Granit Xhaka: Swiss Army Knife or Blunt Tool?

[Manberg]

If Xhaka is as bad as you all say when it comes to facing a press then we wouldn’t be 4th in the form table since January or have won the FA cup.

We would have fallen apart pretty regularly because teams do actually try to press us or are we ignoring that?

I wouldn't bother rationalising your view. It's the same anti Xhaka agenda brigade repeating their hate for Xhaka with similar rehashed vitriol.

 

[RacingPhoton]

If Xhaka is as bad as you all say when it comes to facing a press then we wouldn’t be 4th in the form table since January or have won the FA cup.

We would have fallen apart pretty regularly because teams do actually try to press us or are we ignoring that?

Does that mean all the players who played for us including Mustafi are fantastic players because they were part of the team that led us to FA cup victory? Such a poor argument. We never finished in top 4 after we signed Xhaka. How does that sound?

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Xhaka and Özil threads already almost at 10 pages

 

[Ash10]

If Xhaka is as bad as you all say when it comes to facing a press then we wouldn’t be 4th in the form table since January or have won the FA cup.

We would have fallen apart pretty regularly because teams do actually try to press us or are we ignoring that?

It's like people forget we finished 8th & got knocked out of the europa league in the 1st knockout stage by Olympiacos. We play like minnows against every decent team. We've never finished in the top four with him.

But let's just give him all the credit for our form & give him zero blame for our overall downfall. Might as well start saying players like Mustafi & Luiz are top class seeing how they contributed more to the form & FA cup win you're banging on about

 

[say yes]

If Xhaka is as bad as you all say when it comes to facing a press then we wouldn’t be 4th in the form table since January or have won the FA cup.

We would have fallen apart pretty regularly because teams do actually try to press us or are we ignoring that?

Yep. Also flies in the face of the fact that Xhaka’s best performances always tend to come in the big games, against the teams who press best.

e.g. FA Cup Semi vs City.
- 93.3% pass accuracy (1st by a long way)
- 30 passes (most of any outfield player)
- Dispossessed 0 times
- 0 bad touches

e.g. Home game against Liverpool
- 83.3% pass accuracy (1st)
- 30 passes (3rd most of any outfield player)
- Dispossessed 0 times
- 0 bad touches

Xhaka’s biggest issue for me is his sloppiness against the weaker teams.

 

[Manberg]

It's like people forget we finished 8th & got knocked out of the europa league in the 1st knockout stage by Olympiacos. We play like minnows against every decent team. We've never finished in the top four with him.

But let's just give him all the credit for our form & give him zero blame for our overall downfall. Might as well start saying players like Mustafi & Luiz are top class seeing how they contributed more to the form & FA cup win you're banging on about

Such a stupid and flawed argument.

 

[Jury]

Yep. Also flies in the face of the fact that Xhaka’s best performances always tend to come in the big games, against the teams who press best.

e.g. FA Cup Semi vs City.
- 93.3% pass accuracy (1st by a long way)
- 30 passes (most of any outfield player)
- Dispossessed 0 times
- 0 bad touches

e.g. Home game against Liverpool
- 83.3% pass accuracy (1st)
- 30 passes (3rd most of any outfield player)
- Dispossessed 0 times
- 0 bad touches

Xhaka’s biggest issue for me is his sloppiness against the weaker teams.

To be fair, that’s two games recently against good sides. He still notorious for being found out against good sides – those two games don’t change anything yet. He’s got a long way to go if he’s going to change that.

 

[Trilly]

Does that mean all the players who played for us including Mustafi are fantastic players because they were part of the team that led us to FA cup victory? Such a poor argument. We never finished in top 4 after we signed Xhaka. How does that sound?

No. What I’m saying is almost every team in the league will try to press us at some point in the game, then you have teams like Chelsea, City and Southampton off the top of my head that press a lot more effectively and for longer periods of the game than the average PL sides.

We’ve beaten those teams so he can’t be that bad at resisting the press? Can’t remember Southampton but he wasn’t losing the ball consistently as a result of being pressed in those games was he?

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Xhaka and Özil threads already almost at 10 pages

Nothing beats these two threads for getting AM going!

 

[RacingPhoton]

No. What I’m saying is almost every team in the league will try to press us at some point in the game, then you have teams like Chelsea, City and Southampton off the top of my head that press a lot more effectively and for longer periods of the game than the average PL sides.

We’ve beaten those teams so he can’t be that bad at resisting the press? Can’t remember Southampton but he wasn’t losing the ball consistently as a result of being pressed in those games was he?

Our answer for the press was to play 3 at the back. We did lose the ball on press regularly. But 3 at the back made sure that we were not that vulnerable.
Remember, 3 managers had to revert to playing 3 at the back with Xhaka. And one of them was Wenger who never played that formation for decades. Don't you think Xhaka played a role in that decision?

 

[Taneruit]

Our answer for the press was to play 3 at the back. We did lose the ball on press regularly. But 3 at the back made sure that we were not that vulnerable.
Remember, 3 managers had to revert to playing 3 at the back with Xhaka. And one of them was Wenger who never played that formation for decades. Don't you think Xhaka played a role in that decision?

No, it wasn't. The recent 3 at the back was the result of getting Luiz with extra cover into the line-up. Even before this was a decision to cover defensive mistakes more than anything.

 

[RacingPhoton]

No, it wasn't. The recent 3 at the back was the result of getting Luiz with extra cover into the line-up. Even before this was a decision to cover defensive mistakes more than anything.

Wenger, Emery and now Arteta. Luiz was not there all the time. All the managers were forced to play with 3 at the back.

 

[Pastore]

People who still accept Xhaka at Arsenal deserve a team that finishes 8th.

 

[Ash10]

Such a stupid and flawed argument.

According to you Xhaka could walk into any team in the world & improve it. You shouldn’t really talk about logic

 

[squallman]

If Xhaka is as bad as you all say when it comes to facing a press then we wouldn’t be 4th in the form table since January or have won the FA cup.

We would have fallen apart pretty regularly because teams do actually try to press us or are we ignoring that?

If Xhaka is as good as you all say when it comes to anything then we wouldn't have:

Drawn four games in a row from January 1st, three against midtable sides.
Lost four games
Knocked out of the Europa League by Olympiacos
I'm not even counting what happened in the first half of the season

From January 1st we were 7th in the form table. Why are you leaving out a month just to suit your narrative?

The way your post is worded, it sounds like we were comfortably 4th in the form table from your arbitrary point in the timeline. We had 26 points.
The next 3 teams
5th- 26 points
6th - 25 points
7th 25 points
8th- 24 points.

So with Xhaka in the team, the guy who is so good at facing the press we were 2 points better than the side who was 8th in the form table.

Well done.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Wenger, Emery and now Arteta. Luiz was not there all the time. All the managers were forced to play with 3 at the back.

3 at the back is because of Mustafi usually.

 

[Manberg]

Imagine blaming whole results on one player who didn’t even make any significant mistakes. That’s how a minority treat Xhaka. We lose? It’s Xhaka’s fault even when he plays well. No top 4 in the last 3 years? Xhaka’s fault.

All this in spite of statistics which say the win rate during all that time is higher with Xhaka in the team than out of it.


Agenda merchants.

 

[WilshereGone]

Case in point

I hear what you're trying to say, he's important to the buildup and all that but that doesn't make him good enough. He's been the main CM throughout the season, it would be worrying if he wasn't around that position on the chart. I saw the exact same chart on Twitter but only including games since Arteta took over, and Ceballos was the more influential. Clearly in our system this is primarily the role of our CMs.

Lets be honest, we don't control games even against poor teams so clearly there's an issue with our midfield. The guy is just too stiff to play that role in a top side, I really believe replacing him with a player who just thinks and moves that little bit sharper will be the first step to taking this team up a level.

 

[WilshereGone]

How do people rank Xhaka, Kovacic, Ruben Neves and Tielemans?

 

[Manberg]

Lets be honest, we don't control games even against poor teams so clearly there's an issue with our midfield. The guy is just too stiff to play that role in a top side, I really believe replacing him with a player who just thinks and moves that little bit sharper will be the first step to taking this team up a level.

Managers choose not to control games in the middle when using a 3-4-3. 3-4-3 means you have a two man midfield, who will get outnumbered by 3 or 4 man midfields, which most teams use. We don’t play through the middle in this formation, we look to play down the wings instead. The 2 man midfield has a defending or a supporting role. They’re not trying to control games by keeping the ball in the middle they will look to win the ball then pass it to the sides.
You’ll never control possession in midfield with a two man midfield no matter who you play.
I’m not advocating to change it because it’s working well, some people don’t seem to understand tactics though.