Granit Xhaka: Swiss Army Knife or Blunt Tool?

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Hes turned a significant corner but before I get excited, I think we need to assess whether he can carry his own water so to speak. He's been great with Partey (who i believe can play with anyone) but can he hit the same level with someone else? If he can't, then we have to look at alternatives. It's too important a position for a goldilocks player. Atm, the hunt is on for a special player that can partner him and Partey respectively.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Like that Xhaka is sticking it to the Pawson **** on social media. Plus Xhaka has been playing well for a period now. Hope this continues. I am for any player that plays well and stands up for the club and his team mates. Good on him! Hope he keeps it up!

 

[samshere]

Xhaka looking good with a competent partner, without having to shoulder the midfield burden by himself.

 

[celestis]

That 2nd half performance was huge. There is slim to no chance of us selling him. The chemistry between Partey and him is extremely good.

 

[Macho]

Lol this is why Xhaka is Xhaka, he tricks everybody including the manager into thinking he’s turned a corner then he has a meltdown.

One pattern I’ve noticed is Partey raises the game of whoever he plays with (Elneny). I don’t know what the club will do with Xhaka now, I just wish they signed Partey earlier because that partnership looks legit.

I know personally I’d add Bissouma to the mix, so the midfield isn’t completely shot whenever Partey can’t play. I’d make Partey and Bissouma my first choice pairing and keep Xhaka as an option.

At the same time, selling a player whilst they have some value would be a nice change from the club.

 

[kash2]

I've given Xhaka plenty of stick over time but he's now playing his best football for us. His Partnership with Partey is looking really good. Although there may be better options out there I'm happy to keep him in the summer. Let's focus on RB, LB cover, AM unless Ødegaard stays and CF. Hopefully Saliba comes back so no CB required.

midfielder maturing as he enters late 20s shocker.

 

[tap-in]

Lol this is why Xhaka is Xhaka, he tricks everybody including the manager into thinking he’s turned a corner then he has a meltdown.

One pattern I’ve noticed is Partey raises the game of whoever he plays with (Elneny). I don’t know what the club will do with Xhaka now, I just wish they signed Partey earlier because that partnership looks legit.

I know personally I’d add Bissouma to the mix, so the midfield isn’t completely shot whenever Partey can’t play. I’d make Partey and Bissouma my first choice pairing and keep Xhaka as an option.

At the same time, selling a player whilst they have some value would be a nice change from the club.

I'm not against selling Xhaka, I just think RB & CF are a higher priority. If Ødegaard goes back to Madrid then that position also becomes higher priority than CM. LB cover is also a higher priority. If we can sort those positions and have money left then great, get a partner for Partey.

 

[Macho]

I'm not against selling Xhaka, I just think RB & CF are a higher priority. If Ødegaard goes back to Madrid then that position also becomes higher priority than CM. LB cover is also a higher priority. If we can sort those positions and have money left then great, get a partner for Partey.

Think it’s key to get a partner for Partey to be honest. Relying on Elneny/Ceballos and even Xhaka before this form literally cost us points this season.

A few teams in this league have better or atleast comparable central midfield options to us even with Partey starting. Leicester, Southampton, Everton etc off the top of my head and these teams aren’t even really top 4.

Our starting 11 pair at the base should atleast be on the level of Ndidi and Tielamens. Right now it’s like Ward-Prowse and Romeu, one star and one okay midfielder.

 

[Riou]

Be interesting to see what positions we prioritize.

We have a starting CB (Holding) starting midfielder (Xhaka) and starting striker (Laca) that all kind of split the fanbase on whether they should be starters or back ups.

Decisions for Arteta and Edu this summer, as we almost certainly won't be able to replace all of them at once...at least one will go into next season, playing the majority of matches.

 

[tap-in]

Think it’s key to get a partner for Partey to be honest. Relying on Elneny/Ceballos and even Xhaka before this form literally cost us points this season.

A few teams in this league have better or atleast comparable central midfield options to us even with Partey starting. Leicester, Southampton, Everton etc off the top of my head and these teams aren’t even really top 4.

Our starting 11 pair at the base should atleast be on the level of Ndidi and Tielamens. Right now it’s like Ward-Prowse and Romeu, one star and one okay midfielder.

As I said, I'm not against it I just think we have higher priorities eg RB, CF & LB cover.

 

[MikelHadADream]

The thing is with Xhaka he is the type of player that gets better with age, and he is never injured. We've gone through the growing pains with him, and are now starting to get some proper consistent performances. To sell him now would be rendering all those years of patience with him meaningless.

We won't have unlimited funds this summer, and looking at the team now, I'd like to secure the best possible forward available before we start considering other positions. I think that's what takes us up a level.

 

[Taneruit]

The thing is with Xhaka he is the type of player that gets better with age, and he is never injured. We've gone through the growing pains with him, and are now starting to get some proper consistent performances. To sell him now would be rendering all those years of patience with him meaningless.

In addition it's not like we have provided him with an appropriate partner during his time here until Partey. All our old CM's faded away fast after he came here with only really Ramsey (who he won the FA cup alongside) remaining and we know how that ended in 2018.

After that we got Torreira (Glimpses, but purely a destroyer), Guendouzi (Talented, but with lots of issues and some horrific positioning), Willock and Elneny.

Ceballos was really the closest to a good partner (and why I'm glad that he's fit again to slot in for either Xhaka or Partey if needed), playing some nice football towards the end of last season.

With Partey now, you not only have the ideal type of profile next to him, but a world class player at that. It's still too early to really judge, but the continuing improvement when they play together and how we now seem to attack from all over the pitch instead of skewed to one side does bring up excitement. Hopefully it continues to work and improve.

 

[MikelHadADream]

In addition it's not like we have provided him with an appropriate partner during his time here until Partey. All our old CM's faded away fast after he came here with only really Ramsey (who he won the FA cup alongside) remaining and we know how that ended in 2018.

After that we got Torreira (Glimpses, but purely a destroyer), Guendouzi (Talented, but with lots of issues and some horrific positioning), Willock and Elneny.

Ceballos was really the closest to a good partner (and why I'm glad that he's fit again to slot in for either Xhaka or Partey if needed), playing some nice football towards the end of last season.

With Partey now, you not only have the ideal type of profile next to him, but a world class player at that. It's still too early to really judge, but the continuing improvement when they play together and how we now seem to attack from all over the pitch instead of skewed to one side does bring up excitement. Hopefully it continues to work and improve.

Yeah that's a fair point, although I do think in his early days here 2016-2018 he was very raw, it showed in his positioning and choice of pass.

But he did have some really good performances next to Ramsey, especially in Wenger/Emerys 343. I think we saw signs at the back end of 18/19 he was maturing. Under Arteta he has been arguably our most consistent player.

Partey-Xhaka has looked very good every time they've played together. I think it's a strength of the team rather than a weakness, so I'm not sure why people want to break it up so quickly.

 

[2Smokeyy]

The thing is with Xhaka he is the type of player that gets better with age, and he is never injured. We've gone through the growing pains with him, and are now starting to get some proper consistent performances. To sell him now would be rendering all those years of patience with him meaningless.

We won't have unlimited funds this summer, and looking at the team now, I'd like to secure the best possible forward available before we start considering other positions. I think that's what takes us up a level.

Definitely plus some fans are expecting him to do things that will leave him exposed like being a ball carrier.

The thing that has impressed me with Xhaka is that he always seems to turn up for the big games. Take the FA Cup final last season, he totally bossed Chelsea in the middle of the pitch like he usually does.

I think we should be looking to do something like this next season:

Partey Xhaka
Saka Grealish Pepe
Auba/Laca​

Xhaka wouldn’t have to do much in that system which will let him focus on playing the ball through the lines for the likes of Saka, Grealish and Pepe which will help us break on the counter.

Wasting our funds on a player like Bissouma or another midfielder/striker would be foolish. We need to invest everything into bringing Jack Grealish here, he’ll take us to the next level imo.

 

[Zaza]

The thing is with Xhaka he is the type of player that gets better with age, and he is never injured. We've gone through the growing pains with him, and are now starting to get some proper consistent performances. To sell him now would be rendering all those years of patience with him meaningless.

We won't have unlimited funds this summer, and looking at the team now, I'd like to secure the best possible forward available before we start considering other positions. I think that's what takes us up a level.

Exactly. Honestly it'd be stupid to sell him now. We've suffered pains with him as he matured - why let him move to another club now that he's nearly the finished product? He was a project when we signed him and now he is finally maturing as you'd expect for one who plays his position.

 

[MikelHadADream]

Definitely plus some fans are expecting him to do things that will leave him exposed like being a ball carrier.

The thing that has impressed me with Xhaka is that he always seems to turn up for the big games. Take the FA Cup final last season, he totally bossed Chelsea in the middle of the pitch like he usually does.

I think we should be looking to do something like this next season:

Partey Xhaka
Saka Grealish Pepe
Auba/Laca​

Xhaka wouldn’t have to do much in that system which will let him focus on playing the ball through the lines for the likes of Saka, Grealish and Pepe which will help us break on the counter.

Yep, I've noticed that as well. He always has really good games against United and Chelsea, seems to raise himself for the big games as you say. To me his positioning has improved a lot, the amount of times he stops attacks because he's covered well goes under the radar.

I'm in 100% agreement with you on that team mate. Spend the whole budget on Grealish. It's still unlikely he'd come, but we have to try. If we had him this season, we'd be in the top 4 now, I'm convinced. He'd have an RVP like effect on us.

 

[MikelHadADream]

Exactly. Honestly it'd be stupid to sell him now. We've suffered pains with him as he matured - why let him move to another club now that he's nearly the finished product? He was a project when we signed him and now he is finally maturing as you'd expect for one who plays his position.

My thoughts exactly, I'd give him a new contract to be honest. He will never be a fan favourite, but he's a very useful player to have at this point.

 

[dashsnow17]

Be interesting to see what positions we prioritize.

We have a starting CB (Holding) starting midfielder (Xhaka) and starting striker (Laca) that all kind of split the fanbase on whether they should be starters or back ups.

Decisions for Arteta and Edu this summer, as we almost certainly won't be able to replace all of them at once...at least one will go into next season, playing the majority of matches.

You could bring Saliba in to compete with Holding, costs nothing, and Bissouma to compete with Xhaka, costs about 30m. Very reasonable outlay. Then you can spend more money on a forward.

 

[Kysus]

One pattern I’ve noticed is Partey raises the game of whoever he plays with (Elneny). I don’t know what the club will do with Xhaka now, I just wish they signed Partey earlier because that partnership looks legit.

Partey is lucky to have a beast like Xhaka alongside him.
Partey had an absolute mare against Utd(xhaka would get slaughtered for months for such a performance) and gave away the ball like multiple times against Wolves too(Xhaka not allowed to do that even once)
Don't get me wrong, I love Partey but man people scapegoating Xhaka has been ridiculous, almost pushed out off the club ffs....

 

[dashsnow17]

Definitely plus some fans are expecting him to do things that will leave him exposed like being a ball carrier.

The thing that has impressed me with Xhaka is that he always seems to turn up for the big games. Take the FA Cup final last season, he totally bossed Chelsea in the middle of the pitch like he usually does.

I think we should be looking to do something like this next season:

Partey Xhaka
Saka Grealish Pepe
Auba/Laca​

Xhaka wouldn’t have to do much in that system which will let him focus on playing the ball through the lines for the likes of Saka, Grealish and Pepe which will help us break on the counter.

Wasting our funds on a player like Bissouma or another midfielder/striker would be foolish. We need to invest everything into bringing Jack Grealish here, he’ll take us to the next level imo.

Regarding Grealish half my brain says "when a player is putting up genuinely elite numbers over a sustained period it's basically worth spending anything up to 100m on them", while the other half says "most transfers over 50m in the PL have failed and we should as a rule avoid them".

I feel like this club is cursed and if we spent 80m on Grealish we'd find a way to make it fail miserably, but yeah, he could be a game-changer. If there was a whiff that it was a feasible deal maybe you just gotta take the risk and go for it.