Funny that you call Özil the most useless when he and Alexis were the only two players that combined for any passing moves and carved out any openings. One of the only players that showed any signs of being able to unlock the door had our support players actually contributed in forging any sort of team build up.
As for Xhaka, he offers plenty in terms of feeding Özil, Iwobi and Walcott, but defensively, his ball retention and his general handling of possession when under physical pressure hasn’t been good enough.
He hasn’t been in it since he started playing a lot. Everyone should remember when you called for Xhaka early on and Wenger said he wasn’t ready, he probably wasn’t, and isn’t, just that Santi got injured and we have to roll and rotate, what else can we do. For me he was the worst player on the pitch vs City, he occupies such an important position and role in that game, we really needed him to do his job well.
But no matter how much some of you hate Wenger with a passion you have to admit he knows how to do midfielders, and if he says Granit isn’t ready there is something to it, and where I’m going with this is that maybe that we should try to avoid long term judgment on Xhaka for now even though he looks like he can’t control his space, he could potentially still be a world beater in the future.
Ultimately, Wenger signed a player who he wasn’t even sure what position he’d occupy him on the pitch. It’s so obvious his performances will rely on his midfield partner. Just can’t believe we spent 35m on someone who doesn’t seem to be able to impact games in a positive way right now lol.
Maybe. But maybe he is just not ready though, maybe he was bought with long term planning in mind, then Santi broke down. If we for example persisted with playing Sanchez up front right after paying £30+m for him, as (was both the long term intention and what) some called for even though he was shite there maybe people would’ve said the same thing about him for two years, poor player, Wenger playing him in the wrong position, yada yada
Maybe it’s the same thing with Xhaka, but instead of a new position it is just a new style of football with a new type of opponents. Look what happened when we had to throw Rob Holding in too early (Liverpool game first season), I really don’t think it says anything about Rob, just like with Xhaka he was forced in early because of abscence of other players.
After all, if he was bought to be the center piece, to control our game he needs to understand it and the opponents. I think if Santi was here Xhaka would have gotten much less play time and probably was just planned for to play the EFL games, come on as a sub etc., maybe played aside Santi a bit slowly being phased into our side. Some players are not intended for immediate impact, Wenger said he was not ready early on.
At least I hope this is how it is, I will try to reserve my final judgement on him as a player til next season.
Hate to say it, but I completely agree - he just hasn’t looked good at all to me bar a couple of moments and one half or two here or there. His passing isn’t that great - FFS he sprays the ball all over the damn place and gives it away cheaply far too often. His touch is surprisingly bad as well. I get the impression he is a little lost and AW needs to protect him more or give him a lot more instruction/guidance.
Elneny looks like the better option atm, along with Le Coq, but holy shnikey we are missing Santi in the middle. Someone who can actually pass, possess, touch, and wiggle out of trouble when necessary, not to mention produce a bit of magic here or there.
I really hope he comes on - to me our second half might revolve around how our two X’s do: Xhaka and Ox - if they stay mediocre and sh*t, we aren’t getting anywhere near title. If Xhaka produces the way we thought he would and Ox turns into something useful, we can get back in it.
Sanchez is not a CF.
Cazorla is not a CM.
Persie is not a CF.
Iwobi is championship player.
Koscielny is not PL standard.
Why the fuck are you not starting Xhaka Wenga?
Why did Wenger didn’t sub in Perez?
Sell Monreal
Per is slow
Yes our esteemed panels of experts have been so right.
