Arsenal fans have had a pretty rough press over the past few days, but we'll forgive them this one.
Following on from the furore surrounding the reaction to Granit Xhaka's substitution against Crystal Palace at the weekend, the Gunners' team selection for Wednesday's Carabao Cup trip to Liverpool was always going to be a fascinating one.
Like his Reds counterpart Jurgen Klopp, visiting boss Unai Emery opted to make 11 changes to his side for the trip to Anfield, giving starts to the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Mesut Ozil.
Shkodran Mustafi was brought in too, but not even his harshest critics could have imagined the awful start to the game that the German had.
Making only his fifth appearance of the season, the German haplessly diverted a cross from ex-Gunner Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain into his own net just six minutes into the game.
On social media, his name was everywhere, with criticism and sympathy in almost equal measure.
The defender recently addressed his errors and cited mistakes against Liverpool and Crystal Palace last season as defining moments.
"I had missed three weeks injured and then went into the [Liverpool] game without training with the team because the coach needed me," he told Der Spiegel .
"At half-time it was 4-1, I looked a few times not good and have injured myself again.
"Afterwards, I got a lot of negative comments from Arsenal fans on Instagram and Twitter . And articles were written in which I was harshly criticised.
"I'm self-critical enough to realise that I made those mistakes.
"I can also deal with tough criticism. But the criticism has become escalated and irrational. I have become a target.
"At some point, people even blamed me for a defeat I had not played at all."
