Arsenal: Maybe Shkodran Mustafi isn’t so bad after all

Arsenal’s loss against Chelsea was a complete capitulation of the will, with so many defensive mistakes. Yet Shkodran Mustafi wasn’t even out there.

We’ve been trying to figure out Arsenal‘s ridiculous defensive situation all year, and while no solution was ever strong enough to last for long, there was hope to be found.

For instance, having Sokratis and Laurent Koscielny starting together always seemed to bring out the most solid defensive ability. They combined well, with their contrasting styles and their copious experience. They were old, but that’s fine, we didn’t need a long-term solution yet.

The back three showed a lot of hope too, when you put Nacho Monreal in there who, while unremarkable, was also good enough to be counted on to do his job.

No matter what glimpses of hope we saw in a positive defensive showing, it rarely involved Shkodran Mustafi. Contrarily, most of our worst defensive showings did involve Shkodran Mustafi.

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And then Chelsea happened. The Europa League final, with Koscielny, Sokratis and Monreal, all experienced, out there holding down the fort. No Mustafi in sight. Which meant a significant decrease in the likelihood of defensive mistakes right?

Apparently not. The Gunners defense was so flawed that you might have thought we had three Mustafi’s out there. Koscielny was a wreck, responsible for the first goal and then plenty more beyond that. Sokratis started well, but tapered off as the defense crumbled around him and Monreal was getting lost every time he was asked to mark a man.

It was awful. You should never surrender four goals in an evenly-matched final on neutral ground. Never.

But the Gunners did, and they did it all without Mustafi. They all committed Mustafi-esque errors where once it seemed reserved solely to the German.

So my question now is how much can be read into this. Is it still a philosophical failing, and Mustafi is just the most unfortunate of the bunch or do we blame Mustafi individually for his personal mistakes? Honestly, I was so shocked by our “reliable” defenders making such horrid mistakes that it made me think that maybe Mustafi isn’t so bad after all. That maybe if we get him into a decent system, with good enough teammates, maybe he would be, dare I say, reliable.

Or maybe I’m drunk on the disappointment of the match. But probably not. Mustafi has plenty yet to give, and this defense as a whole clearly doesn’t.