Granit Xhaka

The thing about Xhaka is he’s so important for our transitions so I’m a little concerned about how fluid we might look in midweek now.

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Xhaka is a massive loss for the United game, didn’t realise it was his 5th booming. Wish that he picked up his 5th booking vs United and missed the game vs Huddersfield on Saturday :rage:.

Might see Big Guen in the midfield next to Torreira (good) or maybe try The Birdman there?

I’m assuming Özil won’t play.

He has been better lately for sure, but is one of our players prone to absolute brain freeze and sometimes just lacks any composure… pairing with Torry and some improvement seems to really have taken hold. The problem is we really don’t have anyone else who is suited to play that position right now, so there will be some sort of dropoff… I guess Guen is best option at this point, but he is kid… AMN would perhaps be another, but has been out injured and seems destined to play all over the pitch and fade into obscurity.

I worry more about our defenders doing something really dumb - Utd have more talent than they’re showing and I hope they continue to pout under Mou and we perhaps are the final straw to full breakdown for Mou.

I fully expect United to come out of the blocks like a house on fire Wednesday. Mou hates Arsenal and like any aging star he’ll try to play his hits. He’ll start a very tall, very physical lineup and have them try to run us in the first 15 minutes to get an early goal or two.

Mustafi will have to wear his thinking cap on Wednesday. Although didn’t he come out injured today?

Yeah he did… we’ll see what happens with that… not a great situation with both Xhaka and Moose out, even if I don’t rate either of them. Koss certainly can’t be thrown back into starting I assume… so maybe back 4 with Holding and Papa, Bellerin and Kola… could see something tricky putting AMN out left and push Kola up higher (thus staying with the back 5)… can see Guen and Torry in middle, Ramsey deserves to start with Laca, Auba, and either Ozil or Iwobi.

They are such a shambles right now that we should still put them to the sword - I agree they will batter us and try to out-physical us, but they don’t look inspired at all… if we start strong like we did today and get up on them, can see exploiting counters with Auba doing the trick.

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I know he has his fan’s in the fanbase, but the guy still doesn’t convince me. He gives the ball away far too much and loses his head when the game goes agaisnt him. I think he’s a good solid squad player, but we could go out and get better. A bit like Mustafi, a solid professional who’d probably suit the Italian, German and a mid table Spanish team to the ground. But I think the PL isn’t suiting his style.

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yes I want him to do well but dear, again when he just literally passes that Fulham player at midfield I almost lost my shit. He’s doing that at a rate of once or twice per game I just don’t understand it lol

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Yep. He shouldn’t be priority but should be phased as a squad player come next season.
I hope his better performances this year has popped up potential suitors for him…

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There’s no doubt we need an upgrade.

He’s had enough time and his lack of athleticism and awareness are things you can’t teach, it’s a case of masking his deficiencies as much as possible which Torreria has helped tremendously with, however, ultimately as far as starters go we need better.

I’d like to see us go in for Weigl who seems on the outs at Dortmund but unfortunately won’t be happening considering budget constraints.

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I think Emery really likes him or at least he dislikes the least of some truly mediocre midfield options.

He’s such a boat in the middle of the park. I don’t think there is a place for these types of players in this particular league anymore.

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Agreed I want to like him but it’s really hard to see what he brings, especially when he doesn’t have the mobility to make the most of his frame.

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I think we’ve been super spoilt having the likes of Santi bless the field for us in recent times. I really want Emery to find another Spanish equivalent. Going from THAT to a long-diagonal merchant is quite a contrast.

It’s a love/hate thing with Xhaka for me. That left-foot is tasty but he massively lets himself down in losing the ball. He would have been prime real estate in the Prem around the early 2000’s. I think the modern PL CM needs to be fairly press resistant and has the ability to dispatch the ball quickly, in all directions of the field.

I wonder how long is left on his contract too?

Glad that OA have come around to the fact that this guy is shit. He scored a goal yesterday but we can still all see his flaws which far outweigh his one or two small strengths.

Seri was brought up yesterday and the Fulham fans are apparently not that enamored with him, but that was bound to happen. Fulham are a terrible fit for the guy. He came on, disposessed Torreira and fed someone for a tasty through ball, which resulted in their only goal. I still want him, he’d look fantastic alongside Torreira and Guendouzi imo, probably could get him cheap now too cuz Fulham look to be going down they are gonna have to sell.

I’d assume a fair while is left on his contract, pretty sure he signed an extension late last season.

Ah, it’s 2017 again.

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Kinda, except this time I don’t have to hear the fucking stupid excuse of “well I’d like to see what a different manager than Wenger could do with him”. Results are in, he’s still a massive pile of trash.

In fairness I think most people have long accepted he was trash and off my head I’m pretty sure a lot of people wanted him gone before Emery even got here. It’s just a few (understandably) wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

But like you said, benefit of the doubt has been given and he’s still dross.