NEWCASTLE V ARSENAL

I think there's a lot more wrong with Arsenal than Mustafi.

 

Oh yes, but he is part of it too.

 

Can guarantee if he went to another club, he'd be a solid enough defender. The reason defenders suck at Arsenal is because they're asked to play in a system where there is no system.

 

Much of these issues come from Wengers squad decisions and buys...

Gabriel wasn't good enough... Mustafi isn't any better.

Flamini/Coquelin wasn't good enough but Elneny isn't any better.

Sceczney is arguably better than an ageing Cech.

Perez is WAY better than Iwobi and Wellbeck.

 

Many of them seem like they should be better but they just don't make it. Xhaka is another one. Inconsistency I would call it.

 

Thought your first post was spot on, this one is wrong. I thought Xhaka and Elneny were superb today. They (and the defence) were just left on their own with 4 players standing up front watching them.

 

Xhaka may have been superb but that's precisely the problem. No-one ever performs at a consistent level. He has had plenty of terrible games this season and most of last as well. This group of players only perform at a high level sometimes. Sometimes some players will be excellent and others will be terrible. Sometimes all of them are terrible. Rarely do they ever all play well together.

 

That's the job of the manager right??? The quality is there just need someone who would lay down "expectations" and manage them.

 

not an arsenal fan but whenever i've watched them that's pretty much them for half the match. If a team decides not to come out and go toe to toe (most small clubs and jose) then it's pretty boring watching the arsenal nowadays and for the past couple of years.

 

Actually I think it has gone beyond expectations, consistency, and performances. We now have a footballing problem and it isn't being addressed.

I've always been pretty easy on Wenger because I have never felt I could see anything that he was actually doing wrong. You had to come up with some sort of invisible mental problem. But this last run we are just not competing and Wenger doesn't seem to be dealing with it on any level.

 

I was going to post on your forum how I was impressed by some of your players, although it was plain to see that you didn't create much in terms of good scoring chances. But after reading some of the thread I won't bother - many of you seem to be rather pessimistic on where you are.

But whatever your whinges with your away form, good luck in Europe Gunners.

 

Just out of interest from an outside point of view, which ones?

 

I thought Mustafi was everywhere and worked his socks off, with Aurbaneyang looking the classy forward.
But you looked to have good players who knocked the ball around all afternoon.

OK, it didn't get you any points. But good luck for the rest of the season.

 

I keep telling them Mustafi isn't the problem, but I sense I'm fighting a losing battle. The guy actually came out as Arsenal man of the match again on whoscored, but he just can't mark and tackle 3 players at once. It really is pointless trying to allocate blame for Arsenal defenders at the moment though, they are just being asked to do too much.

 

Its certainly a problem that we have no midfielders who can defend. It's also a problem that Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil and Iwobi do not put the opposition under enough pressure when we are not in possession.

But our defensive personnel is the biggest problem. I've met Mustafi he's not a big guy. It's not a coincidence that in Spain and in Germany he never really settled into one position he was played as a LB,a RB and CB. The same was actually true of Vermaelen, Gabriel, Squillaci, Silvestre even to some extent even Gallas.

Wenger keeps signing small, technical defenders in a league full of large athletic forwards. It has'nt really ever worked.

Lining up against Arsenal in the tunnel must be the least intimidating thing.

 

Really? Matt Richie and Ayoze Perez are "Large athletic forwards"?

 

I've watched the goal several times now and I still can't understand why you think Mustafi wasn't partially to blame. What that clip doesn't show is Mustafi being culpable for losing the ball in the build-up to that goal.

It wasn't solely his fault, of course, but the goal was very similar to the one Long scored against us the week before. He didn't anticipate Perez's movement and was caught ballwatching. The ball that was crossed in that area of the pitch was for a player (Perez) to run onto, but the other Newcastle players were behind him. So even if Perez let the ball run, no Newcastle player would have been able to tap in because they are several yards behind.

To be honest, whether you think he was at fault for the goal or not, it doesn't really matter because my opinion on Mustafi has not been formed purely on this game. For the majority of the season, he has not been good and what frustrates me is the temerity he has to wave his hands about and blame other players when he doesn't do his own job well enough.

Maybe he is suffering from poor coaching and support, but he is a experienced enough defender to get the basics of defending right. He hasn't been.

Like I said. If we want to progress and be a top club again, we cannot afford to have liabilities like Mustafi in the team. Because even with better coaching, I still don't think he's at the standard we need.

I agree that Cech should not have been beaten at the near post, though. That was poor goalkeeping.

 

I guess this proves that we all view the game differently.

How anyone, especially a Newcastle fan, can think Mustafi had a good game is beyond me. I don't even think he's good enough to get into your team.

Lascelles looked a cut above him and he's probably on half the money.

 

No they aren't, but surely it tells you something that when our defenders are getting outworked, outmuscled and outmaneuvered by players like this, they aren't up to the required standard.

I repeat. Dwight Gayle was winning aerial duels against Mustafi FFS! Come on!

 

Sorry mate you are just making stuff up now. Went to whoscored who actually track this sort of thing and Mustafi won 91% of his Aerials. He lost 1 duel all game and it wasn't against Gayle.
https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1...ier-League-2017-2018-Newcastle-United-Arsenal

What I want to know is why you feel so bitter about the player that you actually invent things?

It is like when people were saying that Ozil wasn't hard-working and Sanchez was, but Ozil finished at the top of the ground covered and Sanchez at the bottom. Your mind plays tricks on you, and if you have a prejudice (in the strict sense of the word) against a player, your mind will reinforce it.

It happens to me with Welbeck. I spend most of the game yelling him. I have to make myself stop letting my opinion of his past performances, affect my judgment.