Sorry that this post is so late but I spent Saturday with Avie, baking bread, playing tennis, and swimming at the local public pool which I have renamed “White Hart Lane” because it’s a nice new facility, but basically just a toilet. We also fixed the chicken coop, cleaned up the bedroom, and took a load to Goodwill. Man, we did a lot of stuff yesterday!
But I didn’t watch the Arsenal. Not live at least. I watched it this morning on the dot com. Since this is ostensibly an Arsenal blog I thought I would share some observations.
Mustafi is … look, I accept that he’s just not great and that we can’t transfer him because everyone knows he’s not great. That’s my baseline.
But I also feel sorry for him in a way. I know he’s well paid but put yourself in his (very nice) shoes for a minute: he worked his entire life to be the best footballer he can be and even landed a job with one of the top clubs in Europe.
But everything has been unravelling for him since then. In his first season, he was shielded by Wenger – most of the fan ire toward the club was directed at the boss. But by his second season, people were starting to complain about him. And now, it’s at the point where he’s mocked and his Instagram/Twitter feed is constant abuse. I’m not going to moralize on what people should say to other people on social media. I’m just saying, damn, this must suck.
And I think we can see it in his performances. I’m not saying you have to love him, support him, or pretend that he’s not hard to watch. I’m not telling you that “supporters support”. I’m not going to do that because I’m guilty of criticizing him and making fun of his “back on top” posts. I’m just as much a part of the problem as anyone else.
I’m saying, I feel like an asshole for it. I often do and say things without thinking about the consequences. Sometimes that unfiltered view is fun (for you all to read/hear) but it’s also hurtful to others. I’m sorry. To him. I’m sorry, Shkodran.
To be constructive in my observations: what gets him in trouble is that he wants to win the ball. I believe this is what Wenger found attractive because Wenger’s center backs routinely led the League in interceptions. Wenger loves defenders who intercept passes (not tackle). I’m not just talking about getting tight, this is an aggressive form of getting “touch tight” or marking, it’s a gamble to try to win the ball. When you’re really good at it, like Koscielny, it’s magnificent. But… when you don’t win the ball – completely win possession – it’s a real mess. And unless you’re blessed with Koscielny’s speed, the attacker is going to be free and causing chaos in the defence.
So*, if I was his coach, I would just ask him to please stop gambling to win the ball back. Just mark, just stay with the man. I know that’s super basic and I’ll probably get flack for it (go ahead, make fun of me) but I’m just trying to find a way to maximize his abilities and minimize the problems.
I’m not a coach. It’s probably a dumb idea.
Two more quick observations. We still can’t deal with pressure and we seem to only be able to attack through overlaps down the wings.
Yankeegunner says that this attack pattern is a problem with the back three. I guess that’s true but I thought we did the same with a back four. I’m going to watch for how many “non-Emeryball” goals we score this season.
Yesterday, Arsenal scored two goals from Emeryball. The first was 100% an Emery move: Kolasinac made the overlap and crossed. And the second goal was supposed to be one but Jenkinson chose to screen off the defenders (SMARTLY) and let Mkhitaryan take control. The only goal that didn’t fit this mode of play was the third: a nice move through the middle and good finish from Willock.
“But Tim, what about talking up Willock! He was brilliant, he should start for Arsenal!!!” Ehhh.. it was a good goal. I liked the run he made early after his sub but he wasn’t really “bossing” the midfield. I actually* thought Martinelli’s run was the best move of the game. I’d love to see him get some playing time but the attack is very crowded and I’m worried we will only see him in flashes, unless he’s a Fabregas – by which I mean that he’s just so good he forces his way into the team. But I love his creativity and if he can dribble through people like that and get himself into those kinds of positions consistently he will have to start. We haven’t had a forward like that since Thierry Henry.
I know, I know, “ridiculous comparison to Fabregas and Henry” but I’m not comparing them. Just saying that it would be amazing if he could be that kind of player who forces his way into the starting XI and forward who just terrifies defenders that way. Like Willock, Nketiah, and everyone else, I’m giving him time.
Have a great Sunday. If you follow me on Instagram, check out my Brioche post.
*I have noticed that I use “so” and “actually” a lot. It’s annoying.
I think you are right about the way Mustafi is treated, but it’s also similar for Ozil. We need to celebrate and enjoy our football, not criticise until we’ve destroyed everyone’s confidence.
Totally agree with your sentiments on Ozil. Everyone was outraged at the possibility of him not being offered a new contract. Since then, he has played in the same way as before and now the outrage is that he is being paid too much and should be paraded around the Emirates with a nun ringing the bell of shame behind him. It’s strange behaviour.
This is a very Zen like post: shows the power of bread baking and cleaning chicken coops!
I don’t want to hate Mustafi either, but I hope they sort the Kozza situation out so that he’s not a first choice CB.
Gostei de ler.
Sua explicação sobre Mustafi me mostrou de forma clara e simples o problema.
Concordo com os excessos em críticas desconstrutivas. É triste.
As referências (Fabregas e Henry) são boas para entendermos como Joe Willock pode se desenvolver e como se comporta dentro de campo.
Saliba vem aí, olê olê olá
Saliba vem aí e o bicho vai pegar
Swietny komentarz.
Totalnie sie zgadzam z twoja opinia na ten temat i czekam z necierpliwoscia na dalsze twoje uwagi
Thank you! On these blogs we find out the same kind of fan/supporters, so our opinion can be similar.
Thanks for this, Tim. I too feel bad for the treatment Mustafi gets, deserved or not, so I’ll join the Big-Up Mustafi (BUM) bandwagon. For starters I applaud his effort; his mistakes don’t irritate me as much as seeing some far higher paid players just going through the motions, and Mustafi does play with a lot of commitment (albeit the occasional over-commitment that drives everyone crazy). And I think at least some of his defensive woes are partly due to a lack of consistency of personnel and perhaps system used at the back. Understanding between defenders is a critical piece that only comes with extensive playing time alongside the same personnel; between injuries and, shall we say, managerial experimentation, we haven’t had a settled defensive line for… well, a bloody long time. Also, Mustafi would probably benefit from a more accomplished DM in front of him, as would the rest of our defenders.
I’ve stood on the North Bank and listened to fans yelling at players about how effing useless they are, and wondered what they think they are going to accomplish by throwing abuse at a player when they screw up. Now social media allows this kind of abuse to be more pointed, detailed and relentless. It also seems unnecessary, unkind and unproductive. Putting it in perspective: we weren’t always invincible and we’ve had to endure worse CBs than Shkodran over the years. As you point out, he is probably going to be with us a while longer, so for my own sanity I will try to accept his imperfections and appreciate that he is not Jeff Blockley.
Full disclosure – my son plays as on the right side of a back three (u-15). And, I am a little bit defensive of him when a) I think his skill set is unsuited for the position, b) the coach doesn’t stress defensive play and c) the players around him don’t do their job.
So, I am also a little bit defensive of our (Arsenal’s) back line. We can all see the limitations of our players, but I am unsure exactly what they are being coached to do and they seem to be on their own a lot (with AW, too). Mustafi’s errors drive me mad in the moment but there is a bit of a shrug when my blood pressure returns to normal…’where were the midfielders to help out?…
We all know that we can’t afford to pay Van Dijk wages for our back line and therefore are unlikely to get Van Dijks for our back line…Mustafi is who we have and although he is prone to some predictable lapses in judgement, one thing you can’t fault him for is lack of effort. I am far from a Blood and Thunder type of fan but players that don’t seem to make any effort drive me insane…more so than the Mustafi errors that are only 90% his fault.
So, the next time Mustafi screws up we should think of a joke or a self-deprecating, satire of a song instead of losing our minds and swearing at him…better for our blood pressure, too.
I am just not sure that Mustafi is very smart. The mistakes he makes are fundamental. His positioning is terrible. He can’t read the game. He can’t pass. He is just awful. The list of consistent errors is endless. I don’t think there is any hope for him.
always prioritize making memories with the little lady over us. we’re a bunch of grown men, where she’s a young girl who needs her daddy. no apologies necessary.
you’re absolutely right about mustafi. a coach should remind him that he can’t make every play, and that’s okay. the team just needs him to make the plays he’s supposed to make. he knows that but sometimes, you need a reminder. that’s on the coach. this was an issue that vermaelen had as well.
one quality that the best defenders have is their patience. however, mustafi is under pressure to make as many plays as he can because of the social media trash people talk. he feels the need to make every play, including the ones he has little chance of making. he simply needs encouragement and insulation from his team mates and the coaching staff. mustafi played a lot of games last year but that was because both holding and koscielny spent a ton of time out injured. he’s a backup central defender and right back. trust me, arsenal could do worse. mustafi is fine.
as for last night’s game, i hate 3 in the back because there’s a false narrative saying it makes you more resolute, defensively. it doesn’t. not only that, but you have to take a player out of midfield and are stuck with two center mids playing against 3. lastly, the players charged with shielding mustafi last night were like fourteen years old; it was almost like they didn’t play. it’s hard to ask young guys to play at such a high level, consistently.
Mustafi was 20+ games undefeated when he first started with us and looked pretty good that first season. I think there’s some slight revisionism going on here. What happened, in my opinion, is that he came from Valencia, highly rated, where he had proper defensive coaching and structure. Wenger then ruined him and destroyed his confidence and he will probably not recover in an Arsenal jersey. Wenger did that to a lot of players, sadly. It took a unique personality to flourish under Wenger. For every player that increased in value under Wenger, there were plenty who decreased.
I’m afraid the undefeated run was a fair bit of narrative in itself, to my memory. It wasn’t especially defensively convincing (even when we managed to not concede), but we had a far more coherent attack at the time (Sanchez, Ozil, Giroud making his contributions, actual goals from midfield…what a time). At Valencia he was there at a time when they’d fallen well short of their Benitez-era reputation and were a crisis club, flirting with relegation, hiring and firing managers helter-skelter, even eventually hiring Gary Neville. Perhaps he’s gotten even worse at Arsenal, but I’m not sure the drop is as precipitous as you want to think it is.
I actually want to add, Jack, that he had one quality I really admired during that unbeaten run you made reference to: you might recognize/remember it too. He’d take the ball into roughly defensive midfield and then arrow the ball on the ground into attack. A very fast, usually accurate pass that the opposition were never ready for. I haven’t seen or noticed him play that pass in ages now, and I’m not sure when that change happened.
90% of what Mustafi does is fine. Even good. But it’s the 10% which separates the good from the bad at this level. I like Mustafi, and want him out of the club. But with no malice towards him. The abuse he gets is ridiculous. Unfortunately, once a narrative forms, it is near impossible to overcome.
Emeryball is basically ok if it doesn’t get too rigid. Despite some encouraging signs (with Ozil and Willock), I am not confident this will change. He’s a control freak. He just can’t get out of his own way.
I found it interesting, humourous and slightly concerning that Freddie communicates what is needed from the young players and not Unai directly. I guess that’s what the Transition Team is about, but still, if even on tour there is a distinction like this between the squad, I feel less confident about these players getting their chances during the season.
Emery not getting out of his own way is exactly my frustration also.
I’m happy with Freddie looking after communication with the young players, because he knows them and he communicates better, I think it’s a sign that there will be more chances and better integration – but yes, looking at it the other way it is also a bit of a concern that he needs to be involved.
Yeah it just depends on how it works. Not necessarily a bad thing. The phrasing from Saka was what I found strange. Freddie talks to us so Unai doesn’t have to.. That’s weird.
One aspect of the formation we used against Fiorentina is that we relied on our back three (mainly Chambers and Monreal) to make the passes to began our actions, whereas against Bayern, it was Xhaka, with Ozil sometimes dropping deep.
So actually I totally agree with this post. I get anxiety attacks on Mustafi’s behalf when I see how the narrative has solidified around him, and at this point there is almost nothing he could do to change it, including if he single-handedly kept Messi quiet, got an assist and scored the winner in the CL final.
He’s an aggressive, ball-winning centre half and he has a good pass on him. He just needs to bring that patience and control into his game. A bit of mindfulness or meditation wouldn’t hurt, you feel.
Things that are not his fault: the lack of a sitting DM in front of him. Instead of using a DM, Arsenal CBs are encouraged to be on the front foot, to come out fast, strong, and win the ball in midfield at the moment the ball is received, before the attacker can turn and make a play. Tim says this is an interception rather than tackle, but I would call it a bit of both.
Last season however during matches I noticed way too many times when he came out of the back line to challenge an attacking midfielder but he was too late, or it was the wrong choice in that moment, and he got turned and beat. If the CB is beaten in midfield we have a nice inviting hole in our back line for the opposition to attack, and we gave up a lot of chances and goals that way.
Also overall communication in the back line is suspect, for which I’m sure he shares some of the blame, but which coaches can and should be working on.
Tim asked for most improved player under Emery on twitter at one point last season, and I suggested Mustafi. I saw him making fewer errors and looking much more secure. It didn’t last, but it makes me think there’s a way forward for him.
I agree with the assessment that most of the problems start in MF. I would amplify that and say, it’s not just the lack of a Defensive MFer, it’s the fact that the whole team can’t handle pressure. Even Fiorentina – who are garbage BTW – pressed Arsenal slightly and whenever they did, the team conceded great chances.
Exactly this. The lack of a ‘technical leader’ in midfield kills us. Vieira, Cesc, Song (for a bit), Arteta, Santi.. All these guys could handle being on the ball under pressure. Since then we have Xhaka, who I don’t dislike as much as some, but he’s not that guy. I’m hoping if Ceballos comes he could help. We need a longer term solution though. This is the position I’d throw all our resources at.
On Mustafi, maybe it’s a consequence of all the abuse he gets, but he has the tendency to look for someone else to blame. I worry that’s partly why he doesn’t improve.
I actually came here to say, apropos of nothing, that Dani Ceballos looks every inch a Cazorla / dribbly ball-carrier addition rather than a Ramsey replacement. Which would be good news for Willock. That is all.
wrong! arsenal has found quality in quite a few big-team rejects. bergkamp, vieira, henry ozil, alexis…….two of those guys have statues at the emirates. we should have gotten lo celso from psg but i digress.
it’s all about do you know how to best utilize those player’s abilities. with that, i’m uncertain about ceballos; i simply don’t know enough about him. i was pretty certain denis suarez would flop. in fact, i thought it was a foolish decision for him to go to barcelona.
I’m gonna struggle to stop shouting at the TV when there’s a Mustafi moment.
But I’d never do it within earshot or tag him on Twitter – I can’t get into the mindset of wanting to insult him like that.
Tim – you predicted on an earlier thread that we’d finish 4th this season and I think that good feeling and optimism is a wonderful thing(!) ;¬)
In light of a 4th place, I’m curious if you or others here think that our Goals Conceded will be better or worse than 51 and whether we’ll get more points than 70 (eg maybe we stand still in these regards but *both* Chelsea and Man U collapse staggeringly)?
I don’t hate him. Sometimes I rate him.
1. Not convinced team trusts Emery to coach defense — perhaps that’s part of why next DB stays in France another year.
2. He IS a control freak.
3. Not convinced our two striker combination will work against a deep block without our adding some dribble trickery. Aubameyang not particularly creative, although admittedly lethal in more open games.
4. Team certainly does not trust Emery to use youth without someone babysitting him.
Some of the pain of last year has disappeared. Start of season can’t come soon enough — as long as we get a Left Back!
absolutely love the comments today and agree with most of what everyone is saying. likewise, love your change in attitude, tim. it’s great to hear comments that understand that players are human beings, not automatons; much better than the “he’s useless” nonsense. this guy is a professional that’s won a world cup who’s in a tough situation at a poorly managed club.
someone made the point that wenger was notoriously bad for not making defenders better and that’s a position that i’ve always held. now, it’s the same narrative for emery. that goes back to my point that there’s no such thing as bad players, only bad coaches. we should give the coach a chance to improve the player but the improvements arsenal need from mustafi are not technical, they’re tactical. not only that, but emery’s had a year to work with mustafi.
the fact that mustafi began his arsenal career with that unbeaten run is coincidental and i even said such back then. it seems we’re always quick to ordain someone as awesome or awful without giving them time to show their true level. it happened with vermaelen but that took nearly the entire first season to see. i often end my comments with the phrase, “we’ll see” and that’s frustrated some of the fellowship here. it’s simply me recognizing that i could be wrong as i need more data points to confirm my position. the bottom line is time always tells. we’ll see if emery can improve mustafi. if i were coaching him, the first thing i’d focus on is his patience.
I see Mustafi being comfortable in the Championship or maybe the MLS but I blame the club not the player that he’s still in an Arsenal kit or was to begin with.
I don’t believe he’s being disingenuous and just collecting a paycheck. He’d disappear on the pitch for more often if that were the case. He doesn’t hide which is a problem, I suppose.
Go Skrodan, go (away and be happy)!
I misunderstood the title of the post. I thought at first glance that you meant “layoff”, as in remove from the workforce. “Lay off”, with the words separated, are a different thing altogether. Either works for me, though.
Of course, abusing your own player is a no no. On the field, in public, or on social media. Even one who is really bad and above average error prone like Mustafi. But in the social media age, everyone is a yob.
Nobody laid off Eboue…
Not true. And even if it was, doesn’t make it right.
I (partially) disagree. Please see below.
i agree with lonestar. eboue got booed off the field in his first game back from a long injury layoff. i’m sure you remember that day; wenger substitutes a substitute. that was a disgraceful day to be an arsenal fan. these players are humans and have feelings. to get that crap from your own fans in your first game back, especially when the boss has asked a defender to play out of position in midfield? smh. peeves me off just to think about it.
Yeah, that was a bad day.
When I first read the title of the post, I thought that you were going to justify the financial cost of making him redundant, a golden handshake if you like.
I forgive Shkodran for nearly every one of his foibles because of his Parlour like enthusiasm for the game. Let’s not forget that he is also hugely entertaining and that entertainment comes both in the form of Citizen Kane and the episodes of the Office (still puzzled by the fuss about Citizen Kane apart from funky camera angles)!
Parlour was christened the ‘Romford Pele.’ Wikipedia tells me that Shkodran was born 50 km from Kassel and perhaps we need to consider rebranding him in a more positive way (how much did our German giant like the BFG moniker?)
Given that Kassel is linguistically quite close to Kessel, we could consider the ‘Mustafi Falcon’, or ’12 and a half Parsecs’ and he does resemble Chewbacca a bit, so there’s some leverage there. I’m open to suggestions here. I’m struggling here as marketing isn’t my thing but being mean to him achieves nothing and it’s hardly his fault that due diligence was absent when his purchase was made. I also have an issue with grown men booing their own players.
I’m more puzzled that our defenders always seem to play as if they are strangers. I was incorrectly convinced that Bould would get them working as a unit, but it never transpired. Shkodran’s limitations can be minimised if the notion of ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’ can be applied to our defence. For me this is equally pressing as swapping out or castigating individuals.
Fair point, it doesn’t make it right….but people did hound him. Lots of people. A lot of the time.
Him, Gervinho, and (lest anyone thinks my comment is about any other issue), Senderos. Each were above-average professionals who could make egregious errors at critical times and were drummed out of the team.
Saw it with mine own eyes…
I actually do not consider Mustafi a bad player at all, even with the errors. I think he is a very good player who is in the wrong team and my reasons for this are as follows:
1. Mustafi has his strengths as a player. He is a very active defender, aggressive and good on the ball. He jumps high for a player his height and is an areal threat from set pieces. His passing is progressive and gets in between the lines.
2. Under Arsene, we played to Mustafi’s strengths when in possession. We were able to pass the ball around, and he was a great alternative to Per’s role in our build up and also in controlling possession. Defensively though, he thrived when we pressed instead of playing Arsene’s preferred way of defending which was to drop back and try to intercept. Our biggest wins at home to the top sides have had big games by Mustafi, but because he is a very maligned defender, he isn’t given the credit he deserves. Sanchez, Ramsey and etc get credit for those wins. Ozil is the same, performances big wins against the top sides are somehow left out of his judgement.
3. Emery is a bad defensive coach. I am not saying that I could do better, but from what I see, he is failing to transmit his way of defending to a third side of his that I have been watching. PGS were vulnerable, Sevilla were worse and Arsenal are somewhere in between that. The first bad thing he did was fail to address the defence from the first moment, up until the latter half of his first season. Defensive solidity is the best base to build a new team on and the attack grows in confidence when the defence is finally working properly. Klopp did it, Pep did it and even our very own Joe Montemuro did it with the women’s team. I am not saying that he would have improved the team’s defensive record, but starting the second season with players very much aware about what they should do on the pitch, is what he would have had right now. It would have also allowed him to know what kind of players to sign.
4. Since he was singed, he has been thrown into a side that exposes defenders and later on, a side that just doesn’t know what to do in defence. I do see him as a player very much like the player he replaced at Valencia, Otamendi. Just like every other player on the planet, they play very well in a system that seeks to utilize their strengths or one that is so strong already, an anomaly player in the side doesn’t throw them off e.g. Zinchenko never losing a game while playing left back for Man City.
As a player I like Mustafi, and I coach many players like him because players in South Africa and Chile are not very tall so they play very much like him.