RacingPhoton
Established Member
Chelsea were all over us for the first twenty minutes. Our midfield was non-existent and Chelsea bypassed us all the time.They were both excellent in the final. More than one player at a time can have a good game. And usually a CM requires his partner to play well in order to have a good game himself.
So far all I've got in reply to my original question, aside from vague assertions, is the one pass you mentioned near the beginning of the final. Which required Pulisic to dribble a fair ways before being in a dangerous position, if I recall.
So it would appear that Xhaka has indeed improved in regard to big errors since Arteta took over. Hopefully it continues, as he'll be starting more games than just about anyone else if he's fit.
If you come now two weeks after our last match and ask when he committed mistakes, how can anyone remember the exact details. Earlier, these errors were leading to goals and hence we could find that easily. After Arteta came, he set-up our defence in such a way that his mistakes won't cost us. If you want to find out the mistakes he made, you only have to read through old post-match messages in his thread.
He is good at headed clearances. If you take a compilation video of any player in that position, you will have so many interceptions. Last time someone brought up this topic of his clever positioning, we found out that statistically Flamini had way more interceptions per match than Xhaka. All these arguments have been done to death in his thread.
He is a mid-table level player and that's where we are now. If we want to progress, we want a big upgrade on him.