Granit Xhaka: 2019/20 Performances

[lomekian]

And you cut the previous sentence of why?



He has been a mainstay in the team during a period where we've been poor. My position is:

He is partially responsible for team poor performances (you could argue as he's played the most he is more responsible) as can be seen by his mediocre and poor performances contributing to us not competing which is evidenced by our league position in conjunction with his and others' performances.

Your position seems to be he's just never had the right team situation so you can't hold him responsible at all??

I suppose the counter is that can he be held responsible for his part in the team's decline when for 2/3 of his time here he's been used stupidly by managers trying to make him something he isn't. Arsène tried to make him a box to box player, and Emery tried to use him as if he was N'Golo Kante in one of the most stupid deployments of a player I have seen in 33 years of following this team. Up there with Cygan on the left wing.

 

[DanDare]

I suppose the counter is that can he be held responsible for his part in the team's decline when for 2/3 of his time here he's been used stupidly by managers trying to make him something he isn't. Arsène tried to make him a box to box player, and Emery tried to use him as if he was N'Golo Kante in one of the most stupid deployments of a player I have seen in 33 years of following this team. Up there with Cygan on the left wing.

Well ultimately I'm basing my opinion of him on last performance. You can qualify his time here in different ways.

Hoping he'll be better with Arteta based on how he has performed under him is hopeful.

Im basing my opinion on a large body of evidence with slightly low specificity (past systems and different managers). Your argument I think is to view him based on the much smaller body of evidence (Artetas time) but which has higher specificity.

 

[Riou]

No they don't.

Coquelin was an effective partner for Cazorla because he was good at the things Cazorla wasn't...mostly around the physical ball winning side of the game.

Now I like Coquelin from the day he turned up as a teenager, but tactically and technically he was always limited, and was only good for us alongside Santi or alongside Jack and was poor alongside anyone else.

But any EPL level player with good physical attributes and a true team ethic would look good alongside Santi.

My post was a little tongue and cheek tbf, though I believe Coq was better than Xhaka for us.

You could also say that until Coquelin came into the team, our technical players were suffering as they had no one to do the dirty work for them to thrive.

And you can't not give Coq praise by saying any player would have done well beside Santi, how would you praise any player then?

"There is no point praising Cazorla today, as if we had Iniesta we would be doing even better"

Any player would have done well playing next to Santi, but Coq was that player who actually did it for us, you can't not praise him for his form then.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

My post was a little tongue and cheek tbf, though I believe Coq was better than Xhaka for us.

You could also say that until Coquelin came into the team, our technical players were suffering as they had no one to do the dirty work for them to thrive.

And you can't not give Coq praise by saying any player would have done well beside Santi, how would you praise any player then?

"There is no point praising Cazorla today, as if we had Iniesta we would be doing even better"

Any player would have done well playing next to Santi, but Coq was that player who actually did it for is, you can't not praise him for his form then.

You need to stop living in the past, every single post in about something that happened years ago. It's because of people like you we keep getting sequels and remakes of movies no one wants to see.

 

[Riou]

You need to stop living in the past, every single post in about something that happened years ago. It's because of people like you we keep getting sequels and remakes of movies no one wants to see.

I hate those types of remakes and sequels too...there is a difference between appreciating what happened in the past, and exploiting the past for money.

 

[Rex Stone]

You need to stop living in the past, every single post in about something that happened years ago. It's because of people like you we keep getting sequels and remakes of movies no one wants to see.

I blame @Riou for all those sh*te transformers and Jurassic Park sequels.

 

[krackpot]

The worst thing about getting Özil and not getting Di Maria is that we probably would've picked up Fabregas the following year as we would have needed an attacking midfielder. Say what you want about Di Maria but he was lethal on the counter attack. Fabregas with prime Ramsey, Cazorla, Di Maria and Sanchez would've been amazing. Even Giroud would've been banging in goals for fun with that setup.

yeah, Di Maria is a much better crosser.

But he is woeful in every other aspect.

 

[razörist]

yeah, Di Maria is a much better crosser.

But he is woeful in every other aspect.

Remember Di Maria in his last year playing in a three man midfield? That’s how I see Saka’s future here!

 

[krackpot]

Remember Di Maria in his last year playing in a three man midfield? That’s how I see Saka’s future here!

Crazy! Hopefully Saka can exceed him.

Willock is a much more natural comparison I feel to ADM.

 

[razörist]

Crazy! Hopefully Saka can exceed him.

Willock is a much more natural comparison I feel to ADM.

Nahh Saka is a leftie too, and the natural crossing ability they both have, the body type.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

 

[EduardoWeLoveYou]

Xhaka—Partey
———Özil

A midfield I would love to see but know won’t happen. Xhaka has cemented his place in midfield for me.

 

[lomekian]

Well ultimately I'm basing my opinion of him on last performance. You can qualify his time here in different ways.

Hoping he'll be better with Arteta based on how he has performed under him is hopeful.

Im basing my opinion on a large body of evidence with slightly low specificity (past systems and different managers). Your argument I think is to view him based on the much smaller body of evidence (Artetas time) but which has higher specificity.

Ish. I thought he was misused for much of his time at the club, and under Emery it drove me mad.
Xhaka is a player with fairly clear strengths and limitations, and if you utilise him in a way that accentuates those limitations like Emery, your better off picking someone else.

 

[lomekian]

My post was a little tongue and cheek tbf, though I believe Coq was better than Xhaka for us.

You could also say that until Coquelin came into the team, our technical players were suffering as they had no one to do the dirty work for them to thrive.

And you can't not give Coq praise by saying any player would have done well beside Santi, how would you praise any player then?

"There is no point praising Cazorla today, as if we had Iniesta we would be doing even better"

Any player would have done well playing next to Santi, but Coq was that player who actually did it for us, you can't not praise him for his form then.

I didn't say any player, I said any player with the right attributes. Coq was a good fit with Santi because his strengths were Santi's weaknesses and visa versa. But Le Coq's strengths are not nearly as hard to find as Santi's.

Like I said, I liked Coquelin, but in the absence of Santi or Jack as partner he wasn't good enough. My tuppence is Xhaka hasn't really had the right partner (a mobile, physical, ball carrier), but has been better for us than Coq was without Santi.

Its not as if either are Vieira or Petit!

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

Gotta love a redemption story. He's been pretty solid recently. Still doesn't offer much going forward, but he's a big part of our improved performances.

 

[Godwin1]

One of his stale turd performances.

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Yes 2nd half was poor but same can be said about Ceballos. In first half xhaka didn't put foot wrong won many 50/50 some intelligent passing

 

[MutableEarth]

Don't have many complaints about his performance other than the usual. He was fine until the 2nd half when we were under the cosh.

 

[krengon]

Played 90 min in all the games since his return I think. Could do with a breather soon, but don't really have any other options..

 

[Godwin1]

Don't have many complaints about his performance other than the usual. He was fine until the 2nd half when we were under the cosh.

It wasn't a continuation of his recent good form unfortunately and while he didn't make many errors I don't think he offered us anything today.