Granit Xhaka: 2019/20 Performances

[Ricardinho]

Doesn't make the cut in the POTM vote put forward by the club. Bit strange considering we had people saying he was best midfielder in the two games he played out of our three fixtures

 

[<<reed>>]

Imagine giving a **** about the POTM voting

 

[RacingPhoton]

Hugely important player and having one of his mould is vital to the way the biggest teams operate. A deeper midfielder tasked with combining good ball distribution and show decent defensive capabilities.

Yes he has made mistakes but these are not major structural impairments in his game, these are easily rectifiable. The fact remains he is still our best performing midfielder, as he was last season. An awful lot is asked of players in Xhaka’s position and with his skill set (think of the responsibilities Busquets, Pjanic, Kroos/Casemiro, Fernandinho etc are tasked with). Getting the midfield balance right is our biggest challenge at the moment. For me, it’s best to go with a flat 3 midfield:

Ceballos-Xhaka
Torreira

This 3 offers great balance and I think will bring the best out of all of them collectively. Puts a lot of responsibility on the front 3 to make things happen with a midfield playing slightly deeper but we have enough talent there that I believe the setup will work. Days of 4231 are slowly coming to an end at the top level. You need a full 3 in midfield to compete

His mistakes have cost us points and took us out of top 4. We have lost matches we should have won because of his mistakes. You can't just ignore it as they are not major structural impairments. Xhaka is mentally weak, slow and afraid. He cannot handle a press. In PL, this is a major structural impairment. Willock can easily fill up his place and do a lot better.

 

[Trilly]

Willock can easily fill up his place and do a lot better.

No he can’t?

Their skill-sets are as different as can be.

 

[Furious]

Imagine giving a **** about the POTM voting

 

[RacingPhoton]

L

No he can’t?

Their skill-sets are as different as can be.

Willock has the skills needed for PL.

 

[Furious]

L

Holding that L as per usual.

 

[RacingPhoton]

Holding that L as per usual.

That was just me calling you a loser. Glad you saw that.

 

[Trilly]

Some ridiculous posting in here.

 

[MikeVinna]

If it were up to me he’d only play home games. However, apparently Emery trusts him enough to play every game. Even the ones he drowns in.

 

[Leo_ense_]

If it were up to me he’d only play home games. However, apparently Emery trust him enough to play every game. Even the ones he drowns in.

Yeah, sure, it’s just a coincidence that every coach he has played under has placed massive faith and responsibility on his shoulders

 

[Big Poppa]

Yeah, sure, it’s just a coincidence that every coach he has played under has placed massive faith and responsibility on his shoulders

And as a consequence they've achieved what?

 

[Leo_ense_]

And as a consequence they've achieved what?

Well Gladbach and the Swiss outperformed continuously with Xhaka a key cog in both. Arsenal on the other hand have been in transition after a management constant of 20 years

 

[Big Poppa]

Well Gladbach and the Swiss outperformed continuously with Xhaka a key cog in both. Arsenal on the other hand have been in transition after a management constant of 20 years

Lol a bit of a myth.

He had a mare in the first half of his career at Gladbach. So much so they tried to loan him out to Stoke.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9735135/granit-xhaka-arsenal-stoke-loan-gladbach/

They had that one amazing season in 2014/15 finishing 3rd but the following year, Xhaka's last, Gladbach lost 13 games and scraped top 4 with 55 points and Favre was forced to resign.

Now, I'm not saying it was his fault but this was not N'golo Kante winning back to back titles in the heart of midfield for two teams that struggled in previous years. He had a decent season and played well in a team with very low expectations.

Yes Arsenal have been in transition for 20 years but the last 5 have been progressively worse, especially in away performances.

Again, not at all solely on Xhaka but in the 3 seasons he's been here, can you honestly say he's a better player now than when he arrived?

 

[Dennis_Bergkamp_10]

Lol a bit of a myth.

He had a mare in the first half of his career at Gladbach. So much so they tried to loan him out to Stoke.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9735135/granit-xhaka-arsenal-stoke-loan-gladbach/

They had that one amazing season in 2014/15 finishing 3rd but the following year, Xhaka's last, Gladbach lost 13 games and scraped top 4 with 55 points and Favre was forced to resign.

Now, I'm not saying it was his fault but this was not N'golo Kante winning back to back titles in the heart of midfield for two teams that struggled in previous years. He had a decent season and played well in a team with very low expectations.

Yes Arsenal have been in transition for 20 years but the last 5 have been progressively worse, especially in away performances.

Again, not at all solely on Xhaka but in the 3 seasons he's been here, can you honestly say he's a better player now than when he arrived?

Excellent post.

 

[RacingPhoton]

Lol a bit of a myth.

He had a mare in the first half of his career at Gladbach. So much so they tried to loan him out to Stoke.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9735135/granit-xhaka-arsenal-stoke-loan-gladbach/

They had that one amazing season in 2014/15 finishing 3rd but the following year, Xhaka's last, Gladbach lost 13 games and scraped top 4 with 55 points and Favre was forced to resign.

Now, I'm not saying it was his fault but this was not N'golo Kante winning back to back titles in the heart of midfield for two teams that struggled in previous years. He had a decent season and played well in a team with very low expectations.

Yes Arsenal have been in transition for 20 years but the last 5 have been progressively worse, especially in away performances.

Again, not at all solely on Xhaka but in the 3 seasons he's been here, can you honestly say he's a better player now than when he arrived?

Wow. These guys actually had me believe the Gladbach myth. Thanks for bringing light on the truth.

There is no use arguing with the fanboys. There are two stupid arguments they bring to the table
1) If he is so bad, why did the managers keep playing him. We did regularly play Mustafi, Walcott and even Flamini for a long period. And as you mentioned, playing him regularly took us out of top 4. That guy's brainfarts have lost us matches in seasons where we were just 1/2 points behind fourth position. For this comes their second argument.
2) He has "some" weaknesses but they are overshadowed by some "good qualities". The only good quality he has is playing those long balls. But we never benefitted out of them. And nothing can ever justify his record for most errors leading to goals and most penalties conceded.
3) He is a great leader. This is the most laughable argument. For me, a leader is someone who other players look up to. If I do this and turn back to other players and command them, would they respect me?

And there are some fans like Erlis who claim that he is a great defender with excellent passing ability and as fast as light.

 

[Taneruit]

Please stop talking about the swiss national team if you have no idea. Xhaka showed his leadership abilities multiple times and definitly has helped us multiple times out in other situations. Our problems lie up top.

If you're so keen on pointing out the portugal goal, how about pointing something recent as well. The 3:3 against Eriksen's demark where Xhaka managed to keep a team of very young players (as we had a lot of injuries) organized and steady. The MINUTE he also went off (injury as well, bad day). Denmark turned a 3:0 in favor of Switzerland into a 3:3 in the last 10 minutes, because nobody on the field had leadership experience.

I mean, that doesn't excuse his mistakes at Arsenal and we do need to upgrade down the line, but for ****s sake. Theres a reason he's the captain of Switzerland. And he is respected on the field by everyone.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

I don't why we're all jumping on Xhaka now, has something happened? Did I miss something? Easy scapegoat. Lets ignore that Torreira's had about 3 decent games in 2019, he deserves to be starting at the base of the midfield. Ceballos also deserves to start because he was decent against Burnley even tho it looked like he never played football in his life vs Liverpool and his cameo vs Newcastle was also quite poor. Then there's the two inexperienced guys in Guendouzi and Willock.

Like I said before, he's the first name of the team-sheet. People can look at one error and use it as a stick to beat him for months on end after it happened all they want. He was our best midfielder vs Liverpool and one of the few who seemed capable of doing the job he was asked to do. Made a few decent interceptions and tackles as well.

I'm not always his biggest fan and I do acknowledge his flaws but the way people are jumping on him for absolutely no reason is ridiculous.

 

[Jae]

Please stop talking about the swiss national team if you have no idea. Xhaka showed his leadership abilities multiple times and definitly has helped us multiple times out in other situations. Our problems lie up top.

You lost me here, because it's the exact opposite.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Anyone who rates Xhaka is just being a contrarian at this point.