Arsenal: Everyone is missing the point with Shkodran Mustafi
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal fans are always quick to levy the accusatory finger, but Shkodran Mustafi is innocent, and don’t give me this “he’s done it before.”
It was mighty predictable, from the moment Shkodran Mustafi decided to get involved on the set-piece and leveled Harry Kane. Just like that, all of the Arsenal fans out there had their scapegoat. They had their guy in the scopes.
The “he’s worthless,” “he has no future,” etc. messages came rolling in. This one man, who last started at fullback when the Germans won the 2014 World Cup, was ousted as the cause for the loss.
The obvious “stfu” response is that Kane was offside, therefore whatever happened afterward shouldn’t have mattered. And to be fair, most fans, even those waggling their finger at Mustafi, were quick to say that yes, Kane was offside, so Mustafi should have been off the hook, but they then had to double up on their blame of Mustafi and say, well, he’s done this before.
First of all, he’s never played rightback for us before. So let’s get that out of the way right off the bat. Not even counting the fact that he actually did quite well on that right flank throughout the match, barring the penalty that shouldn’t have been.
But for those that want to say that he’s done this before, what is your proof? A feeling in your bones?
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Let’s look at the numbers since Mustafi arrived at the club in 2016. Playing centerback, where he is in the line of firing for giving up penalties, Mustafi has given up…. one penalty. Two if you count the one that shouldn’t have been at Spurs.
Guess who else has given up two penalties or more? Petr Cech. Nacho Monreal. Hector Bellerin. Granit Xhaka.
Mustafi has never given up a penalty before this year and if you toss out this rubbish penalty against Spurs, he’s given up the same number as Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis.
Maybe you weren’t talking about just giving away penalties, maybe you were talking about errors in general. Fine. Mustafi has two errors leading to goal since he first arrived. Not the best, granted, but not our worst either. In fact, a fraction from the top of the Arsenal mistake chart, an honor owned, unfortunately, by Petr Cech.
Mustafi has his issues, no one should be denying that. But to jump on a play that shouldn’t have even happened and say “he’s the worst defender in the world,” is just ignorant and short-sighted. The man was playing out of position (and again, he had played it quite well) and he made one mistake, where his primary problem was just wanting to be too involved.
I hate how it panned out, but I hate it even more when the true culprit is skirted blame because of some perceived notion that Mustafi shouldn’t be here. He absolutely should, get over it.