Granit Xhaka

[Marsbar100]

Guendo and torreria might be a better partnership until it's given 5 games we don't know, I support Emery as we have to and we have had a decent start.

[Sims]

Truly don’t think they’ll get a chance unless he gets injured or it’s in a cup competition

The signs are there that he’s Emery’s midfield man. He’s one of the 5 captains, he rushed him back ASAP from the World Cup, he’s resting him in the EL

I’m not doing this to big up Xhaka whatsoever it’s just so apparent

[Yago]

"build up play" is such an abstract stat that really doesn't say anything, and is more a showcase of how people can cherrypick just about any stat to make a point. Yes, he has a lot of passes, but does the fact he keeps playing the ball back really help our build up? You say he "keeps the midfield ticking and passing through the lines on a consistent basis". I say he slows down our play with his lateral passes resulting in us not being able to make a dent in any decent defense.

If we stop pointing at meaningless stats and just look at the games, we can see with our own eyes that he isn't orchestrating an attack. Of our midfielders he's the one least likely to quickly pass it on to our attackers. He dwells on the ball and makes an easy lateral pass. You may call that "recycling possession" or "keeping us ticking", but forgive me if I don't share the enthusiasm.

And people put Guendouzi - Torreira in midfield because that's what they want to see, not what they expect. Even then, it's absolutely ridiculous to state it will "never happen". If the results aren't there, Emery will change things. Xhaka is a starter now, but your belief that Emery will stick with that project no matter what is not at all a certainty. If anything, it showcases your cynicism in believing Emery will make the same mistakes Wenger made.

[Marsbar100]

Yeah if you are trying to play out from the back which Emery is then xhaka is your man, personally I prefer us to play at a high temp though, even the best wengerball was one two touch football played at a high tempo, not fannying about in midfield doing 100 touches

Whilst we want to be a technical passing team we don't want to play like a slow serie a team

[Angelito]

While I can see where Simmylad is coming from, I'm also finding it hilarious at the same time.

We've failed to finish in the top-4 since Xhaka has joined Arsenal. We've had more or less the same core (minus Cazorla whom he was supposed to replace) since we ended our trophy drought. Before Xhaka and after van Persie, we've finished in the top-4 all of those seasons. We ended our trophy drought with the inclusion of Ozil. We won another FA Cup after we signed Alexis. We finished 2nd - our best placing in the Emirates Era just a season before Xhaka joined Arsenal.

In Xhaka's two seasons here, we've won the FA Cup once - primarily thanks to Alexis. And we have failed to qualify for the UCL.

So, what's this best "building from the back" all about?

I do understand that correlation doesn't imply causation and other factors have to be factored in. Yet, whether it was before Xhaka or during Xhaka's time here, Arsenal fans have been complaining about the state of our midfield. The only time we had a decent enough midfield here was when Santi played there.

So Sims, just because Xhaka is Emery's version of Denilson - it doesn't mean everyone has to worship the concept too. By pairing Guen-Torr together in matchday line-ups, people simply are stating what they want to see, not predicting the line-up Emery will field on the given day.

I'd like to see a Xhaka - Torreria - Ozil midfield, btw.

[Sims]

I’d like to imagine that we’d all trust Emery with Xhaka as his main midfield man because the midfield two is always what forged his success at Sevilla & Valencia rather than anywhere else

People here might not trust Xhaka which is entirely justifiable, but given the amount of faith Emery has in him I’m willing to have his word and knowledge over any of us on here

Inb4 he’s dropped today

[thebigbangtheo]

Just about everybody has made a valid point or two even coming from differing view points.

Maybe the best way to gauge how the consensus genuinely feels is our strongest, most effective midfield base right now is to consider if the Guendouzi -Torreira pairing had been played in the first two games, would it reasonably have made any difference to either the results or performances, with the same consideration to the little bull paired with Xhaka from the off also.

Xhaka's previous performance's made him look like crud so its understandable that that's pretty much all some people will see and with some justification.

But if you better recognise the mitigating circumstance of being deployed wrongly and not having the set up to best utilise his abilities then fair play also, but one shouldn't then be equally dismissive of a viable alternative.

[theHotHead]

I don't see Xhaka as the focal point of anything and I also don't think his attributes put him above Guendouzi at all. I don't think he offers enough defensively or offensively to agree he should be a nailed on starter in our central midfield.

[Ach]

Is todays game the end?

Torreira looked quality. We have seen how Guendouzi has been.

Xhaka had a chance today to cement his place and failed

[Zedie]

He really baffles me. His passing from deep is actually godly.

Man can drop the ball over your shoulder to land in your stride from his own penalty box, but then messes up simple 5-10 yard passes. His ground passing is really hit and miss too.

He had a chance to play into feet from just over the half way line today and completely f***ked it up.

[Santi]

Thought he did quite well after almost costing us two goals in the first 9 mins.

[SuperJackyWilshere]

Slowly but surely he's improving game by game under Emery.

A few iffy moments today but overall he put in a solid performance.

[Ach]

His clearance which went backwards was hilarious. Time is up for him

[Sims]

Moved the ball really well today

Him and Torreira both had a few dodgy moments but it’s a good partnership

[Goonerz]

Against top 6 teams he will atruggle. I felt like Torreira was doing a 3 man job. Ramsey and Xhaka were nonexistent without the ball all game.