BergMan
Betrayed by Xhaka
@AbouCuéllar He never made a huge amount of errors in the first place. I have seen Partey make more errors this season than Xhaka did on average when he was in a DM in a double pivot. But the reason Xhaka’s lesser amount of errors lead to goals yet Partey and Gabriel’s this season didn’t is simply because the team is much better, in many different ways.
And I remember using this argument with you long ago, that Xhaka was simply no where near as error prone as people made him out to be. I define errors as misplaced passes or dispossessions. You measure them out of a total number of actions (e.g total passes) and the actual number of errors have always been low. This incorrect perception of Xhaka to have been error prone seems to form the major basis of your argument.
When Xhaka was playing in Germany he was being directly compared to Xabi Alonso (who was playing for Bayern), and the plaudits for Xhaka was very high indeed. In Spain or Italy Xhaka would have been seen as identical to Alonso or Pirlo etc, in that similar role of a regista as part of a double pivot. They would never have played Alonso or Pirlo as a single pivot they know that to be su!cide, yet Wenger elected to do it with Granit when there was a lack of options.
I do agree with your point that Xhaka’s lesser overall stats this season is due to his different role. It leads to question whether you use stats that compare midfielders or stats that compare forwards to analyse him. Xhaka’s not going to fair favourably in any crab stat analysis this season due to his role, despite him playing such an important role in the team. Things like distance covered and tactical runs made don’t measure in these stats.
I simply made the point because I find it ironic and funny. That based on stats you normally use to analyse midfielders, it’s his worst season at the club yet the best in terms of the reception and praise he’s getting.
And I remember using this argument with you long ago, that Xhaka was simply no where near as error prone as people made him out to be. I define errors as misplaced passes or dispossessions. You measure them out of a total number of actions (e.g total passes) and the actual number of errors have always been low. This incorrect perception of Xhaka to have been error prone seems to form the major basis of your argument.
When Xhaka was playing in Germany he was being directly compared to Xabi Alonso (who was playing for Bayern), and the plaudits for Xhaka was very high indeed. In Spain or Italy Xhaka would have been seen as identical to Alonso or Pirlo etc, in that similar role of a regista as part of a double pivot. They would never have played Alonso or Pirlo as a single pivot they know that to be su!cide, yet Wenger elected to do it with Granit when there was a lack of options.
I do agree with your point that Xhaka’s lesser overall stats this season is due to his different role. It leads to question whether you use stats that compare midfielders or stats that compare forwards to analyse him. Xhaka’s not going to fair favourably in any crab stat analysis this season due to his role, despite him playing such an important role in the team. Things like distance covered and tactical runs made don’t measure in these stats.
I simply made the point because I find it ironic and funny. That based on stats you normally use to analyse midfielders, it’s his worst season at the club yet the best in terms of the reception and praise he’s getting.
