Granit Xhaka: 2019/20 Performances

[Red London]

Xhaka needs to be coached right. If you surround him by the right players and dont leave him isolated on the pitch he can limit his mistakes and in fact make some important plays.

The quarter back role is working well for him, but its been the other side of the pitch (RCM, RB, RW) that hasnt worked tactically. I hope Arteta finds the right partner for Xhaka so our team can become more dangerous. I feel like the CM partnership will be important for how we wanna play.

 

[HaffBR]

I under the impression he can play as CB.

 

[RunTheTrap]

Think about the mainstays in our midfield. When I think of Vieira I think of our PL dominance and the Invincibles.
When I think about Fàbregas, I think of big CL nights in the CL playing some of the best football ever.
When I think of Cazorla, I think about our runs for a top 4 place and FA Cup wins.
When I think of Xhaka, I think about the worst of Arsenal. He’s had the most minutes in midfield since his arrival in 2016. Since then, we’ve had the worst away record in our history, dropped out of top 4, lost our longest and greatest serving manager, bottled a European final, failed to win away at a top 6 rival, losing 10-2 on aggregate to Bayern Munich, loitering in 10th place in mid May and getting dumped out of Europa by Olympiakos. This clown has been involved in all of this, with the most errors leading to goals and red cards to show for it. I just need anyone to help me understand what it is about Granit Xhaka that people still show faith in. Please can anyone help me?

 

[Oxeki]

Xhaka needs to be coached right. If you surround him by the right players and dont leave him isolated on the pitch he can limit his mistakes and in fact make some important plays.

The quarter back role is working well for him, but its been the other side of the pitch (RCM, RB, RW) that hasnt worked tactically. I hope Arteta finds the right partner for Xhaka so our team can become more dangerous. I feel like the CM partnership will be important for how we wanna play.

We can't continue to limit the team just to cover his weakness

 

[Oxeki]

I just need anyone to help me understand what it is about Granit Xhaka that people still show faith in. Please can anyone help me?

I think it has to do with the fact that he's the first name on the teamsheet under three different manager. So his fans use that as justification for his quality.

But then again, no matter how bad he is, he's still our best CM. Not because he has any quality, but because all the other CM options are poverty.

It's not his fault that he continues to start games nor the manager's fault. The club is to be blamed for refusing to move him on earlier.

He should have been sold in January, but the club held on to him because we didn't have enough quality to cope in his absence. That sums up the club for me. The fact that we're now so desperate to hold on to a bum midfielder is a culmination of all the terrible decisions that the club had made for the past decade.

Players like Jorginho and Xhaka are not fit for the PL.

At least, Chelsea fans can take solace in the fact that Jorginho doesn't make errors leading to goals

 

[Dutch D]

We can't continue to limit the team just to cover his weakness

Agree. Short term, I'm glad Arteta managed to hide his deficiencies most of the time and found a tactic that seems to work well, but Xhaka isn't a player who warrants the team being built around him.

Going forward we need to upgrade on Xhaka even though I'm happy with his most recent performances.

 

[A_G]

 

[GDeep™]

Arteta has probably told him not to speak about it and just get his head down.

The usual hate mob will be in to lynch him but we move on, fresh start under Arteta and we go again.

 

[Riou]

Great...

 

[Oxeki]

 

[TromsoGooner]

So tired of people saying he needs the right coaching or that he just needs the right players around him. I don`t think he`s an awful player, he has his qualities. But he has major weaknesses in his game that will always be a massive problem. He`s very slow and immobile, he`s poor at handling being pressed and his body position when recieving the ball is all wrong.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

So tired of people saying he needs the right coaching or that he just needs the right players around him. I don`t think he`s an awful player, he has his qualities. But he has major weaknesses in his game that will always be a massive problem. He`s very slow and immobile, he`s poor at handling being pressed and his body position when recieving the ball is all wrong.

Very limited player! Hope we can move him on and get an upgrade.

 

[Tom349]

Think about the mainstays in our midfield. When I think of Vieira I think of our PL dominance and the Invincibles.
When I think about Fàbregas, I think of big CL nights in the CL playing some of the best football ever.
When I think of Cazorla, I think about our runs for a top 4 place and FA Cup wins.
When I think of Xhaka, I think about the worst of Arsenal. He’s had the most minutes in midfield since his arrival in 2016. Since then, we’ve had the worst away record in our history, dropped out of top 4, lost our longest and greatest serving manager, bottled a European final, failed to win away at a top 6 rival, losing 10-2 on aggregate to Bayern Munich, loitering in 10th place in mid May and getting dumped out of Europa by Olympiakos. This clown has been involved in all of this, with the most errors leading to goals and red cards to show for it. I just need anyone to help me understand what it is about Granit Xhaka that people still show faith in. Please can anyone help me?

This is incredibly selective. I mean all the stuff you said about Xhaka could be said about Cazorla given he was a part of some awful Arsenal performances and only has one extra FA cup triumph over Xhaka. Sure Cazorla was the better player but the reasons for disliking Xhaka are moronic and the type of arguments that can't taken serious.

 

[Tom349]

So tired of people saying he needs the right coaching or that he just needs the right players around him. I don`t think he`s an awful player, he has his qualities. But he has major weaknesses in his game that will always be a massive problem. He`s very slow and immobile, he`s poor at handling being pressed and his body position when recieving the ball is all wrong.

You can literally minimise these weaknesses by surrounding him with better players and utilising him so that his weaknesses can be exploited less, which is what Arteta has done.

I disagree that he is very slow and would argue he is our fastest midfielder at top flight but he does lack acceleration and agility which makes him look slower than what he is. He has by far the best engine in the team.

Xhaka is a flawed player don't get me wrong but his strengths are far greater than those of who he is competing against for starting spot in midfield. Long term he needs to be upgraded but before we can upgrade him we need to upgrade his midfield partners who may be less flawed but lack any standout traits.

 

[OSBK]

This came ac

You can literally minimise these weaknesses by surrounding him with better players and utilising him so that his weaknesses can be exploited less, which is what Arteta has done.

I disagree that he is very slow and would argue he is our fastest midfielder at top flight but he does lack acceleration and agility which makes him look slower than what he is. He has by far the best engine in the team.

Xhaka is a flawed player don't get me wrong but his strengths are far greater than those of who he is competing against for starting spot in midfield. Long term he needs to be upgraded but before we can upgrade him we need to upgrade his midfield partners who may be less flawed but lack any standout traits.

You could be right. Take fred for example who looked well out of his depth even with pogba next to him. But add a top cam and a commanding cb and he looks the real deal.

 

[RacingPhoton]

You can literally minimise these weaknesses by surrounding him with better players and utilising him so that his weaknesses can be exploited less, which is what Arteta has done.

I disagree that he is very slow and would argue he is our fastest midfielder at top flight but he does lack acceleration and agility which makes him look slower than what he is. He has by far the best engine in the team.

Xhaka is a flawed player don't get me wrong but his strengths are far greater than those of who he is competing against for starting spot in midfield. Long term he needs to be upgraded but before we can upgrade him we need to upgrade his midfield partners who may be less flawed but lack any standout traits.

Why should we try so hard to minimise the weaknesses he has? Arteta has done that because he did not have a choice. Our defense looks more solid than we were under Emery. But still our attack is poor. If Xhaka's strengths are so great, why aren't we seeing anything in the attack now that Arteta has minimised his weaknesses?
His weaknesses has given him the dubious distinction of having committed most errors leading to goals. What great strength does he have for us to justify us buying players to play around him, adjust our strategy to hide his weaknesses instead of just throwing him into the bin?

 

[Tourbillion]

God I'm tired of threads (players) like this. I beg, ****ing pray for a cull of all these wastemen.

 

[Tom349]

Why should we try so hard to minimise the weaknesses he has? Arteta has done that because he did not have a choice. Our defense looks more solid than we were under Emery. But still our attack is poor. If Xhaka's strengths are so great, why aren't we seeing anything in the attack now that Arteta has minimised his weaknesses?
His weaknesses has given him the dubious distinction of having committed most errors leading to goals. What great strength does he have for us to justify us buying players to play around him, adjust our strategy to hide his weaknesses instead of just throwing him into the bin?

Im not Xhakas biggest fan but I don't let my feelings about him cloud my judgement unlike some. For all of his warts Xhaka remains our most reliable midfielder. He rarely misses a game, covers more distance per game than any other player in the squad and has a wand of left foot which contribute him to being our most valuable player in terms of progressing the ball forward to players who lack the quality to be dangerous in the final third. Is he susceptible under pressure? sure, is he lacking defensively? sure. But the coach can counter that and utilise him more effectively. It makes more sense to use Xhaka for the time being given we have other areas outside of midfield to improve upon than to rely on guys who aren't going to be effective next to Partey for example (let assume we get him) and are also less reliable in terms of being able to complete 90 minutes.

 

[RacingPhoton]

Im not Xhakas biggest fan but I don't let my feelings about him cloud my judgement unlike some. For all of his warts Xhaka remains our most reliable midfielder. He rarely misses a game, covers more distance per game than any other player in the squad and has a wand of left foot which contribute him to being our most valuable player in terms of progressing the ball forward to players who lack the quality to be dangerous in the final third. Is he susceptible under pressure? sure, is he lacking defensively? sure. But the coach can counter that and utilise him more effectively. It makes more sense to use Xhaka for the time being given we have other areas outside of midfield to improve upon than to rely on guys who aren't going to be effective next to Partey for example (let assume we get him) and are also less reliable in terms of being able to complete 90 minutes.

You call the person who has a record for most errors leading to goal as our most reliable midfielder.
Covers more distance than any other player? :rofl: Where did that come from? Can you show us the source of your statistics?
His left foot is powerful but it cannot get slower than that. Remind my how many chances he created with it? The guy is not even a quarter of a player Cazorla was.
You make all these ridiculous statements and blame others of having clouded judgement?

 

[Riou]

Xhaka is in the poll for our thread for Arsenal's best midfielder of the 2010s...how ffs