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PL | Arsenal vs Burnley | Saturday, 12:30 BST | BT Sport

What is your predicted result?


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celestis

Arsenal-Mania Veteran
Moderator

Country: Australia
Same can be said for Lacazette, Leno and Aubameyang.



Xhaka is criminally underrated here, not sure why. Clearly a very competent midfielder with a lot of upside.

Our most dominating performance came with Xhaka and Torrieira in the pivot . Sure he has his faults but he certainly has the ability to make our midfield tick .
 

NZgunner

Active Member

Country: New Zealand
Why was Dyche moaning about diving, ffs. He might want to look at some of his team's tackling.

Yeah, I couldn't work that one out at all - a couple of our players flopped over very easily, and there was one late on by Guendouzi where he forced the ref to make a decision by grabbing the ball as he went down (which irks me as well), but I don't recall any blatant dives, and Burnley got a couple of soft free kicks for similar stuff early on.
 

RacingPhoton

Established Member
Same can be said for Lacazette, Leno and Aubameyang.



Xhaka is criminally underrated here, not sure why. Clearly a very competent midfielder with a lot of upside.
Here we go again. Xhaka fans keep praising him randomly without even telling what his great qualities are. He is a defensive liability. Doesn't know to win the ball back without throwing a stupid tackle or pulling the shirt within the penalty box. He is too slow. So he can't even catch someone running with the ball. Willock was much better defensively and won the ball back like a pro without having to indulge in something rash.

Xhaka's only strength is his long ball which is of no use to us. We can maybe just use him for Europa and cup fixtures.
 

RacingPhoton

Established Member
Our most dominating performance came with Xhaka and Torrieira in the pivot . Sure he has his faults but he certainly has the ability to make our midfield tick .
Which performance are you talking about? And most dominating performance in the last three years? Obviously, it will be Xhaka and Torreira. Because we didn't have anyone else.
 

Ricardinho

La Liga Correspondent
Yes he is our best option if we want to win games, Emery clearly agrees as he is one of the first names in the sheet and was made captain.

Willock, Torreira, Guendouzi may one day get better and reach (or exceed) Xhaka's level but they are not there yet so Xhaka starts every game he is fit.

Not been declared as club captain yet, fyi
 

ptrcopp

Well-Known Member
No matter what people say we still need to improve our general attacking play. It was flat and dull today for large part of the game!

My opinion still is that dropping Laca and play Auba as striker. Will go long way I think!

I wouldn’t want to see it against Liverpool but I think another midfielder needs to be freed up to attack. The options on the ball are so limiting. We just don’t need, or shouldn’t need, 5 players behind the ball.

We looked more of a threat when Torreira was on. Its not just down to his quality but his support for Ceballos
 

Jae

Well-Known Member
better defensive skills

For all of Xhaka's pros (of which there are many), this is definitely not one of them. He's terrible defensively. It was only last summer that his fans were moaning that we needed to sign a proper DM to play alongside him. This was Torreira apparently?

more height


He's 185cm tall, the exact same height as Guendouzi and a mere 6cms taller than Ceballos and Willock? I would put good money on Ceballos and Willock being able to outjump Xhaka as well.T Therefore the only person this applies to is Torreira.

more goals, more assists

Let's not overstate the facts here... He's scored 7 goals and provided 11 assists in the EPL in three years having played 100 games (5 sub appearances).

Hardly groundbreaking stuff is it? He's also played the most minutes out of any player at the club since he's been here (8344 minutes) which equates to 92 whole matches.

big game performances.

Since 2016/2017 we've played a total of 30 games against our top 6 "rivals" - want to know how many of them we've won?

6. That's 1 in every 5. So don't talk to me about Xhaka and big game performances like the two are mutually exclusive please.

.
Xhaka is criminally underrated here, not sure why. Clearly a very competent midfielder with a lot of upside.

It's six of one and half a dozen of the other mate. He clearly has some talents and definitely has some skills which make him worthy of inclusion in the team, but the extent of some of those skills are sometimes overexagerated (as you can see above) as is his overall contribution.

He is underrated by some but massively overrated by others. I personally think he's an average player who is sometimes very good in specific circumstances and against specific teams.

Anyway. Enough of Xhaka talk for one day. I'm sure I'll dig this back out for the Xhaka thread.
 

Uncle Good-Advice

Active Member
Few thoughts after the game:

Burnley isn't that bad. Of course they have certain style of play that could be painful for football purists, however they do their stuff very well, I have no problem with that. They didn't foul us very much, kept being compact at the back, keeper had a good day after a shaky first minutes.

I don't think we're that bad defensively. How many saves did Leno have to make? Honestly, I can't recall any dangerous chance for Burnley. Only some scrambles after a long ball or set pieces. Goal was obviously fluky.

Auba was his usual self. Scored, which was expected and fluffed some excellent chances, which was expected. We need more of him.

There's a problem on our left. Nacho is good at getting in promising position but his end product left a lot to be desired. Same goes to whoever plays ahead of him. Kola is nowhere near being match fit. I'm hopeful that Tierney will solve this.

We scored from a corner but after that all corners were played short which was ridiculous and totally ineffective.

Our short play from the back looks shaky. I can't see any upside in continuing this, one good break in first half but also countless turnovers.

Encouraging performances from young players. They are bound to make mistakes and lack experience but it's the way to go for our club. We need to play them and cut them some slack.
 

Tosker

Does Not Hate Foreigners
why has this thread turned into a discussion about a player who didn't play? and who has a thread of his own anyway
 

Preacher

Always Crying
After reading all these same old Xhaka discussions:

ECLIzEkXUAItx1A.jpg
 

Jae

Well-Known Member
why has this thread turned into a discussion about a player who didn't play? and who has a thread of his own anyway

Because I made the mistake of mentioning that we looked more fluid without him in midfield :facepalm: Can't say anything about him anymore.
 

The_Playmaker

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
Our most dominating performance came with Xhaka and Torrieira in the pivot . Sure he has his faults but he certainly has the ability to make our midfield tick .

This is the point though. If we are in control, Xhaka is excellent. However when the tempo quickens, the game becomes more intense and the physicality increases Xhaka contributeds massively to us losing control and there is no getting it back after, especially when he starts fouling and giving the ball away.
 

freeglennhelder2

Established Member

Country: England

Player:Elneny
Yes as the poster said above and I posted during the game, why did we stop taking direct corners?

Ceballos first direct corner was a wonderful thing of beauty.
 

celestis

Arsenal-Mania Veteran
Moderator

Country: Australia
Which performance are you talking about? And most dominating performance in the last three years? Obviously, it will be Xhaka and Torreira. Because we didn't have anyone else.

Liverool and Sp**s at home were games where we dominated the midfield . It was the most dominating against Sp**s we had been for 4-5 years in midfield and I am a Wengerite .
 

celestis

Arsenal-Mania Veteran
Moderator

Country: Australia
This is the point though. If we are in control, Xhaka is excellent. However when the tempo quickens, the game becomes more intense and the physicality increases Xhaka contributeds massively to us losing control and there is no getting it back after, especially when he starts fouling and giving the ball away.

As mentioned before it was Sp**s and Liverpool at home , those are pressing teams not bottom of the league pack the box teams . I got to say just about every midfield in the World suffers at some point against r a top pressing side .
 

nicky47

Established Member
Was hoping for more of a showing in the final 3rd, but I'll take the win thats for sure. I think Burnley will frustrate alot of teams this season...

Anyway, our strikers once again showing their worth. Just hope our wingers can start jumping in with some goals. Gutted Nelsons was disallowed, but rightly so. Ceballos stole the show though, what a performance. A joy to watch!
 

DJ_Markstar

Based and Artetapilled

Player:Martinelli
Here we go again. Xhaka fans keep praising him randomly without even telling what his great qualities are. He is a defensive liability. Doesn't know to win the ball back without throwing a stupid tackle or pulling the shirt within the penalty box. He is too slow. So he can't even catch someone running with the ball. Willock was much better defensively and won the ball back like a pro without having to indulge in something rash.

Xhaka's only strength is his long ball which is of no use to us. We can maybe just use him for Europa and cup fixtures.
Since when am I a "Xhaka fan"? I'm a fan of good players, and he clearly is one.

What does he do? Well, he keeps possession well, has a killer final pass, not bad in the tackle, decent in the air, has a rocket long shot and can take a decent freekick. Although I agree he isn't the most mobile he isn't a slouch either, he's just of average pace for a PL midfielder.

He's a typical DLP in that he needs someone alongside him in the mould of a Torreira and will get bypassed on his own, but the same could be said about Xabi Alonso FFS. Why do you think that great midfield of Alonso/Gerrard/Mascherano had Mascherano alongside him?
 
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