Arsenal: Shkodran Mustafi gets rusty too, you know?

Arsenal’s defense is shambolic, and Shkodran Mustafi is the heart of that, but cut him some slack, he gets rusty too. This isn’t how he usually is.

If you’ve read any of my recent articles on Shkodran Mustafi and also listened to our recent podcast about him, you may have noticed something – things are changing. I have spent a long time standing up for Mustafi and his extended stay at Arsenal, but Liverpool alone was enough for me to reconsider if we might still sell him while he has some value.

Fulham didn’t help. Mustafi was, yet again, shaky. Not just in his defending, but in his distribution as well. He had far too many problems in a set-up that afforded him every luxury in the world to be a quality defender without holding the weight of the team on his shoulders.

He was pulled off at half-time again, this time due to a supposed illness. He was pulled off against Liverpool too, presumably not because of illness.

Before the Liverpool match, I was adamant that we needed Mustafi back, but one thing I didn’t account for was the whole “rust” element that accompanies any player returning from injury.

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I’m not trying to make excuses for Mustafi, who has a track record of making some bizarre decisions and not exactly inspiring confidence in that back line, but I do want to remind people that these last two matches have come on the backs of an injury and in the midst of a supposed illness.

There will come a time, rather soon, in fact, that Mustafi will get back into top form and we will yet again see that he is a perfectly capable defender when healthy and in the swing of things. Sure, the mental mistakes will still be there, and the risk might not be worth it in the long haul, but my only point in saying all this is that Mustafi hasn’t been this bad ever.

Literally, ever. Maybe in very small doses, but he’s had two whole appearances of looking paltry and let’s be honest, he isn’t normally like that. No matter how little you think of him.

We need Mustafi back at his best, something he hasn’t been all of December. Get him healthy, get him refreshed, and it won’t look anything like the flailing failures that were the Liverpool and Fulham matches. I have no doubts about that.