Granit Xhaka

That’s because more often than not he’s been left isolated by Coquelin an co, you’ve only got to look at his performances vs Pep’s Bayern & Schmidt’s Leverkusen last season to see he’s got no problem being pressed when he’s got the options around him.

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Here’s a decent read on Xhaka for anyone who’s interested - http://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/news/defence-granit-xhaka-arsenal-failed-12842663

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He’s a very good player.
Playing with a decent striker he could be a lot more dangerous.
It will be interesting to see how he performs under a different manager, if Wenger leaves,

Appologism a plenty, Arteta and Cazorla as equally slow as they were didn’t make the mistakes or commit the rash challenges Xhaka has. Some of the rash challenges he wasn’t even exposed or under pressure. The partner argument isn’t the reason he’s been exposed when pressed.

He’s simply being positionally poor in a new system and needs to adapt. He has plenty of potential but if he doesn’t adapt it will be a problem no matter who he’s paired with.

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Yeah they did stop talking shit lol I can think of two mistakes off the top of my head that Arteta made which cost us 2 goals & 3 points in 35 minutes after being subbed on and off vs West Brom last season but yeah I agree neither have been as rash as Xhaka has that’s just not in their make up.

[quote=“arsenescoatmaker, post:1293, topic:94”]
Some of the rash challenges he wasn’t even exposed or under pressure.[/quote]

Yeah some were just plain stupid but the fair share of them have been good fouls in the sense that at least Xhaka’s had the train of thought to stop the oppositions counters in their tracks (albeit he could have done so abit more subtly) which can’t be said for any of our other midfielders, for example Coquelin vs Hazard :coq:

[quote=“arsenescoatmaker, post:1293, topic:94”]
The partner argument isn’t the reason he’s been exposed when pressed.[/quote]

It’s not at least not entirely, that’s partly down to Xhaka and the structure of the team.

His midfield partner has played apart in it though unless you think Xhaka’s something his not and has the ability to by pass the high press all of his on a consistent basis like Santi used to do.

[quote=“arsenescoatmaker, post:1293, topic:94”]
He’s simply being positionally poor[/quote]

That’s fair he has but given how poor we are from a tactical perspective is that really a surprise tho?

[quote=“arsenescoatmaker, post:1293, topic:94”]
He has plenty of potential but if he doesn’t adapt it will be a problem no matter who he’s paired with.[/quote]

If Xhaka’s going to fulfill his potential he needs to be given the right platform around him to do so, otherwise we could swap him for someone like Toni Kroos and it still wouldn’t make a difference because that’s how fucked the structure of our team is especially in the big games where we rely on individual brilliance rather than a well drilled tactical unit.

Shows what having a competent player next to Xhaka does to his performance, not Coquelin.

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Maybe Coquelin game suffered because of Xhaka.

Behave ffs. Maestro my arse.

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More like the hammer for the way he kicks the opponents off the park :smiley:

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the podolski of midfield.

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Lol I love how some optimistic guy who loves the team and players joins the forum to share his love of the club with other fans and his optimism is completely crushed by dusgruntled unhappy ppl. Great atmosphere we’ve created here fellas!!

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I think he is going to be a far better player next season, in the PL.
He has the ability, and has shown he can have good performances, all he needs is some consistency.

He is the least of our worries.
The same can’t be said of our attacking players.

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lol, Coquelin is an average player.

He has obvious qualities. So I have high hopes for him regardless. I just think it’s very fair for people to say he’s been disappointing and underwhelming because he has. But over the course of the season when virtually everyone has been shit, it’s almost as if he can get away with it for this season at least.

He definitely needs time (because of the reds cards), be calm and needs players in midfield who know how to play with him. Against Palace Elneny has done it well. Coquelin is a problem for him. The video shows his qualities.

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How did the dream ticket combination of him and Elnenny go tonight then.

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From what I saw I thought he had a decent game, that’s not saying much with practically the whole team doing their best pub football impression though.

Xhaka made some terrible passes which I can only assume is Elneny’s fault. Or maybe Coquelin being on the bench was too close a proximity to him, we’ll never know which it was unfortunately.

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