Shkodran Mustafi insists Unai Emery deserves credit for Arsenal’s exemplary defensive display this season.
Defensive errors used to be regular scenes during Arsene Wenger’s reign at the Emirates Stadium. The French manager is known for his free flowing football and excellent attacking organisations but he was often criticised for being too casual with Arsenal’s defensive vulnerabilities.
Emery has been pretty precise when it comes to plugging the leak in the backline and his valuable inputs have been of enormous help for the Gunners defenders. Despite the absence of Laurent Koscielny, The Gunners have conceded just 14 goals so far in 11 matches which speaks volumes.
Mustafi has been on the pitch for every minute in the Premier League and is expected to feature against Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League.
He said, “For me personally, the biggest thing [compared to last season] was that he’s someone who really knows what he wants from each player. He tells you exactly what he wants you to do.
“But then at the same time he gives you the freedom to expose your talent. For example, when we don’t have the ball, he tells you exactly where to stand and how to get the ball from the opponent.
“And when we have the ball, he gives you the options that you can use but still you can decide which option you’re going to choose. So for me it’s a good mix between freedom and still very disciplined, and having the same plan in the whole team.”
“I think that we are very good attacking, and that makes the defensive work as well a bit easier,
“Because even when we lose the ball we are always pressing straight away and trying to win the ball back higher up the pitch.
“So that makes it for us easier to defend because you don’t always have to go 60, 70 yards back to win the ball back in your own box. When we have the ball we are all offensive players and when we lose the ball we are all defensive players.”
