by thebigbangtheo » Sat Mar 10, 2018 12:59 pm
Some really good points made here and others not so good in my opinion as they lack a little bit of perspective but hey that's football. 60,000 of us could watch the exact same game and leave with 60K different opinions. As I have said previously, Xhaka is not and has never been the out and out midfield destroyer that we can see our team has been crying out for since Gilberto Silva, but more of a DLP who doesn't effect the game by being a Tasmanian devil as it were (kante, makelele, flamini, fernandinho, Keane etc) but more of a quarter back type who GETS GIVEN the ball and can accurately ping it 60 yards no problem. Pair him with a Kante, Fernandinho or Matic and you have a completely different animal imo.
Carvalho is a bit different in that his short game is much better than Xhaka's as is his physicality so doesn't lose challenges as easily (would love to see him in a PROPER 50/50 with dembele or wanyama, the impact would be like a sonic boom) and makes up for his lack of pace with better positioning, spacial awareness and excellent one and two touch passing which in itself is tailor made for our style of play.
I can't and will never agree with holding someone's injuries and effectively poor health against them like it was their intention to be purposely injured and under the knife. Derogatory comments regards the likes of Cazorla, Wilshire and Diaby leave me stupefied in the same way they did when levelled against van Persie. Mind you, I suppose his one injury free season for us and the following one proved that those of us who thought he was the canines gonads and worth preserving with were right, including Wenger.
I believe we were robbed of seeing just how good Diaby truly was. If Patrick Viera had suffered the exact same injury history as Abou Diaby and never got to show just what he was about and had his career decimated in the same way, imagine the same comments being levelled at him. Do you suddenly feel sick to the stomach too?