Granit Xhaka: 2019/20 Performances

[DanDare]

Being better with Xhaka isn't justification for him. Were mid table with him, relegation without

Neither is good enough

 

[NZgunner]

Not playing has suddenly made him a 'great' player with 'terrific' passing

yeah, I've really noticed how much Xhaka gets talked up when he's not in the team - guess it's a lot easier to praise him when he's not committing stupid fouls or giving away goals every other week

 

[NZgunner]

Xhaka without Torreira is just another bum, Torreira without Xhaka wasn't that impressive either. The two of them together would push us to another level, but one without the other has never worked out for us.

Xhaka and Torreira would make a great pairing in Serie A, but neither is good enough for the Premier League - Xhaka is just too ponderous and slow, Torreira can't handle the week in week out physicality

 

[Oxeki]

This fan base is weird.

Some time ago he was our worst midfielder. Now all of a sudden he's missed two games that we list and he's suddenly a top midfielder.

He's trash. He's one of the reason our midfield looks poor.

It seems some fans are unwilling to let him go.

I won't be surprised when some fans have sellers remorse when the club decided to sell Mustafi ffs

 

[GoonerJay24]

Being better with Xhaka isn't justification for him. Were mid table with him, relegation without

Neither is good enough

When Xhaka came back into the team we started to put some wins together again and defensively were fairly solid

I don't get that comment at all

 

[Maybe]

I won't be surprised when some fans have sellers remorse when the club decided to sell Mustafi ffs

I've already seen posts where people expect Mustafi to play next to Saliba

 

[RunTheTrap]

When Xhaka came back into the team we started to put some wins together again and defensively were fairly solid

I don't get that comment at all

We won 4 league games: United H, Everton H, Newcastle H and West Ham H. We drew against 5 other league games with Xhaka in the side. We have yet to lose a league game with Xhaka in the side but we did lose at home Olympiacos at home. So while it’s true we are harder to beat when he’s in the starting line up, we still don’t win the games we are supposed to. One reason for that is because of Xhaka’s limitations we have to play a much more compact and defensive shape which barely allows for us to create.

 

[RunTheTrap]

Love the fact how fans oversimplify the absence of Xhaka, especially because the same thing was happening with Özil many times.
No, Xhaka returning to this squad won't make us 1% better than what we are currently.
But, Xhaka and Torreira together, that's something different. Observing the last 2 seasons, it looks like that was the only functional midfield we've had until Emery started to experiment with Torreira by pushing him forward.

Xhaka without Torreira is just another bum, Torreira without Xhaka wasn't that impressive either. The two of them together would push us to another level, but one without the other has never worked out for us.

Xhaka and Torreira was involved in some of our most “basketball games” we ever had under Emery. Football was way to end to end for my liking and as other people have described it, it was a Frankenstein midfield pairing. I personally think, losing Iwobi and Mkhitaryan exposed the weaknesses of this midfield by a tenfold. While Iwobi and Mkhitaryan weren’t the best players, their ability to tuck in and help out the midfield meant we weren’t always exposed to counters. Losing them for more wide forwards like Pepe who didn’t want to come infield meant more space and holes in midfield. It also, exposed the lack of running power the two have. My theory was that Emery who was a 4-3-2-1 man saw this and basically chopped and changed unsuccessfully to fix this problem.

 

[Maybe]

Xhaka and Torreira was involved in some of our most “basketball games” we ever had under Emery. Football was way to end to end for my liking and as other people have described it, it was a Frankenstein midfield pairing

It turned into that only when Torreira was pushed forward. Think we need to separate the two periods. People often mix up and make opinions on Torreira when he was b2b midfielder. He was amazing at the beginning and crap when pushed forward, and with that, their partnership broke.
As for Iwobi and Mkhi, I kind of agree, but nobody was expecting that we will never replace them at the time. Auba is not a replacement for Iwobi, and while Pepe is an improvement over Mkhi, our managers did a horrible job managing this player.

 

[RunTheTrap]

It turned into that only when Torreira was pushed forward. Think we need to separate the two periods. People often mix up and make opinions on Torreira when he was b2b midfielder. He was amazing at the beginning and crap when pushed forward, and with that, their partnership broke.
As for Iwobi and Mkhi, I kind of agree, but nobody was expecting that we will never replace them at the time. Auba is not a replacement for Iwobi, and while Pepe is an improvement over Mkhi, our managers did a horrible job managing this player.

I agree with that but overall I just don’t think a Xhaka-Torreira pivot will ever give us the intensity or the quality we need to be a top 4 team

 

[shootxhakashoot]

Love the fact how fans oversimplify the absence of Xhaka, especially because the same thing was happening with Özil many times.
No, Xhaka returning to this squad won't make us 1% better than what we are currently.
But, Xhaka and Torreira together, that's something different. Observing the last 2 seasons, it looks like that was the only functional midfield we've had until Emery started to experiment with Torreira by pushing him forward.

Xhaka without Torreira is just another bum, Torreira without Xhaka wasn't that impressive either. The two of them together would push us to another level, but one without the other has never worked out for us.

Agreed, torreira at the base, still would just prefer someone new with him instead of xhaka. Torreiras going to be sold this summer anyway so we will have to find an adequate replacement surely.

 

[shootxhakashoot]

This fan base is weird.

Some time ago he was our worst midfielder. Now all of a sudden he's missed two games that we list and he's suddenly a top midfielder.

He's trash. He's one of the reason our midfield looks poor.

It seems some fans are unwilling to let him go.

I won't be surprised when some fans have sellers remorse when the club decided to sell Mustafi ffs

Yep these are players who have failed under 3 even 4 managers now and yet still it seems publicly arteta is choosing xhaka as the hill he wants to die on as someone once put it.
If thats the case so be it but with results as they are id give him until christmas unless a major overhaul happens in the summer. Its all well and good publicly supporting some of these players but privately Arteta better be preparing for a firesale of the failures and troublemakers in this squad otherwise hes really not going to last long in his first job. I dont think i can put up with fans turning on and forcing out another manager. Its either that or this bunch of coward players will stab him in the back by downing toolsfor his efforts, like emery, so i dont like his chances if he and the club fails to do the necessary.
I can just see it now as we cant have the players taking the blame for our failures as a club, oh no..
.
E tu mesut, graniiiiit......?

 

[Maybe]

I agree with that but overall I just don’t think a Xhaka-Torreira pivot will ever give us the intensity or the quality we need to be a top 4 team

Yeah, can't argue that, just saying they looked to be the best pairing for the last 2 seasons.
We are probably at the point where we need to rethink our style of football and how we want to play before we make any moves on the market.
I think all of our midfielders have some prons and cons, they are individually OK, but combining their strengths proved to be a very difficult task

 

[shootxhakashoot]

Yeah, can't argue that, just saying they looked to be the best pairing for the last 2 seasons.
We are probably at the point where we need to rethink our style of football and how we want to play before we make any moves on the market.
I think all of our midfielders have some prons and cons, they are individually OK, but combining their strengths proved to be a very difficult task

Exactly and half the problem is both xhaka and torreira are wildly unsuited to the premier league. Torreira is at least smart enough to acknowledge that and wants out. Xhaka will just plough on no matter how low we sink or however much he gets booed.

 

[DanDare]

When Xhaka came back into the team we started to put some wins together again and defensively were fairly solid

I don't get that comment at all

Which part do you not get? Do you think we've been good enough?

Xhaka has been an almost ever present the past few seasons.

 

[Jury]

Imagine thinking we’d have won with Xhaka... Gotta big him up while he’s not playing, though. It’s the only chance you’ll get.

 

[Marjorie]

Nice guy but not good enough. The midfield needs fresh legs in there for us to go in a new direction.

 

[GeorgiaGunner]

Xhaka's importance shows how far the standards have fallen at midfield recently (to say nothing of 10-15 years ago). In 2016, people here were disgusted by his performances when we had Cazorla (for a few games), a prime(ish) Özil, Ramsey, and to a lesser extent Coq, Ox, and even Elneny.

Now he's a must-start.

 

[Ash10]

Imagine thinking we’d have won with Xhaka... Gotta big him up while he’s not playing, though. It’s the only chance you’ll get.

& when he plays he'll have 'great' games for just not making obvious costly mistakes

 

[blaze_of_glory]