To be fair to Xhaka, he’s been very good for the past couple months. Credit where it’s due.
Looks like he’s finally finding his form
Funny how all these players including Welbz are coming good as he is leaving ffs !!
He’s had quite a good game yesterday, I think Ozil had a word with him before, Xhaka seems to look for him wherever he is .
With the exception of his shooting last night I thought he was brilliant. His distribution was top notch.
Also
Been very good recently, tbh.
This is one of the reasons I rate Xhaka so highly, his ability to play penetrating passes through the lines is up there with the best of them.
It’s such a joy to watch at times, especially the way his links up with Özil like you said it kinda reminds me of the way Busquets & Messi link up at times too.
Xhaka was Motm by a mile for me last night, can’t wait until next week, he’s gonna run the show in the Wanda Metropolianto Stadium too.
Should provoke Costa and send him off.
He put in an impressive performance yesterday but it’s pretty easy to look good playing against a team who is down to 10 men and is literally camped in their own defensive third for 80 minutes of a game.
He had so much time and space to pick his passes. It was a deep lying playmaker’s paradise. It was basically a training exercise where we trying to break down a defensive unit that has no intention of attacking.
He always looks good when he has time. He consistently shits the bed when he’s pressed or put under pressure. Let’s see how he does next week!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP SHOOTING. SICK OF WATCHING IT FLY OVER THE BAR CAUSE HE THINKS THIS IS MOTHERFUCKING RUGBY!!!
To be fair having time and space in the ball is part and parcel of the regista role, it’s one of the reasons some of the slowest and best passers in the game have and still do thrive in the deep lying playmaker position.
Like my old man used to say you can’t get tackled if you don’t have the ball, which is also one of the reasons third man runs are one of the deadliest weapons in football but that’s for another discussion.
As for looking good vs a 10 man Atletico it’s argubaly harder to find space between the lines when Atleti had an extra incentive to sit back, stay compact & block the passing lanes instead of opening up and leaving little pockets of space to exploit whilst they went looking for the away goal.
His distribution was great.
Apart from his hopeless shooting I thought he was fantastic vs Atletico.
I don’t like him
…why could get not play like this whole season
“arguably” being the key word there.
We’ve seen Xhaka when pressed and harried, and we’ve seen him in matches where he isn’t.
Lets not talk shit and act like being given space doesn’t make him look way fucking better.
When people get in his face the guy is a total fucking liability, can we stop acting like that isn’t true because he’s been decent in like 6 matches.
Tbf think he’s been better in games where he’s been pressed too.
I think I’ve been his biggest detractor since the start, but yeah he has actually played a whole lot better the past month or so. However it’s probably just our annual do much better when the rest of the league has given up and the pressure is off.
It’s not even about denying he’s been better lately. He has. But which one of those matches have the opposition got right in his face?