Granit Xhaka

He looks a quality player next to Torreira it must be said.

Imagine how good we will be if we play a proper all round midfielder besides Torreira, considering how Torreira is making Xhaka look like a decent player.

Xhaka needs someone who is a beast defensively who can also pass beside him and he has exactly that and more in Torriera.

Still donā€™t think heā€™s the answer for us in midfield but hopefully Torriera can help him mask his deficiencies for long enough to find the player that can usurp him.

https://twitter.com/untitledmus/status/1054464907536678912

:arteta:

As an aside, I heard he was playing LB at times.
Sorry what? :arteta: :poldi:

Nearly messed up from out of nowhere, lucky Lucas was there to cover.

Progress!

Emery in!

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15%20AM

Iā€™m cool with this power ranking stuff, looks good!
:unai:

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Stunning free kick from Xhaka.

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Credit where itā€™s due heā€™s turning things around.

Playing beside Torriera is doing wonders for him and up until that pen he was having an awesome game at LB.

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The pen was a dive. Canā€™t fault him much.

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Iā€™m not faulting him tbh.

Still think heā€™s at fault for the penalty. By sticking his leg out in such a fashion, heā€™s giving every reason for the dive and for the ref to give it.

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If Mustafi fucking took the Palace guy down then we wouldnā€™t be talking about this!!

Mustafi cost us the game with two silly errors. If he done them the other way around we win.

Itā€™s a series of errors really. Laca and Torreira both could have prevented the goal at some point in the oppositionā€™s Counter

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Meh it was a player falling over a leg stuck outā€¦ you canā€™t stick your leg out that way and miss the ball - it was a poor play defending, especially given that he was going wide. Mooseā€™s was worse, but it was still 2 bad plays that led to 2 goals.

His free kick was fantastic (although decent keeper should save from that distance/angle every time) and he did ok at left back, just too bad that it is blighted by giving away the pen at end. To be fair, it was our shambolic forward play that let us downā€¦ our possession was awful - passing not accurate and I think it was Lacaā€™s dumb pass that led to counter and ultimately the goal.

Mustafi as well.

Heā€™s possibly the most culpable, goes to ground to give away a pen but canā€™t be arsed to take a yellow to bring down a player when Palace are on the counter.

Infantile defending.

Did Xhaka have a good game at LB? If kinda just being over on the left and making some passes constitutes a good game then sure. Xhaka has about 2 good qualities and about 20 bad ones. We lacked so much impetus down that side because Xhaka is deficient and was scared to go too far past the half way line, he left Auba on an island.

He certainly had what Iā€™d consider a good game for a 4th choice LB who usually plays centre mid.

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You can certainly tell he isnā€™t a natural LB, but he didnā€™t have a bad game at all.