Granit Xhaka

Ah so people are still in denial about Xhaka being in our current best XI then I see

Nothing to be in denial about. He’s featured as first name on the team sheet in most of our horrible defeats. He does not make us better lol

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So do you think we looked better without him against Brighton and Palace then?

I think we looked just as shit with him in the team against Brentford, City and Chelsea.

Obviously the problems in the team are bigger than just Xhaka, but we still play like fucking shit with him in the team.

He is not the difference maker lol

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Unfortunately he is shit, but, under our current so called manager we are also, as a team, shit…
But hey, still don’t want him back!

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Whole crux of this season is because of the failure to ship him out.
The season was wasted from the minute he was retained and sealed Arteta style of play and his midfield policy.

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There is literally no evidence he makes us any better or worse with or without him.

Our records are basically identical whether he is in the team or not

Him being crucial is such a myth.

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Don’t like Granit but he’s a crucial player in this Arteta ‘system’. We’re much more balanced with him in the side.

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We play no differently with or without him.
When he has a game where he doesn’t give away points through giving the ball away, getting sent off or giving away penalties, he is no more than adequate.
But that doesn’t happen very often and certainly shouldn’t make him the first name on the team sheet.

The fact that Xhaka is such an important part of Arteta’s plans just highlights his ineptitude and is the reason we’re in the mess we’re in.

No other decent manager in Europe would spend 200m on players and still persist with Xhaka as part of their system.

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Its laughable for people to suggest a “need” for Xhaka to be in the 11 against bottom half opposition at home.

The conditions have to be perfect and everybody healthy for Arteta to get inconsistent results at best. Says alot about the bastardised system Arteta implemented

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Phoeb said current best 11 and she’s right. It doesn’t mean he’s good but we are seriously weak in midfield. El neny and lokonga are horrible.

Nothing about Ben white has shown me he is a 50m improvement over what we had, our team would transform with a competent midfielder next to partey.

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this is lazy a game after Partey was crap and Sambi was poor.

I think everyone agrees Partey is the superior player, even if he has been a bit sh*t for us. Sambi has been up and down and has played how many games for us exactly?

We don’t have good options at CM right now - that is true. But Xhaka is bad and has zero upside. And he makes us play a worse brand of football b/c of his limitations, the worst of which is his insanely slow thinking.

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Its laughable for lots of reasons… its also laughable (to prevent from sobbing) that there is actually a legit argument that Xhaka deserves to play - that is how much of a F*ing shambles we are

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There is no lower limit to what kind of result this team will achieve with Xhaka in it. Getting sent off and losing 5-0 against City absolutely sums him up. Perhaps you forgot about that? We were generally awful with him in the side as well.

He’ll be “decent” for a run of games but inevitably he will shit the bed and absolutely embarrass us.

He is a seriously limited player who happens to be a better passer than the rest of the shite we have in the squad. It’s like saying we’re missing that 5/10 player just because our alternatives are 4.5/10 players. Marginal improvement on shite. Which still makes him shite.

If you asked me whether I could simply eject him from the squad and rely on our other options, then yes. Sign me up. He epitomises our mediocrity like no other player since Mustafi finally left.

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Given his contribution to the Man City defeat. I don’t miss him the slightest.

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Masterful bait by @Phoebica though, all it takes is a mildly positive comment about Xhaka, or even the hint of positivity, and you’re guaranteed many bites from frothing at the mouth Xhaka haters. Got us all on strings lol.

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I tried that in the match day thread and everyone ignored me :sob::sob:

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Yeah I was going to start by accusing her of trolling, but that isn’t her style so I gave her benefit of the doubt… I think she simply feels he is underrated here, which is probably fair since most of us think he is the worst thing in football next to Mourinho.

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Oh yeah, Phoebica is definitely being sincere and not trolling, but I think also definitely knew how easily it would bait people. I respect that.

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Yep - although I always feel you should pick your battles in life, so defending a mediocre player as “not that terrible” is kind of a weird hill to die on.