respect the tactleneck
Imo, if we need to sacrifice an attacking player to cover the LB position and allowing Zinny to move up, this is a crap tactic.
This just defeats the purpose to move a player up to gain control and attack.
I donât care about any statistic anyone throws at me, we have lost something without him in our side and we miss him pretty bad.
Nowadays we progress the ball to Odegaard who only ever has one intention on his mind and everyone knows it.
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I told you weâd miss this nasty bastard on the left.
Got so much shit last season for his âslowing down the attacksâ, well they donât look fast and fluid now do they?? The man linked our defense and attack so well, he kept things moving.
Had we had a fit Partey, weâd have certainly felt the change less but he was more important on and off the pitch than people gave credit for.
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what could Xhaka do today?
I want to know what difference he could have make.
The midfield trio of Partey, Xhaka and Odegaard was a well oiled unit. Rice slowly being added to that shouldâve been the idea. Instead weâve binned xhaka and Partey is perma crocked.
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We havenât lost shit with this guy. Weâve had this twat as a key player during one of our worst periods ever.
Only thing he wouldâve offered today is probably conceding a pen or getting sent off.
I donât remember many(if any) games where this guy pulled us back up when we were bad.
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Not just about today, our midfield looks disjointed in almost every fucking game. Xhaka would bring us more control, he would bring fluidity back to that left hand side between Zinky and Gabi.
The only thing against Xhaka was that an on form zinchenko almost made him irrelevant in that left 8 space at times, he looked a bit like a spare part. However, our midfield is so deep now and our attack is so distant from them on the pitch, Xhaka in that space would be great to tie them together.
Miss Partey more but losing them both is a killer.
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You are letting your dislike of him cloud your judgement as to what we had over the last two seasons. Lord knows I was never xhakas biggest fan pre 2020-21-ish but have to give credit where itâs due.
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Donât get me wrong, he was very important to our title challenge last season and understood his role very well. Most importantly, he had personality which current players apart from Rice seem to lack.
However the issue is far deep rooted - the current players we have, all bar Rice and Saliba/Gabriel are in poor form.
Wingers look dehydrated, out of ideas, fullbacks lack energy and tactically we are too predictable. Arteta needs to fix this.
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Additional control in the midfield. Rice only wants to pass to the right side of the pitch, and Havertz doesnât want to pass the ball at all. Xhaka actually wants to do both
Both miss his work on the left.
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Mate letâs be real, the usual slanders from the same guys in this topic wonât ever come clean that itâs a personal dislike of him. 
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Tbf, Xhaka had played 1 good season for us in 7 years. Thereâs no guarantee that he wouldâve made our play infinitely better this year. He could pull another stinker as he did for years prior.
That said, I do agree that gutting our midfield almost entirely is a problem⌠and Mikel needs to answer for it.
Weâre at least 30% weaker, both offensively and defensively⌠not sure whatâs happened but something needs to change.
I remember when it became clear heâd be off in the summer and thinking hmm donât like that. Continuity was important. Instead weâve lost that well oiled engine room.
Lol fucking Xhaka making a difference today 
Would he fuck.
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last season we were playing a different tactics, free flowing football.
it made you feel like Xhaka was important to our âattackingâ football.
I was asking, what could Xhaka contribute today, if we are NOT playing that kind of football but slowing everything down?
Could Xhaka dribble past defenders? Run into channels and creating chances/space?
As Ode and Saka dominating the ball for so much, what could Xhaka do on the field today?
Did we lack of passing? Nope.
One of our issues today is, passing too much.
Nah, I have good memory of the last two seasons when they going got tough and Xhaka was one of the first to either go into hiding or decide to be the starman by doing something stupid.
Heâs done well when weâve been good but the dude was carried by the rest big time. Heâs not a player to pull anyone up.
Put Xhaka in the team in every single draw or loss this season and it wouldnât have changed a thing.
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didnât we have enough control of the game?
Even in his âshitâ seasons Xhaka still provided a capable body and good passing from midfield. He just couldnât run very fast and got killed when the team was exposed in transitions.
no.
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