Our best CM. Mistakes and all. Xhaka I love you.
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Granit Xhaka: 2019/20 Performances
- Thread starter Ricardinho
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Manberg
Predator
Natural leader. Terrific.
Batman
Head of the Wayne foundation for benching Nketiah
Country: USA
Player:Saliba
Arteta has him looking like a competent footballer again but if we actually had any ambition he would not be playing let alone sadly our best central midfielder. We won't sniff top 4 until players of his level are squaddies again.
BigPoppaPump
Reeling from Laca & Kos nightmares
I think it's time we all agree that @Erlis won in the end.
Country: USA
Player:Saliba
The 3 man defence means he doesn't have to do as much covering of full backs which exposes his lack of pace and agility. He also had a more athletic partner in Willock than he usually does with Guendouzi, Torreira or Ceballos.
It comes at the expense of our attacking threat though and we shouldn't have to do that much work to mask the limitations of one player. 5 of our next 6 games are against Leicester, Liverpool, Sp**s, Wolves and City though so we will need his vocal leadership as he does seem to be a positive influence in that respect.
Country: England
You could make Xhaka work in a title winning team imo, definitely in a CL level team. We have many players that you can't say that about.
The 'we haven't been in the CL since Xhaka arrived' is one of the funniest arguments I've read on here. Not saying that's what you said btw but I've seen it floating around.
Jury
A-M's drunk uncle
He’s still rubbish and his performances since he’s been back, at best, have been bland and average as ****. But we’ve blundered our way past the might of Southampton and Sheffield Utd, so it has to be all down to Xhaka.
Country: England
Player:Saliba
He's not the best. But there's a lot needs to leave before him.
In a 3 man midfield with two other solid players and two reasonable CBs behind him, his passing ability could actually be an asset.
Riou
In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over
Country: Northern Ireland
Player:Gabriel
The word fans, shouldn't be in quotation marks though, fans have the right to boo.
RacingPhoton
Established Member
Fans who think he had a great performance should rewatch the match, especially the 86th minute. Saka passes back the ball to Xhaka. And Xhaka in our own half has his usual brain fart, he lifts the straight to Freeman who is in front of him. The ball hits Freeman's head and falls on the plate for Mcgoldrick. Xhaka tries out his funny tackle on Mcgoldrick who easily retains the ball. This leads to Sheffield attack that goes out for a throw and eventually the goal.
Of course, Xhaka is not directly responsible for the goal. It was Kolasinac's fault. But Xhaka does these mistakes regularly and these mistakes hurt the team. For all this, we just get his passing back to keeper and passing ball to the wings in return. And for this, posters are praising him like he gave a man of the match performance.
Of course, Xhaka is not directly responsible for the goal. It was Kolasinac's fault. But Xhaka does these mistakes regularly and these mistakes hurt the team. For all this, we just get his passing back to keeper and passing ball to the wings in return. And for this, posters are praising him like he gave a man of the match performance.
Jury
A-M's drunk uncle
I’d probably play him anyway fwiw, as I would Özil too... but I won’t pretend his presence in our midfield only has positives. When you’ve got a bunch of average, limited midfielders with glaring weaknesses, you could put any three together on any given day and you’ll get varying degrees of nothing over a period with the only guarantee being you won’t beat anyone decent and you’ll lose far more often than you can stomach.
If we had two midfielders of genuine quality beside him, it would be an injustice to the two quality midfielders and the need to get rid of Xhaka would be greater.
Country: England
Yes he's our best midfielder. And that's a big problem.
Football Manager
Copy & Paste Merchant
Who else in our team can dictate the tempo and make a Scholes/Alonso-ish pass?
I'm not against selling him, but at least we should have a replacement before doing so, a replacement like Tonali, who can serve the same tactical purpose.
Do you understand why managers (pre-arsenal, arsenal and international) all like to use Xhaka? He has a quality that serves a tactical purpose that only few players can replicate.
Tactical details is the most important aspect of the game in a manger’s or in a sophisticated fan’s eyes.
It’s like having a team with 11 Mertesacker, and you want to play counter attack football. One day Walcott joins your team. Yes, Walcott always makes mistakes, he is a **** footballer and he always loses possession. But he serves the tactical purpose, and you would be happy to have him in your team.
What is in a manager’s mind?
Opponent set a high defensive line, I need Auba’s pace to exploit the space behind during counter attack. If Auba makes a run to exploit the space, who can make that 40 yards long pass to initiate the attack? Xhaka. Who else can? No one. If you don’t play Xhaka, your tactics is dead. As simple as this. Unless “if” guendouzi is capable of doing the same type of pass, and guendouzi make less mistakes than Xhaka, then I would always prefer to play guendouzi.
No one says Xhaka is the best, but with the midfielders we are having now, he should be the first midfielder named on the starting lineup. If you think tactically, it’s hard not to see that this is the most logical choice. And it’s not just me, every managers he previously played with was thinking the same way, that’s why they picked him to play.
If we buy prime iniesta, Xhaka would still be here. If we buy prime gattuso, Xhaka would still be here. Because they can’t replace his tactical purpose. I don’t understand why most of you are so simple minded and just won’t think tactically. Unless if we get someone like Tonali or Cuisance to replace him, he will be played in almost every game. It’s fine to say he is not good enough or needed to be replaced. But at the moment, you can’t deny that he is a very important player to the team.
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RacingPhoton
Established Member
I am not against playing him. But that doesn't make him a great player. All managers are playing him because we don't have options. All other options we have are too young or have other problems. My problem is with the praise he receives for his mediocre and below average performances like they were MoM performances.
Furious
Emery Gone, Telly Back On
Exactly that's your problem, you're making things up in your head.
#254
Well-Known Member
Where can I catch the replay? Couldn't watch the match.
RacingPhoton
Established Member
One just has to scroll up and read.
Ash10
Chairman of the Bum Brigade
We've been pointing these things out for so long.....but the problem is his blind worshippers won't ever see those things or will just willfully ignore them. No matter what he does he'll be the bestest midfielder in the world to them
Shalmaneser V
Active Member
IMO one of the first names on the sheet.....
The transfer list sheet.
The transfer list sheet.
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