thebigbangtheo wrote:thebigbangtheo wrote:Credit where credits due, Mustafi was the best defender on the pitch against Fulham, and at one point I was only 6 inches away from the screen in scrutinising that it was actually him, and got told I sounded like Butch and Sundance after muttering 'who the hell is this guy' for the fifth time.
After a couple of duels with Mitrovich where he came away leaving the big Serbian like a little boy put on the naughty step, I will admit to doing a quick search around the house looking for giant green pods, and even stayed awake until the early hours of yesterday morning.
Maybe Emery has got him listening to Eminem's real slim shady, 'cos the real defender within Mustafi definitely did stand up.
I was at the point where only Papa, Kos, Holding and Mav made sense to invest any time and effort in molding effective central defensive partnerships with, but if Mussy is gonna bring that to the party week in week out, then I'll gladly take 2 dozen eggs right in the mush, no problem.
There’s a defender somewhere in him. He needs to be drilled more than anyone about basic defending and judging by our defensive performances over the last couple of years, I would say we don’t have the personnel to give him that education. Exhaustive lectures in positioning, self-discipline, and judgement (e.g. timing of tackles), for instance, would do wonders for Mustafi.