Country: Iceland
Xhaka had 9 tackles against Bournemouth.
It doesn't matter really. He's not a defensive midfielder and neither is Elneny. Theo has come through games with good tackle stats. Doesnt mean he's combative of particularly defensive.Xhaka had 9 tackles against Bournemouth.
@say yes
As much as pace isn't a necessity for a midfielder, if you've only got two in there and both are slow, you're always treading a fine line. Both have zero recovery pace and either can't tackle or don't get near enough to tackle. It offers nothing in a combative or defensive aspect. Add to that the lack of goals from all three midfielders, and it puts too much pressure on attack and defence. Then you think of how aggressive both our CBs can be, and it gets even worse. For those reasons, I think it'll pose problems. I know it's just the one game, but It didnt look up to much on Saturday for me.
@GunnerBP Think it was him and mostly Khedira in a midfield two and Modric and Di Maria in Ancelotti's 4-3-3.
There are so many that are yet to properly tested that it's hard to say. In theory and in practice, so far, Caz and Coq are and have been the best partnership. I like playing with a proper DMF so it has to be Coq plus another. We've not shown that any other partnership without Coq can be trusted to be disciplined under Wenger. Another reason why I want him to retire.Wouldn't agree that Elneny is slow (or maybe I've just completely missed that), and I think it's clear that Xhaka can tackle.
What would be your preferred midfield combo?
yes he did...Xhaka had 9 tackles against Bournemouth.
Yep, also play close to the cbs so that Kos, Xhaka and Mustafi make the team play with most of the team facing forward or ready to turn when a pass finds them. Ramsey could work but he is not technically up to Arsenal level like rest of the team and he runs backwards to our goal under pressure basically killing any momentum. Small things add up to big things etc etc.With the way we play, having Xhaka as our deepest midfield makes perfect sense.
Still itching to see that Xhaka-Ramsey partnership. I think it has a bit of everything.
I had a similar reaction when I saw the lineup tbf.
A few pages back and most were saying he should be our starting midfielder with Santi out.
Wenger is a massive problem. You can tell Coq is the antithesis to a Wenger midfielder but Arsène is almost forced to play him because he knows his midfields are poor when it comes to the defensive side of the game.We've not shown that any other partnership without Coq can be trusted to be disciplined under Wenger