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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 .
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If you think about it just how many times, almost only under Emery, have we seen Xhaka put in a position to fail by clueless coaching decisions?

in the 2:2 draw away against Palace when he scored a banger (freekick) i remember quite well Emery putting him at left back against Zaha. In midfield we had Guendouzi and Ceballos. He caused a penalty (soft decision) against Zaha. We had Holding, Luiz, Sokratis and Chambers available and Emery puts Xhaka at LB. Come on man. Emery put Xhaka at LB a couple of times.

2 weeks before the Palace incident Xhaka got subbed off and was booed at the Emirates. Emery knew Xhaka was under a lot of fire so why not just give him a break? Like Arteta did with Willian for example?

then you had that BS when Emery after 2 months into the season still couldnt make his mind up to say who the captain is. Never seen anything like that before man.

Emery wasnt up to the task AT ALL and Xhaka was his handy scape goat. Disgraceful.

You can have different opinions about Xhaka. But its a clear fact that since joining Arsenal his main partners have been Guendouzi and Elneny and for god’s sake those 2 guys have energy and nothing else. But thats what impresses arsenal fans the most... players that like running around like a headless chicken.
 

RunTheTrap

Kai Havertz Offense League
dont mix coincidence with causality. He joined at the worst time to join Arsenal.
Obviously correlation does not mean causation but I can’t believe there are some Arsenal fans that are in denial of the impact Xhaka has had on us. Firstly, if you ask any well-informed Arsenal fan what has been the biggest problem area for us since we’ve fallen out of top 4, I’m sure most would highlight the midfield. I’ve seen Arsenal finish runners up with Giroud and Welbeck as starters, I’ve seen Arsenal reach a CL final in 06 with Flamini and Senderos in defence. We were able to achieve that because our midfield was always a strong point and gave us our identity. Now our midfield has lost its identity and power and the timing suggests that started when Xhaka was made a mainstay in our midfield. Look, we got it wrong. It should’ve been Kante and the club doubled-down on Xhaka hoping he could one day turn things around. He just won’t take us to where we need to go.
 

RunTheTrap

Kai Havertz Offense League
you are confusing the symptom with the cause.

It was a period of turbulence. there was a takeover by unambitious walmart ownership. There was a cacophony of whining brexity fans who felt top4 was an insult. There were billionaires and shekhs and crazy money sloshing in. We couldnt even retain Sanchez who pretty much went on strike nor could we buy Vardy.

This is in addition to the traditional bent refereeing, whoremongering media and injury and assault on our players.

Into this entered a 23 yr old midfielder. He is in his fifth season here. He has stood in the heart of midfield and done whatever was asked of him.

Its strange that somehow for 5 yrs, the club hasnt been able to upgrade on him. Suggest you open your eyes and place the blame on the ownership, where it belongs.
We did, it’s just that he’s been very injury prone this season. If Xhaka was indeed working, why would we spend £50 million on a 27 year old midfielder? This reminds me of the Lacazette-Auba transfer. We buy Lacazette and soon realise he’s a dud, so we buy Auba to try and get the best out of Lacazette. But, here’s the kicker. It doesn’t matter how good Auba makes Lacazette look, at the end of the day we need to get the best out of Auba and Lacazette doesn’t do that. Partey may get the best out of Xhaka but Xhaka doesn’t get the best out of him. The next midfielder we buy will be the true replacement of Xhaka. Whether he stays or not is the question.
Look at the midfielders we’ve brought in since Xhaka has been here. Clearly the club saw it as a problem area and they did try to either A) help him or B) replace him. We got it wrong and that’s why I believe the club decided to go for established quality in Partey than another Guendouzi/Torreira experiment. That’s more of a criticism of our recruitment rather than an appraisal of Xhaka btw.
 
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Macho

In search of Pure Profit 💸
Dusted 🔻

Country: England
To me it just looks like a certain group are homeless now that Özil is gone and have gathered their energies and set up here.

It will be interesting what they will say the day Xhaka leaves and the club is still whatever. The lot of them will probably camp in some other players thread.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
It's a matter of time before he implodes at a pivotal moment for us.
Guess is time for him to pull one of his mindless Xhaka moments? Would rather he does it now and gets it out of his system before we get deeper into Europa.
How long does he have to go without a major mistake for his next one to just be a blip and not confirmation that he's a ticking time bomb?

We're currently seeing a new mature Xhaka and he's going to make mistakes like every single footballer out there. It's not fair to wait for his next mistake (providing they happen infrequently) then use that to say 'same old Xhaka'. What's the criteria?
 

Ash10

Chairman of the Bum Brigade
After every standard Xhaka calamity his fanboys act like they'll never fall for his antics again & they're done with him. But as soon as he starts giving average/above average performances they fall back into that vortex of Xhaka mania. This cycle has been going on for five years, the only thing that changed during that time is our status as a club. Season after season, calamity after calamity but these people just can't help themselves

A top club never wanted him, a top club would've binned this guy by now but we are not a top club anymore so yeah let's be thankful for this piece of mediocrity we've been blessed with for 5 goddamn seasons
 

EmeryCouldnt

Established Member
I feel like
you are confusing the symptom with the cause.

It was a period of turbulence. there was a takeover by unambitious walmart ownership. There was a cacophony of whining brexity fans who felt top4 was an insult. There were billionaires and shekhs and crazy money sloshing in. We couldnt even retain Sanchez who pretty much went on strike nor could we buy Vardy.

This is in addition to the traditional bent refereeing, whoremongering media and injury and assault on our players.

Into this entered a 23 yr old midfielder. He is in his fifth season here. He has stood in the heart of midfield and done whatever was asked of him.

Its strange that somehow for 5 yrs, the club hasnt been able to upgrade on him. Suggest you open your eyes and place the blame on the ownership, where it belongs.

We need to make a distinction between saying Xhaka isn't good enough to remain here vs blaming Xhaka personally. I think most people are saying he isn't good enough. Xhaka not being good enough has contributed to our fall. You're right that it isn't really Xhaka's fault. It's not like he isn't trying. But our midfield dropped several levels when he became a starter. Are you denying that?
 

EmeryCouldnt

Established Member
After every standard Xhaka calamity his fanboys act like they'll never fall for his antics again & they're done with him. But as soon as he starts giving average/above average performances they fall back into that vortex of Xhaka mania. This cycle has been going on for five years, the only thing that changed during that time is our status as a club. Season after season, calamity after calamity but these people just can't help themselves

A top club never wanted him, a top club would've binned this guy by now but we are not a top club anymore so yeah let's be thankful for this piece of mediocrity we've been blessed with for 5 goddamn seasons

I was excited when we got him. He was a Swiss captain with a cool name. Then I saw him play.....
 

kash2

More Consistent Than Arteta
To me it just looks like a certain group are homeless now that Özil is gone and have gathered their energies and set up here.

It will be interesting what they will say the day Xhaka leaves and the club is still whatever. The lot of them will probably camp in some other players thread.
i think its called "wedge politics"
 

kash2

More Consistent Than Arteta
I feel like


We need to make a distinction between saying Xhaka isn't good enough to remain here vs blaming Xhaka personally. I think most people are saying he isn't good enough. Xhaka not being good enough has contributed to our fall. You're right that it isn't really Xhaka's fault. It's not like he isn't trying. But our midfield dropped several levels when he became a starter. Are you denying that?
not fair to expect the song denilson heights to be replicated.
 

RacingPhoton

Established Member
How long does he have to go without a major mistake for his next one to just be a blip and not confirmation that he's a ticking time bomb?

We're currently seeing a new mature Xhaka and he's going to make mistakes like every single footballer out there. It's not fair to wait for his next mistake (providing they happen infrequently) then use that to say 'same old Xhaka'. What's the criteria?
But he just made a mistake against Leicester. The criteria is his rate of making mistakes is abnormal compared to every other player.
 

Rasmi

Negative Nancy

Country: England
But he just made a mistake against Leicester. The criteria is his rate of making mistakes is abnormal compared to every other player.
He lost the ball around the halfway pitch. It was a minor mistake that should never lead to a goal. The real mistake was done by el neny and Mari who just back off and watched a guy walk into the pen area and shoot. If one of those two acted like normal player we wouldn’t talk about this
 

Jury

A-M's drunk uncle
To me it just looks like a certain group are homeless now that Özil is gone and have gathered their energies and set up here.

It will be interesting what they will say the day Xhaka leaves and the club is still whatever. The lot of them will probably camp in some other players thread.
As massive anti-Özil like you were, you must also include yourself in this mysterious group that clearly did not migrate to this thread.

Who are these posters that have popped up that weren’t here long ago?

A few said that would happen as a side swipe months ago, but it clearly did not happen. That must irk you and the others. Stop talking bollocks :lol:
 

Blood on the Tracks

AG's best friend, role model and mentor.
Trusted ⭐

Country: England

Player:Rice
How long does he have to go without a major mistake for his next one to just be a blip and not confirmation that he's a ticking time bomb?

We're currently seeing a new mature Xhaka and he's going to make mistakes like every single footballer out there. It's not fair to wait for his next mistake (providing they happen infrequently) then use that to say 'same old Xhaka'. What's the criteria?

There were a couple of 2-3 months spell under Wenger when we were seeing the 'new mature Xhaka', then he reverted back to type. Same under Emery and there was a similar spell under Arteta last season.

I'm not saying he's never allowed to make a mistake again but you have to judge players in the context of their career history. I see no reason to think that at the age of 28 Xhaka has suddenly unlocked the ability to play at this level consistently when we've been through these good spells before and each time he's dropped off again.

If you're making the case that this is now Xhaka's level and not a purple patch, history is very much against you.
 
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RacingPhoton

Established Member
He lost the ball around the halfway pitch. It was a minor mistake that should never lead to a goal. The real mistake was done by el neny and Mari who just back off and watched a guy walk into the pen area and shoot. If one of those two acted like normal player we wouldn’t talk about this
Mari does have to take some blame for it. The reason Xhaka has the all time record for errors leading to goal is that Xhaka loses the ball in that manner in situations where you don't expect to lose possession that catches the entire team off guard. One moment you are preparing yourself to go forward on an attack and the next moment, the possession is with the other team that's running at you for the goal. There has been many times our defence has saved us. But if he loses it at this rate, we are bound to let goals in.
 

Riou

In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over

Country: Northern Ireland

Player:Gabriel
19 seasons of Champions League football in a row, before signing Granit...0 seasons of Champions League football in 4 attempts, after signing Granit.

"Xhaka, the numbers don't lie and they spell disaster for you!"
 

Macho

In search of Pure Profit 💸
Dusted 🔻

Country: England
I see no reason to think that at the age of 28 Xhaka has suddenly unlocked the ability to play at this level consistently when we've been through these good spells before and each time he's dropped off again.
Not saying this is necessary the case for Xhaka, but this genuinely happens all the time in football. More so in central midfield/defensive positions.
 
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