Partey has been injured all season and his small sample of quality eclipses Xhaka’s mundane plodding. He has made some good interceptions but his limitations hinder our ability to play through the middle, defend centrally and play more expensively and quickly. Cedric until recently was in and out and had no rhythm but he's been largely okay. He's made some interceptions but it's the rest of the team babysitting his weaknesses. No player has actually regressed- it was Arteta's tactics and instructions that killed our attack especially Auba who did look like he'd fallen off a cliff form wise. If by fairly dependable you mean that he has cut down on his mistakes, then fair enough, but that's not enough. I can't remember the match but he was playing nicely with Partey, who when subbed off saw our control of the game crumble. He doesn't control a game, he isn't pivotal. He's a useful cog given that we have nobody else. He works hard and follows instructions and don't forget that some of Arteta's instructions actually took him off and away from the ball last season! He's a model pro within thd club so he gets picked. We are also overly determined to make a expensive signing work because we can't afford to write him off-this despite killing our CL chances almost singlehandedly.
Sorry to go on but there must be no more confusion, delusion or excuses regarding Xhaka
