Have a pity like for your troubles
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You too, for being the loser of the Essex derby
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Thereās a strong element of scapegoat when it comes to Xhaka nowadays I feel. Yes way too many high profile individual errors over the years especially that penalty vs Brighton in 2019 but heās still not the main cause of falling out the top four and top six. Neither is he the main driver behind the terrible underperformance as a club on and off the field. Falling from 5th to 8th has some considerably bigger reasons than him.
Iām completely okay with seeing him go but I think the uncomfortable reality people donāt want to confront here is that we can still become even worse. For a team chasing top six (yes thatās where we are, until we do that weāre not ready for top four) he was perfectly adequate.
Just because weāre not playing in Europe and have more rest for the league doesnāt change the fact weāre Arsenal and it will probably count for very little.
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@Phoebica
Who do you think you reckon are the worst players ahead of Mustafi and Xhaka in your lifetime as an Arsenal fan?
Toreira and Squillaci
Torreira doesnāt belong in any discussions of worst Arsenal players. He was strong when he arrived and put in some great performances before he was mysteriously shoehorned into an advanced attacking role by Emery and then subsequently just removed from the team by Arteta.
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More in contention for most mismanaged.
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Nah, Torreira definitely belongs in the discussion 
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Yeah. Heās a whingey cunt whose careers disintegrated because heās not able to seemingly embrace challenges.
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Letās be honest here, he may have had a stinker of a second season but he was undoubtedly one of our best players in his first season. He does not belong in any worst signing discussions.
Named third best signing of the PL season in 18-19.
Won an abundance of individual man of the match awards in his first season.
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Torreira would have contributed more if he was played as much as Xhaka was played.
Itās his timid and fickle personality that ended his tenure with us more than anything.
That said he is nothing special even at the bargain rate he got him for.
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What challenges? Moving to England? Would you have called Reyes names like that?
Iād much rather have a guy who was emotionally mature enough to recognize things arenāt okay than a dingbat like Xhaka with his faux tough guy act.
Honestly, a midfield of our rejects would have been far better watching than our sycophantic losers. I truely believe we would have been competitive with a midfield of Ozil, Guendouzi and Torriera.
Yeh we probably would have fell out of the top 4 eventually with those players but weād have been a better watch and probably picked up more points.
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I think one of the main reasons Xhaka is so unpopular with our supporters, isnāt so much his obvious lack of ability, itās more to do with what he represents.
Also, his signing coincided with us falling out of the CL places and dropping out of the CL places.
He is the epitome of everything that is wrong with the club.
He was an expensive waste of money and as usual we could have had better players but wouldnāt pay the extra to get themā¦
To make it worse he was made captain even though he was totally unsuitable and has been our worst captain by some distance.
He is the same as Arteta and the owners in the way he represents himself
Just like them:
ā¢ He gives the impression of being tough, when he is just cowardly
ā¢ He is a reactive with little intelligence.
ā¢ His decision making is slow.
ā¢ He lacks any imagination and is happy just to move sideways.
ā¢ Since he arrived we have gone down every season and our performances are as poor.
ā¢ He shows no leadership qualities and lacks any self awareness of how bad he is.
All these criticisms could be made either against Xhaka, the manager or the owner and they are the reasons weāre in the state weāre in.
Getting rid of him is good but until we get rid of the other two, weāre still in a big mess.
I agree wholeheartedly with everything up to the Arteta comparison.
The truth is that people who donāt think Xhaka is that bad donāt see him as a human microcosm for our recent decline. Why they donāt see that I donāt know, itās so obvious that no player has encapsulated our tailspin more than Xhaka, all the way from Wenger through Emery to Arteta.
All I can say is one thing Arteta deserves credit for is finally being the one to show him the door, I wish he had listened to his instincts and released him last year but we all know Xhaka says the right things in training and to the manager because heās an insidious snake that wants to destroy all that is good from within- why else would greats like Wenger and Mou trust him at all.
As far as Iām concerned Xhaka was the heartbeat of this team and he was a gross, shitty zombie one straight out of George Romero flick. I feel like the contrarians will understand next season when we look a lot more full of life in midfield with Neves or whoever it may be. How can a team tick when the bloke who is meant to keep you ticking over is literally the football anti Christ, it canāt be done- we have 5 years of hard evidence.
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Oh okay how about adding Spain too then. How about crying getting subbed in Baku. How about crying when Xhaka getting grief off the crowd.
Great maturity being shown.
Itās a good balanced midfield that for sure.
A Tackler, a box to box and an attacking mid
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Skimming the last 100 posts in here, lovely Friday reading.
Xhaka is really really shit.
Look we all know heās shit, but heās not really really shit.
No heās really really shit.
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Fantastic abridged version, though would prefer in audiobook.
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Going to pray at my Mourinho shrine to speed this transfer up, give me a moment.