His best game so far this season, great long passes, tracking back for the whole 90 min, still makes some rash challenges though, and his corners need some polishing.
Slowly but surely carving his position in the team. It must be a team dynamic, but maybe weāre getting used to him being the deep lying creator as opposed to to Santiās way of playing the game. Whether thatās on the team or simply, to the word of Wenger, āXhaka adjustingā. Whatever, we seem to be seeing the early sapling of a team functioning with Xhaka at the heart(wood) of the team. Great performance!
Cazorla or Ramsey to partner him is still a combination we need to see more of!
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this thread is awfully silent after he fucked up agin giving shut a stupid penalty
Was a stupid challenge and fairly needless which is something he seems to do every few games or so.
His recklessness is getting rather frustrating. Heās producing some great work on the pitch (his cross finding Giroudās header) and then he undoes a lot of that with stupid incidents like the one on Tuesday.
Canāt remember the last time we had someone so āclumsyā aggressive.
Gabriel?
This might be a little overcriticism but is it just me or do our attempts to be a bit aggressive have an air of shambolicness about them?
They way Wilshere used to square up to people, how Kos, Coq, Xhaka give up the dumbest fouls?
Much more so compared to the smart way in which Chelsea or United, or even Tottenham (Dembele, Rose are snide bastards) go about making life uncomfortable for opposing teams.
I.e. More like Aguero and Fernandinho who got wunmed into 3 game bans vs Cesc and Luiz, who were very sly with their gamesmanship etc.
We just get sent off or close to, making life hard for ourselves only.
To be honest its not even a big issue for me, but not being a stupid pillock giving away pens when the attacker is literally going nowhere would be great.
Today two traffic cones in the place of where Xhaka and Ramsey were supposed to be playing midfield, would have provided better cover for our back four than these two. First time in a long time Iāve begun to think we spent a lot of money on a terrible player. Iāve never seen a tandem of midfielders completely bypassed like I did today, and by Preston no less
Weāre fucked until Santi, Coq, and Elneny return. Dreading the next 3 weeks.
Given the fact we are playing Swansea, Burnley & Watford we should be ok.
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WTF is wrong with him? You just press him a little bit and he immediately gives the ball away.
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Heās struggling but itās too early to write him off. He needs to stay deep, provide the central outlet for the defence and keep it simple for a while. No need to force the long balls yet. This season is about developing into the system instead of trying to hit the ground running. Deep-lying playmakers are rarely great defensively. We could have used a 2011-12 Alex Song type of B2B as his midfield partner right now.
Why are people so bipolar lol. Xhaka is probably tired, its his first season. In Germany he had a winter break. Been a great signing
Heās not played very much tbh.
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Every Arsenal player is under a lot of criticism for a bad game but theyāre amazing for a good game. My mood doesnāt even change that much and Iām a girl. 
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I didnāt see the game yesterday, caught the highlights though and it seemed in the first half we got pummelled everywhere in midfield. And whilst Xhaka has had a hot and cold season so far, I seriously think itās more a case system/adaptation for him; you donāt go from being a baller in the bundesliga for two seasons? to putting in these kind of performances as an improving player.
So far, I think itās fair to say that we have seen most of his good and bad traits and iād positively say that he will be an even bigger player for us in years to come. Arsenal are prone to exposing any trace of defensive structure at embarrassing lengths, even while acquiring some very good players, an individual canāt quell some storms.
Hasnt been great at all. Anything but.
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I have little doubt that Xhaka will be fine, yes heās been sloppy in quite a few games, however, the lack of organisation in the team and less than ideal midfield partners do him no favours.
Heāll prove his worth as a midfield linchpin over the coming years for sure, though this will happen after Wenger is gone mind.
What? Thatās the excuse you give for him being bullied by both Bournemouth and Preston! He is rash and needs time to pick a pass, these two attributes arenāt really great in high intensity games.
He may need to think ahead and quicker than he does now and thatās more to do with the player less than the manager.
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We knew his weakness when he signed. The fact is that he barely played along with a good partner in the middle for him. Him and Elneny have looked quite good together, tbf.
Thatās correct, which brings to the point where the manager hasnāt had him long enough to develop him and work with on his short comings.
Xhaka has been here four months so any deficiencies that he has was from developing the need the previous manager.
We should try a 3-man midfield to protect him. It would be a good move for our midfielders overall though.