Rob Holding and Calum Chambers around him.

It was the best defensive performance of the year. They absolutely shut down the Blues in their own home because you had all the prerequisites – three centerbacks, all athletic, all communicative, and the most communicative of all in the center.

Next: 3 Players Who Deserve Individual Praise After Atleti

That trio was never used again and I really don’t understand why. It was a fantastic framework for what could work going forward and ideally, I would love to see that come back next season. And yes, I want Mustafi in the middle of it all.

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