
Originally Posted by
Niall_Quinn
The non-Arsenal fan host on post match AFTV (who is surprisingly passionate about Arsenal for some reason) commented Mustafi is fine at home where the opponents tend to play it cagey and don't put as much pressure on the defence. But, he pointed out, in away games Mustafi collapses as soon as the opposition put some heat on. He noticed how particularly useless he is in the air when under pressure, generally getting beaten the majority of the time.
I hadn't been specifically watching out for this but it rings true now that I think about it. But it's not just Mustafi, it's all of them. None of them can handle a pressurised box and, when you add our lunatic midfield to the mix, none of them handle a high press well. They are always looking to go backwards to safety at the first sign of danger. This breaks up the play terribly and causes us to repeat passage of play over and over to no purpose.
It's difficult to say how terrible or how decent our defenders are because the system they are playing in is insane and the midfield in front of them is twice as crazy.
Nothing can be judged until a competent coach gets to work with the team.
We have Wenger.