Granit Xhaka: 2019/20 Performances

[RacingPhoton]

If you think his role in this team is or has been as a chance creator, and if you think he hides, I'm not sure you understand football. You are judging him for not doing things he's not there to do, and is not asked to do. When he first started to Switzerland he was impactful in the final 3rd, but he's been moved backwards in Germany and again at Arsenal. His role is give structure to our play from deep. Passing backwards and sideways is a legitimate element of what he is in the team to do. Had we other competent distributors in central areas, it would right to demand more of him. He did bring more going forward in 16/17, as we had team that still played on the front foot, and he was given more of a licence to press, particularly with a back 3. Since then, its been rubbish all round. Personally I'd like to see him given the chance to impact things further up the pitch, but when Torreira's out, he's the only one with even basic level positioning and structure.

That said, your contribution to this thread is primarily an endless exercise in character assassination, so I'm not sure there's much point in us exchanging comments.

And you have got a Ph.D in football analysis? What do you mean by giving structure? If playing sideways and backward passes is all that is needed from him, even Elneny can do it. If he is playing deep, he has two roles. One is to help with defense which he is not capable of doing. Another is to move the ball forward as quickly as possible. He is not good at that too. He needs space and time which he could get in other leagues and even in international matches possibly, but not in premier league.
We have been rubbish all around. But Xhaka is a part of that problem and we should move on from him.

I pointed out that he is not a leader as people claim him to be. He doesn't take responsibility and he hides on the pitch. How is that character assassination? This is the first time I am hearing this.

 

[Riou]

Got a little heated the other day over that stupid tweet, still one of the dumbest stats I have ever seen tbf...he has his issues (many of them in this league especially) and I would still like to see us move on from him sooner rather than later after all that's happened, and I still stand by what I have said about him.

But as others have said, Xhaka-Torreira is the only midfield that sort of works atm for us (would like to see Niles be used more in there, but it is what it is) hopefully he plays well tonight.

 

[RacingPhoton]

He’s not blaming anyone. He is clearly annoyed that people focus only on the mistakes instead of the fact that we played well enough to win the game.

This interview was just taken after the Sp**s match which ended in a 2-2 draw and he conceded penalty. People would obviously focus on his mistake. What else did he expect?
If he is someone who takes responsibility as you people claim to be the case his response would have been around the lines of "It was my mistake. I am working on it." Even a teenage player would have the maturity to give a response like this. In fact, if he had really worked on these issues, he would have been a better player. Instead, he is pointing fingers at others. We were behind 2-0 after that penalty and we gave a comeback to draw the match 2-2. And still he has the audacity to say that the team missed the chances. His point was that his penalty was a mistake, but if there were more chances created in the match and we would have won if we had taken them. If it is not blaming, what is it?

 

[lomekian]

And you have got a Ph.D in football analysis? What do you mean by giving structure? If playing sideways and backward passes is all that is needed from him, even Elneny can do it. If he is playing deep, he has two roles. One is to help with defense which he is not capable of doing. Another is to move the ball forward as quickly as possible. He is not good at that too. He needs space and time which he could get in other leagues and even in international matches possibly, but not in premier league.
We have been rubbish all around. But Xhaka is a part of that problem and we should move on from him.

I pointed out that he is not a leader as people claim him to be. He doesn't take responsibility and he hides on the pitch. How is that character assassination? This is the first time I am hearing this.

No PhD, but I have on a few occasions been paid to give analysis, and used to have a weekly slot on sports radio, so have a level of professional interest

Not that that means a jot in this context - it doesn't guarantee that I know any more than anyone else.

Xhaka gives structure in lots of ways, although none at an elite level.

1) being left footed opens up a number of passing lanes which would otherwise be unavailable. Sadly he's very left footed, but while no Santi, when he chooses to pass with his right, he's actually decent. Needs to do it more.

2) He is positionally consistent (except when trying to cover 40 yards of space on his own under Emery), so it gives an easy out reference point for his team-mates, often creating a pressure valve. Again, if he could beat a man like Santi, it would be much better.

3) On the whole his passing is very consistent (despite the odd brain fart), and when given time can be accurate over long distances, which gives more options. He can also play passes at pace if the movement is good around him.

4) A far lesser issue, but he's actually a very good stand up tackler (not so good going to ground due to his lack of agility), so if play is funneled towards him in limited space he offers assurance. Its when he is exposed in space he gets killed.

5) Despite your assertion, he's actually good defensively when play is compressed. Tries to track runners, good in the air, physically strong and solid positionally. For aforementioned reasons, he's much weaker when exposed in large spaces. And he knows it, so panics and makes bad decisions.

He's better at all these things than Elneny, but isn't as mobile.

If you think Xhaka hides and doesn't take responsibility, I suspect your view is in the minority.

There are lots of reasons why he isn't as good as we need to be a title contender, but those aren't among them.

Do I want him as a long term solution? No. Do I think we can get anyone ready to step in now in his position with our budget while still addressing our other midfield issues? No.

The guy is the least of our problems at the moment.

 

[lomekian]

This interview was just taken after the Sp**s match which ended in a 2-2 draw and he conceded penalty. People would obviously focus on his mistake. What else did he expect?
If he is someone who takes responsibility as you people claim to be the case his response would have been around the lines of "It was my mistake. I am working on it." Even a teenage player would have the maturity to give a response like this. In fact, if he had really worked on these issues, he would have been a better player. Instead, he is pointing fingers at others. We were behind 2-0 after that penalty and we gave a comeback to draw the match 2-2. And still he has the audacity to say that the team missed the chances. His point was that his penalty was a mistake, but if there were more chances created in the match and we would have won if we had taken them. If it is not blaming, what is it?

Look when the interview was given. There was a lot else going on at that time.

Also, while it may have been self serving, what he said was true. Remember he joined when the team was still an attacking force, and we scored loads in his first year, so he wasn't an obstruction to that.

 

[Ash10]

Where do these Xhaka apologists come from? I mean seriously....it’s like after a few of them get wrecked some new ones spawn out of nowhere

 

[sdotzdot]

Xhaka gives us structure indeed, but it is in comparison to the rest of the “midfielders” we have. In a general footballing term, he is bang average and needs to be replaced.

This guys been abused in midfield in the PL over the years time and time again, whilst singe handedly costing us points. Arteta was using him really well, playing away from his limitations and to his strengths, but he was still never more than just okay/good. That’s the most I can expect of Xhaka so hopefully that can continue until replacements come in.

 

[RacingPhoton]

No PhD, but I have on a few occasions been paid to give analysis, and used to have a weekly slot on sports radio, so have a level of professional interest

Not that that means a jot in this context - it doesn't guarantee that I know any more than anyone else.

Xhaka gives structure in lots of ways, although none at an elite level.

1) being left footed opens up a number of passing lanes which would otherwise be unavailable. Sadly he's very left footed, but while no Santi, when he chooses to pass with his right, he's actually decent. Needs to do it more.

2) He is positionally consistent (except when trying to cover 40 yards of space on his own under Emery), so it gives an easy out reference point for his team-mates, often creating a pressure valve. Again, if he could beat a man like Santi, it would be much better.

3) On the whole his passing is very consistent (despite the odd brain fart), and when given time can be accurate over long distances, which gives more options. He can also play passes at pace if the movement is good around him.

4) A far lesser issue, but he's actually a very good stand up tackler (not so good going to ground due to his lack of agility), so if play is funneled towards him in limited space he offers assurance. Its when he is exposed in space he gets killed.

5) Despite your assertion, he's actually good defensively when play is compressed. Tries to track runners, good in the air, physically strong and solid positionally. For aforementioned reasons, he's much weaker when exposed in large spaces. And he knows it, so panics and makes bad decisions.

He's better at all these things than Elneny, but isn't as mobile.

If you think Xhaka hides and doesn't take responsibility, I suspect your view is in the minority.

There are lots of reasons why he isn't as good as we need to be a title contender, but those aren't among them.

Do I want him as a long term solution? No. Do I think we can get anyone ready to step in now in his position with our budget while still addressing our other midfield issues? No.

The guy is the least of our problems at the moment.

I accept points 1 and 2. To an extent 3 too. But as I told, he loses his ability with consistent passing if someone starts pressing him. He cannot take on players. And many teams have already learned to exploit that. Given that many PL teams have started pressing high, it would be **** to go into another season with a midfielder who cannot handle being pressed.
I don't believe in point 4. I understand tactical fouls here and there. But he commits fouls because that's the only way he knows. He just plants his foot in front of a dribbling player. I can't even call that a tackle.

About point 5, he is good in the air. He has a very good number of headed clearances. He tries to track runner. But he can't really track because he is slow.

Xhaka hiding in matches has been pointed out by plenty of members in this forum. I don't think I am in the minority here.

None of his pros can even come close to match the points he has lost us single handedly with those brain farts.

If we are really buying Partey, we should be pairing him with a mobile midfielder even one of the youngsters. Our team suffers from being slow. Pairing Partey and Xhaka will not help us solve this issue.

 

[RacingPhoton]

Look when the interview was given. There was a lot else going on at that time.

Also, while it may have been self serving, what he said was true. Remember he joined when the team was still an attacking force, and we scored loads in his first year, so he wasn't an obstruction to that.

What else was going on? It was a couple of days after that Sp**s match and the question was specifically about his mistake in the Sp**s match.

What he said wasn't true. Our forwards just salvaged a draw from 2-2. All teams create chances. Not all the chances convert to goals. Now that is part of football. Missed chances are common in football. Lunging into a player in the penalty box the way he did is not something that is common in football. How is he right to say that it part of football? Conceding a penalty this way and a forward missing a chance are same?

 

[Riou]

Despite how disappointed I am in him as our director atm, I would love to have peak Edu instead of Xhaka right now.

Can you imagine having a 2004 version of Edu for us to build our team around now, would be such a good player to anchor our midfield...imagine how many Brazil caps he would have in this era too.

 

[lomekian]

If we are really buying Partey, we should be pairing him with a mobile midfielder even one of the youngsters. Our team suffers from being slow. Pairing Partey and Xhaka will not help us solve this issue.

Not long-term, no. But in the short to medium term, Xhaka remains our best option in his role. If he's still key to us in 2-3 years without having taken very surprising steps forward, that will represent failure. But our immediate priority has to be structuring the team in a way where his strengths can outshine his weaknesses. We saw it alongside Ramsey in a 3-4-3, and we saw it pre lockdown with Arteta. We got the opposite in the 2nd half of Emery's time when he was basically put in a position where he couldn't succeed.

 

[lomekian]

What else was going on? It was a couple of days after that Sp**s match and the question was specifically about his mistake in the Sp**s match.

What he said wasn't true. Our forwards just salvaged a draw from 2-2. All teams create chances. Not all the chances convert to goals. Now that is part of football. Missed chances are common in football. Lunging into a player in the penalty box the way he did is not something that is common in football. How is he right to say that it part of football? Conceding a penalty this way and a forward missing a chance are same?

What I mean by what else is going on, is that under Emery our attacking impact fell off a cliff, and the whole captaincy thing swirling around behind the scenes really pissed everyone off.

The inside info suggested that Emery messed Xhaka around with that a bit, and it was one of the things that led to subsequent issues.

I think we can all agree that Emery is a dilligent coach who is not a great communicator or man manager and not a big club leader, which after Wenger, who for his faults is great at both and loved by all his players, must have been super jarring. Hindsight tells us Emery was losing the team already by this point.

I wrote an article about this recently.

 

[Monstar-Gunn4r]

Xhaka's weakness has always been his ability to make a forward pass when under pressure from an opposition players, hes either afraid to lose the ball or not able to do it, personally I think its a confidence thing. The biggest problem with this is when he is the only option in midfield that the backline can pass to he is very easy to isolate and pressure. When you give him a midfield partner like Ramsey things begin to open up and he can start pinging balls. He might never be the top class midfielder we wanted but he could be very effective if he does get someone like Partey in beside him and I also feel if he can up his performances we'll see more of his character come through and he'll be able to push others to do a bit ebtter as well.

He really badly needs a midfield partner that can get close to him or make themselves available for a quick pass to be effective, because Xavi he is not - but then again who the fk is.

 

[Oxeki]

Great news. Our midfield is weak. Xhaka is our best midfielder, instantly livens things up just by being there.
We’d have beat Brighton with him, that’s for sure.

Jesus!

No wonder we're in mid table.

He's the main reason our midfield is crap.

Our midfield started to deteriorate around 2016 when signed Xhaka. We didn't have Guendouzi then neither did we have Torreira then or Ceballos.

Guess the only constant in all those years of mediocrity up until now? It's Xhaka. He's been the ever present in all our midfield through the past four coaches.

Anyway you look at it, pound for pound, he's arguably our worst midfielder.

I'm not surprised that you're advocating for him. I even saw posters yesterday who said we should keep mustafi FFS.

This fanbase is like a woman in an abusive relationship who is relationship who refuses to leave the guy.

I've seen people arguing that he's not playing well because the team has no structure.

So let me get this straight. The 20-30 touches he takes before he passes and the wayward passes he plays that puts us under pressure are all down to team structure?

I see now that the Özil syndrome has infected the Xhaka die-hards

 

[Oxeki]

2) He is positionally consistent (except when trying to cover 40 yards of space on his own under Emery), so it gives an easy out reference point for his team-mates, often creating a pressure valve. Again, if he could beat a man like Santi, it would be much better.

If he's positionally consistent he wouldn't need to be hacking down players from behind. I've never seen a player who is so easily dribbled past than him.

 

[lomekian]

If he's positionally consistent he wouldn't need to be hacking down players from behind. I've never seen a player who is so easily dribbled past than him.

Different things. He is easy to dribble past in space. At least he's there to be dribbled past unlike the rest of them ;-)

 

[Oxeki]

.
4) A far lesser issue, but he's actually a very good stand up tackler (not so good going to ground due to his lack of agility), so if play is funneled towards him in limited space he offers assurance. Its when he is exposed in space he gets killed.

Actually, those odd brainfarts have cost us many games and it will continue to happen. Just like with Mustafi and Luiz, no matter how decent they are, you just know the next brainfart is around the corner.

He brings nothing tangible to this team. He's average in every facet of his game.

He makes so much mistake that when doesn't make mistakes it is seen as a good game

 

[Ash10]

Jesus!

No wonder we're in mid table.

He's the main reason our midfield is crap.

Our midfield started to deteriorate around 2016 when signed Xhaka. We didn't have Guendouzi then neither did we have Torreira then or Ceballos.

Guess the only constant in all those years of mediocrity up until now? It's Xhaka. He's been the ever present in all our midfield through the past four coaches.

Anyway you look at it, pound for pound, he's arguably our worst midfielder.

I'm not surprised that you're advocating for him. I even saw posters yesterday who said we should keep mustafi FFS.

This fanbase is like a woman in an abusive relationship who is relationship who refuses to leave the guy.

I've seen people arguing that he's not playing well because the team has no structure.

So let me get this straight. The 20-30 touches he takes before he passes and the wayward passes he plays that puts us under pressure are all down to team structure?

I see now that the Özil syndrome has infected the Xhaka die-hards

Somehow it’s never his fault. He fouls constantly not because he's slow & dumb but because he's 'tactically aware'.
When gives wayward passes it’s not because he wets his pants under pressure but because his teammates didn’t run fast enough or something. When he gives away stupid penalties & costs us points it’s because the strikers didn’t score enough.
When he doesn’t make an obvious mistake or if his mistakes don't cost us it’s automatically considered a great performance.
Excuses & excuses..... All these things have been pointed out over & over but still somehow the myth around him persists.

& the less we talk about his made up incredible long range passing the better. It's been laughable for a while now

 

[Oxeki]

Different things. He is easy to dribble past in space. At least he's there to be dribbled past unlike the rest of them ;-)

He's easily bypassed because he's not athletic enough. So he resorts to fouling

 

[Trilly]

He's the main reason our midfield is crap.

Lol no he's not.

They're all crap.