You think Emery will stick with him. I wouldn’t be shocked, but I definitely think we badly need someone of better quality. Xhaka hasn’t ever convinced me that he be here at Arsenal for long. Sure he looks slightly better this season, but Torreira has helped him out immensely. Still see him give the Ball away constantly, lose his head when the games goes agaisnt us. Beside the odd good ball here and there and odd goal, I just don’t think he offers this team much.
No, not disputing that - I just don’t think Emery’s team selections and actions in his first few months suggest that he doesn’t fancy Xhaka. That’s the bit specifically I was responding to
I don’t think Emery has any choice but to stick with him. We might have a summer transfer budget but it won’t be enough to cover everything we need, and Xhaka’s role is one I don’t see being a priority.
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Thats a good point and one we all overlook. We have loads need shipping out but we are going to have stick with some of this crap.
Horrible situation but could see him survive the first cull.
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Its a close call to me, but I would say wide attack, CB, then CM, even before LB. Can live with Kola’s weaknesses if we have better CB and less injuries, plus he gives us an extra dimension against teams that sit back.
Torry is still developing and while I really like him, isn’t WC… Xhaka I still fundamentally maintain simply does not have the ingredients to be a great CM for us, and probably not even an acceptable one over a season… looking back at Cesc, Santi and their millisecond brains; Gilberto, Vieira, Petit and their positioning, strength, and various unique qualities… I mean it just makes me want to cry.
At least now we have an Auba and Laca up top… Defensively we are still a shambles, but that is a big combination of personnel and injuries… we literally have had just a freakin ridiculous variability to our backline and with makeshift players all over the damn place. If you think Xhaka gets exposed for pace at CM/DLM, he is tragic to watch at CB… just seeing the terror in his backpedaling is so sad… the idea that he would read the right moment to pounce and nick the ball too? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
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I wonder if he was this exposed in the BuLi as he is here? Wasn’t he paired with a lightweight AM in Dahoud? Imagine that in the Prem? Not sure if anyone watched much of him when he was at Monchengladbach but he came to Arsenal with a sense of ‘Torreira-ness’ about him, great price for an underrated player.
I think he’s simply a limited CM and I’m not sure how much of a ceiling he has left in him.
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I was thinking of some worst case scenarios and I found THE darkest timeline… Xhaka-Mustafi CB duo… 
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Ironically one of the most expensive CB pairings of all time :wenger2:
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That’s our starting CB pairing against City!
Good article this. For me he has improved massively this season. Still has the odd brainless pass in him but he’s improving
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We miss him when he doesn’t play, which is a good sign.
But yeah he really has to get that suicide pass out of his system. A pass like that erases any good thing he’s done in a match.
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Not convinced by that. Been some improvement but also big dips that point more to a basic trait in his game all round.
Think he will always have games that have you believing but than the error ones wont be far behind.
Hope to be proved wrong, but dont think I will be.
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This again?? Lelelelel the guy has been found out especially against better opposition that press. He can’t handle it, and he’s part of a midfield that get dominated by relegation fodder on the weekly. He needs to fuck off sharpish.
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As do you :giroud:
Finally found his place in 3 years and still shit
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I don’t care if he makes 20 worldie passes a game. If he makes that one dumb pass across goal that’s intercepted, it could lead to a goal. Till he gets that out of his game, he’ll always be surplus for me.
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exactly this ^
He is in a position where you’re judge as well on what bad moves you make, not just what good moves you make. I got that Almunia feel nowadays with him, I just never relax when he’s doing things lol
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Him and Iwobi the most improved players this season. As I said, we would be wise to cash in.
He can be catastrophic under pressure. He hasn’t been found out a lot this season but you can bet your ass teams some aspiring and improving teams in the PL will catch up on that, like they did with Jorginho.
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A lot of shouts for this guy to be our main captain next season on Twitter. Heavily disagree with this. No issues being 4th/5th captain but the guy is simply not an example to be followed to be The Skipper. As much as he has improved he still has his trademark fuck up per game. We should aim for players to be better than that. Especially in one of the most volatile positions in football.
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What does frustrate me is he actually has turned up in all our big performances this year. Both NLD games and Liverpool at home.
He shows that when he needs to use his brain for 90 mins he can be somewhat of an asset.
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