Granit Xhaka

“A bit-betterer-Lee-Cattermole”.

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Backed him for a while and I think under a different manager he could be better but the moment of madness he has every game where he’s rash/gives the ball away is down to himself, he’s quite trash at times, I need a new avatar :grinning:

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Call me superstitious but you & @Phoebica should stay away from avatar of our starting XI players.
Get Debuchy or Theo or someone.

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Yeah since Xhaka is trash now I’m willing to have an avatar bet :grimacing:

Was only halfway watching the game, was he total poo?

Thought he had yet another shocker but seeing as he has one almost every game it flies under the radar now. Can’t see how he turns this around.

Thought he was quite decent apart from the error he made near the end of the game where he tried to nutmeg Drinkwater. His positioning and distribution was quite good and he put in a few good crosses as well

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Had some good interceptions but passing wise still shocking. That nutmeg attempt was so risky too. Didn’t we nearly concede from that?

Let’s hope he eventually turns out good because I can’t see Arsene dropping him anytime soon.

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Thought he was decent tbh.

Playing along Wilshere does him well, imo. He doesn’t have to dictate the tempo so he can focus on the other things.

Oh I am quite sure he is getting dropped once Ramsey, Wilshere and Niles become feasible options to start.

You have to wonder why Xhaka was signed as he doesn’t actually appear to possess the qualities that we usually attribute to a Wenger midfielder.

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Think Wenger has been trying to sign a midfielder in the Alonso/ Barry mould for a long while - A deep lying distributor with decent defensive attributes. He managed to convert Arteta into one with decent success. Before we signed Xhaka, he looked like the one, especially if you watched his performances for Gladbach or Switzerland.

I still think he can be a good midfielder, but is terribly lacking in confidence.

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I do get where you’re coming from but I think those guys you mentioned are very composed on the ball and generally have very good decision making whereas Xhaka seems to have terrible decision making and lacks any composure. So with his lack of athleticism it’s just a recipe for disaster. Having watched him for 18 months now I can comfortably say he doesn’t fit the mould of a Wenger midfielder.

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Yeah I think he was signed with the intention of being an all-around or deep lying passer of the ball but with the physical side to his game that would fit in the PL. Turns out his physical game is/was often borderline madness (we did know he liked a card now and then) and his passing wasn’t even remotely accurate or fast enough for our type of game.

Best solution is ofc. that he adapts, he’s still not too old, he might be rotated a bit and he could practice more etc. worst case we could probably get all the money back in a sale (irregardless of why - we are tightly run) and maybe buy someone else.

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I could see him getting dropped for a Ramsey/Wilshere partnership at some stage

Imagine if after like 7 years of waiting for it a Ramsey Wilshere midfield actually did work out :flushed:

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I liked him better when he was kicking people.

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Passion merchant.

Also can the crowd stop shouting SHOOOT every time he has the fucking ball. Does my nut in. You’d think he had the best shot in the world the way they always shout it. He doesn’t he always skies them over the bar

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As long as he is shooting on Miggy, go for it…

:arteta: