Too weak, lacks Makelele's defensive abilities.So basically, as a consensus, we agree that we need a CM with vision of fabregas, passing range of pirlo, iniesta like dribbling, and who dominates the area like xavi. All rolled into one.
Other than that they are all crap
The number of passes is not something scream about. There are midfielders like Elneny, Cleverley, and Denilson who racked up high volume of passes but barely progressed play. Xhaka really doesn't have anything about him. He's just a bit more ambitious with his but that's about it.When Xhaka isn’t costing us games he’s useful.
Pikachu boy mentioned it in a tongue in cheek way but you can’t walk in and just complete 70+ passes in a PL game without having something about you. He keeps us ticking over, it’s other problems that he has.
Speaking objectively Xhaka is a level above all those guys.The number of passes is not something scream about. There are midfielders like Elneny, Cleverley, and Denilson who racked up high volume of passes but barely progressed play. Xhaka really doesn't have anything about him. He's just a bit more ambitious with his but that's about it.
That's what I tried to postAlso his work-rate is a huge plus, I'm sure our manager agrees.
Advanced midfielder winning back the ball and thereby starting a promising attack...Emery Porn right there.Also his work-rate is a huge plus, I'm sure our manager agrees.
I think this would have worked a bit better with a different midfield pairing behind them. I think Willock and Guendouzi had pretty decent individual performances, and Xhaka was OK aswell, but as a collective there was a little too much disconnect. The issue is that Xhaka and Guendouzi are a tad too similar while Willock was very high up the pitch and not able to use his ability to carry the ball or operate just ahead in the same way. Emery's hands were somewhat tied as Özil couldn't play, and Xhaka/Guendouzi were the two fittest midfielders though.I seen people crying about his lack of passes failing to understand what Emery wanted from Willock in that role. His job was to press, to run at defenders with the ball and to draw defenders to create room for Nelson and Mkhitaryan. He was asked to a similar role to the one which Ramsey did when he was deployed in the same position. I personally thought he did fairly well. Believe me, he wasn't asked to dictate play or anything like that.
Tweeted before the game that he was an 8 and not a 10. Think that prediction came to fruition. He played the 10 against Lyon also and wasn't able to be at his best.
As a #8, I think Willock has all the tools to be a legend of the club. This lad could be the real deal for me.
So basically, as a consensus, we agree that we need a CM with vision of fabregas, passing range of pirlo, iniesta like dribbling, and who dominates the area like xavi. All rolled into one.
Other than that they are all crap