Granit Xhaka: Swiss Army Knife or Blunt Tool?

[RacingPhoton]

I think he has strengths and weaknesses that have been fairly consistent over the three managers.

The fans used him as a scapegoat due to an error prone period he went through while ignoring his strengths he was still bringing to the team.

Fans picking players as a scapegoat undeservingly is extremely common in football. It’s just bandwagoning and black and white thinking.
If people had a more intricate knowledge of the game, they wouldn’t think so black and white.

He didn't have an error prone period he went through. He consistently made errors in all seasons.

 

[Ash10]

Anyone could claim to have 'football knowledge' to justify their opinion. These arrogant fanboys just keep on finding new ways to protect one player while putting themselves on some mystical high ground by saying they have 'football knowledge' without any evidence to back the claim up

 

[RacingPhoton]

Anyone could claim to have 'football knowledge' to justify their opinion. These arrogant fanboys just keep on finding new ways to protect one player while putting themselves on some mystical high ground by saying they have 'football knowledge' without any evidence to back the claim up

Gonna try this in the Mustafi thread. Going to say that Mustafi is our own Van Dijk and he will walk into any top PL team. Any one who disagrees is going to be bashed with "If you don't agree you don't understand football" response.

 

[Ash10]

Gonna try this in the Mustafi thread. Going to say that Mustafi is our own Van Dijk and he will walk into any top PL team. Any one who disagrees is going to be bashed with "If you don't agree you don't understand football" response.

That'll be fun

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

I think he has strengths and weaknesses that have been fairly consistent over the three managers.

The fans used him as a scapegoat due to an error prone period he went through while ignoring his strengths he was still bringing to the team.

Fans picking players as a scapegoat undeservingly is extremely common in football. It’s just bandwagoning and black and white thinking.
If people had a more intricate knowledge of the game, they wouldn’t think so black and white.

You’re strawmanning. Not to mention patting yourself on the back pedantically like you see something in the game others don’t. It’s a bit embarrassing tbh.

We’ve had several years to watch what Xhaka has to offer to Arsenal. He gets caught on the ball in dangerous places atleast twice a game. He will miss one to five easy passes per game in dangerous places. His positioning is historically lacking. His speed is non existent. He doesn’t keep the game and ticking even like an Arteta. He gives away silly fouls due to his other shortcomings. We thought he might have a good long distance shot, the Xhaka Boom, that didn’t really pan out more than once or twice. What exactly are his strengths? He’s strong enough to knock most other midfielders off the ball in 1v1 contact. Professionalism. He follows instructions well. . He mostly lacked an ego until he lost it and cussed at the fans.

He does not have the skill to be a starting midfielder for Arsenal. There is MUCH better out there easily obtained for the right price.

 

[Football Manager]

You’re strawmanning. Not to mention patting yourself on the back pedantically like you see something in the game others don’t. It’s a bit embarrassing tbh.

We’ve had several years to watch what Xhaka has to offer to Arsenal. He gets caught on the ball in dangerous places atleast twice a game. He will miss one to five easy passes per game in dangerous places. His positioning is historically lacking. His speed is non existent. He doesn’t keep the game and ticking even like an Arteta. He gives away silly fouls due to his other shortcomings. We thought he might have a good long distance shot, the Xhaka Boom, that didn’t really pan out more than once or twice. What exactly are his strengths? He’s strong enough to knock most other midfielders off the ball in 1v1 contact. Professionalism. He follows instructions well. . He mostly lacked an ego until he lost it and cussed at the fans.

He does not have the skill to be a starting midfielder for Arsenal. There is MUCH better out there easily obtained for the right price.

Agree that we could replace him with Tonali/Roca/Cuisance. But Xhaka is not as bad as how you describe him to be.
Of course I know where his weaknesses are. But tactically speaking, pinging long accurate cross field pass to find space for our attack, and dictating our team’s attacking tempo are his strengths that you’ve tried to ignore.

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

Agree that we could replace him with Tonali/Roca/Cuisance. But Xhaka is not as bad as how you describe him to be.
Of course I know where his weaknesses are. But tactically speaking, pinging long accurate cross field pass to find space for our attack, and dictating our team’s attacking tempo are his strengths that you’ve tried to ignore.

I agree he can hit those passes sometimes. I don’t agree that he dictates our attacking tempo. And if that’s the case, our attacking tempo has been awful for most of the past 3 years.

 

[gunner4lyfe]

Agree that we could replace him with Tonali/Roca/Cuisance. But Xhaka is not as bad as how you describe him to be.
Of course I know where his weaknesses are. But tactically speaking, pinging long accurate cross field pass to find space for our attack, and dictating our team’s attacking tempo are his strengths that you’ve tried to ignore.

I always see people saying this. He has one tempo. ONE. He doesn't dictate sh!t.

 

[RacingPhoton]

Agree that we could replace him with Tonali/Roca/Cuisance. But Xhaka is not as bad as how you describe him to be.
Of course I know where his weaknesses are. But tactically speaking, pinging long accurate cross field pass to find space for our attack, and dictating our team’s attacking tempo are his strengths that you’ve tried to ignore.

His ability to ping long balls is overrated. Because of his other weaknesses, he hardly gets chances to execute them. And when he does execute them, they hardly lead to goals. Tierney's long balls in one year have resulted in way more successful attacks than Xhaka's long balls all these years.
And don't even get me started on tempo. If he is the one who is controlling our tempo, no wonder our attacking tempo has been so poor ever since he came.

 

[Gooner416]

Class ball from our best midfielder. Xhaka agenda merchants in the mud.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Think Xhaka has been fine this half so far. Nothing to get overly excited over but totally workable.

 

[Makavelii]

At the end of the day, the manager rates Xhaka and that’s all that matters.

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

Class ball from our best midfielder. Xhaka agenda merchants in the mud.

You didn’t lose any time posting this one, did you?

 

[OnlyOne]

Hope his ankle isn't too bad, he's so good atm.

 

[EmeryCouldnt]

At the end of the day, the manager rates Xhaka and that’s all that matters.

I certainly trust Arteta and Xhaka looked great today. I won’t agree that he’s looked good before Arteta. But it looks like Arteta knows how to use him. I think the mobility of Tierney and AMN and maybe even Gabriel have been a huge factor in letting him play his game and not look so bad out of position.

 

[Ash10]

Had an okay game, had one great pass in the first half. Just waiting for the fanboys to blow this out of proportion

 

[RunTheTrap]

Good performance from Xhaka today. I wish he would play that ball over the top and break lines more often. He has the ability to do it regularly but he probably lacks the confidence to do so.

 

[Pyres7]

Class ball from our best midfielder. Xhaka agenda merchants in the mud.

That was a great pass tbf.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

Good performance from Xhaka today. I wish he would play that ball over the top and break lines more often. He has the ability to do it regularly but he probably lacks the confidence to do so.

We might see more of those balls from him now. Tierney looks to play them fairly often so I think it may be something Arteta wants them to do.

 

[Manberg]

Xhaka always has good games, never in doubt. I rarely see Xhaka have a bad game.