A lifelong Arsenal fan called last night.
He told me Gary Neville said that Valencia couldn’t give Mustafi away.
Then Wenger signed him for £35 million.
Most Arsenal fans know that Xhaka has a mistake in him, while the 2019 Mustafi now has two or three mistakes in him.
His display in the 3-2 home defeat by Crystal Palace was grossly unprofessional.
The Daily Mail revealed that Wenger tried to sell Mustafi two summers ago and Emery tried again last summer.
Since he’s on £90,000 a week, Arsenal have no chance of unloading him.
Arsenal opponents in the semi-final of the Europa league are…Valencia.
It’s highly unlikely that Mustafi will play against Wolves tonight.
Unai Emery is expected to employ three centrebacks and four in midfield and it could be a very low-scoring contest.
Wolves, a counter-attacking team who play with great patience and positional skill, have stuttered a bit recently and slipped from the seventh place they had claimed in a very good season.
They suffered a damaging blow when they lost the FA Cup semifinal at Wembley when former Barcelona magician Gerard Deulefeu scored two brilliant goals for Watford.
On April 2nd, Wolves hosted Manchester United, who went ahead when Scott McTominay scored in 13 minutes.
Then super-sharp striker Diogo Jota equalised in 25 and they went on to win 2-1.
When Wolves forced that own-goal off Chris Smalling in 77 they became the first team for four years to beat Man Utd when they had been ahead.
I’m expecting a tight low-scoring game.
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From Michael Budgen:
Morning Myles,
I think Mustafi was a ‘stats’ signing, in that his underlying numbers, tackles, clearances & interceptions, are very, very good.It was probably hoped that at 24 his decision-making and maturity, would improve to get rid of the errors, those ‘brain fart’ moments.
his hasn’t really occurred though.
Whether Emery thinks he can improve him remains to be seen.
Also, post Sunday, it possibly shows Emery hasn’t fully grasped the competitiveness of the Prem yet.
Even lower table sides can turn you over if you don’t get it right.
Myles says:
Shrewd observation, Michael.
I think Mustafi was a stats signing.
King Wenger loved stats so much he delegated to a computer.
But not to a human.
http://arsenalnewsreview.co.uk/wp/no-monchi-chelsea-flicks-sophisticated-wolves-ko-man-utd/