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Granit Xhaka: Swiss Army Knife or Blunt Tool?

Will Xhaka be here after the summer window?

  • Yes

    Votes: 38 55.1%
  • No

    Votes: 31 44.9%

  • Total voters
    69
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.

AbouCuéllar

Author of A-M essays 📚
Notice, @Manberg , that when Xhaka and Ceballos play together in a pivot, Ceballos tends to drop deeper to receive, with Xhaka occupying a position a little higher on the left where he has one-touch passing options available on the left.

Wonder why ;)
 

AbouCuéllar

Author of A-M essays 📚
Hint: it's got something to do with press resistance and quality on the ball :)

For the record, it's really impressive what Arteta does to get the best out of Xhaka's ability. So beautiful to have a tactically aware manager who makes sensible adjustments to get the best out of his players. Long live Basque God.
 

Ibadan

Thread Bump Police
Very poor from him today. Our build-up is so, so slow with him in the side. Even when he's in acres of space, he can't turn on the ball. Every player has their strengths and weaknesses but his weaknesses vastly outweigh his strengths.

The sooner we sign new midfielders the better, I'm tired of watching him lose composure on the edge of his box.
 

Manberg

Predator
Another decent performance by Xhaka. Kept things ticking for us as he usually does. Some lovely passes despite being pressed again.
 

boonthegoon

Arteta In by November

Country: USA

Player:Smith-Rowe
except one superb pass to pepe, he missed so many other chances to exploit their high line either by bad passes or not passing at all
 

RunTheTrap

Kai Havertz Offense League
Grujic is probably Liverpool's 8th choice midfielder and he just came back from loan from *goes on Google* Hertha Berlin which ironically the same club that Xhaka was linked to back in January. If Grujic can do that against Xhaka, I am starting to doubt whether he could even start for a Bundesliga club that finished 10th.
 

Jury

A-M's drunk uncle
Notice, @Manberg , that when Xhaka and Ceballos play together in a pivot, Ceballos tends to drop deeper to receive, with Xhaka occupying a position a little higher on the left where he has one-touch passing options available on the left.

Wonder why ;)
Yeah it’s very clear that whenever they play together, it’s Ceb who’s trusted to do the technical stuff behind Xhaka. It just makes sense. Problem is the further forward you move Xhaka, the more you should be looking to put someone else in his place. I hope it’s starting to become as obvious to Mikel as it is to me!
 

Mrs Bergkamp

Double Dusted
Dusted 🔻
He had that good early pass but Liverpool dominated possession so he couldn't do more if that. In the second half, I noticed we played a patch of quick one touch football and he struggled. We will all chuckle at Kola's involvement but Xhaka was really under pressure there and a couple of times just literally kicked possession away. He didn't make any scary errors but apart from decent positioning, I'm not sure what long term role he can play here unless he improves parts of his game.
 

AbouCuéllar

Author of A-M essays 📚
Tbf I don't think we should underrate Xhaka's passing too much, his pass to eliminate defenders for the 1st goal the other day is exactly the kind of through the lines pass you want to see from someone in his position, and today he had some nice passes to switch the play with his right as well as that nice ball early on. He provides something no one else in the team but Ceballos does, and these days looks defensively more sound under Arteta, so you can understand why he picks him, despite his deficiencies in composure on the ball and press resistance and athleticism.

If we are going to go 3-4-3 in defence 4-3-3 in possession as we have been there is no reason he and Ceballos shouldn't play in a pivot, I guess Saka going the full 90 and looking exhausted means he will struggle to start on Sunday but I would've hoped for a Bellerín-Luiz-Gabriel-Tierney Saka-Xhaka-Ceballos Auba-Laca-Willian lineup under the current 3-4-3/4-3-3 set up.

Ceballos-Elneny would've been the pivot you'd go for in more difficult games under this current set-up, as Elneny is more press resistant and has more legs to cover Ceballos. But in the set-up as is there's really no reason why Xhaka and Ceballos can't play together against teams like Sheffield United on Sunday or West Ham the other day, where Arteta picked the lineup I am advocating.

Anyways, hopefully after next Monday we are talking about much more inspiring options in midfield (at least Aouar or I die at our misreading of the market and opportunity to get CL places this season).
 

Red London

Anti-Simp Culture
Trusted ⭐
This guy is essentially a midfield version of one of those strikers who offer absolutely nothing except they can finish and score goals. He can't dribble the ball, he cant beat a press, he can't execute quick passing, he can't run fast, he's not a very good defender, but he can pick a killer ball with his left peg at times which changes the game.

But you have to question if a team as weak as ours can carry someone in the midfield who is only there for one purpose: nice long passes. Ceballos can beat the press, dribble well, tackle better and can also execute nice passes albeit being slightly different types (less so into channels, but he could do that if you wanted him to do so in a quarterback like position).

When you watch his performances tonight and vs Liverpool in the PL you wonder how we would have fared if we had signed a suitable player to replace him, someone who is comfortable with the ball at his feet and has some more about him i.e. someone like Partey.
 

Red London

Anti-Simp Culture
Trusted ⭐
I feel like Xhaka feeds into this 'overload the left side and get Aubameyang in behind type ****' but when you consider his contribution to our general build up play through the middle of the pitch hes average or perhaps worse than average.

He suits this lopsided football where he fills into the left back position almost and pings balls down the channel. But we are losing a player who can carry the ball through the middle or pass through the middle. Overall its not good for our football long term and we will never be able to truly dominate teams and look convincing with Xhaka playing a key role here.
 

NieThePiet

Loves Overhyping Our Rivals
Grujic is probably Liverpool's 8th choice midfielder and he just came back from loan from *goes on Google* Hertha Berlin which ironically the same club that Xhaka was linked to back in January. If Grujic can do that against Xhaka, I am starting to doubt whether he could even start for a Bundesliga club that finished 10th.

you really want to compare this?

A midfielder in a team with 60%(?) possession and the other one with 40%? We will never dominate these games against the big teams with our two man midfield, so the scores never will be good in these games for our midfielders.
 

AbouCuéllar

Author of A-M essays 📚
Grujic isn't a bad player, tbf, I read he did quite well at Hertha and he was picked out by Liverpool's scouting team early for a reason. I can't say I paid particular attention to him today but I don't think people should hate on Grujic, there's not much room in that Liverpool midfield but he looks like he's going to have a good European career.
 

nick gould

Well-Known Member
Weight of some of his short passes has been awful of late. He pings them all the time. Work on it lad, it's not like you are passing to DB10.
 

Ibadan

Thread Bump Police
Tbf I don't think we should underrate Xhaka's passing too much, his pass to eliminate defenders for the 1st goal the other day is exactly the kind of through the lines pass you want to see from someone in his position, and today he had some nice passes to switch the play with his right as well as that nice ball early on. He provides something no one else in the team but Ceballos does, and these days looks defensively more sound under Arteta, so you can understand why he picks him, despite his deficiencies in composure on the ball and press resistance and athleticism.

If we are going to go 3-4-3 in defence 4-3-3 in possession as we have been there is no reason he and Ceballos shouldn't play in a pivot, I guess Saka going the full 90 and looking exhausted means he will struggle to start on Sunday but I would've hoped for a Bellerín-Luiz-Gabriel-Tierney Saka-Xhaka-Ceballos Auba-Laca-Willian lineup under the current 3-4-3/4-3-3 set up.

Ceballos-Elneny would've been the pivot you'd go for in more difficult games under this current set-up, as Elneny is more press resistant and has more legs to cover Ceballos. But in the set-up as is there's really no reason why Xhaka and Ceballos can't play together against teams like Sheffield United on Sunday or West Ham the other day, where Arteta picked the lineup I am advocating.

Anyways, hopefully after next Monday we are talking about much more inspiring options in midfield (at least Aouar or I die at our misreading of the market and opportunity to get CL places this season).

He definitely does have his uses but both games against Liverpool puts his deficiencies in the spotlight and it's not pretty viewing. Xhaka can not create anything when he is pressed.

I've said this before, he'd be a really good super sub for when games against lesser opposition get stretched. He'd be perfect as he'd have lots of time on the ball to put his head up and pick out a pass.

A part of me feels like if Xhaka was going to start against Sheffield he wouldn't have played the full 90 today. Hopefully we see a Ceballos, Elneny pivot on Sunday.
 

TakeChillPill

Established Member
This guy is essentially a midfield version of one of those strikers who offer absolutely nothing except they can finish and score goals. He can't dribble the ball, he cant beat a press, he can't execute quick passing, he can't run fast, he's not a very good defender, but he can pick a killer ball with his left peg at times which changes the game.

But you have to question if a team as weak as ours can carry someone in the midfield who is only there for one purpose: nice long passes. Ceballos can beat the press, dribble well, tackle better and can also execute nice passes albeit being slightly different types (less so into channels, but he could do that if you wanted him to do so in a quarterback like position).

When you watch his performances tonight and vs Liverpool in the PL you wonder how we would have fared if we had signed a suitable player to replace him, someone who is comfortable with the ball at his feet and has some more about him i.e. someone like Partey.

Goals win games..... Probably better to compare a CF good at holding up the ball but being able to do nothing else.
 
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