He's having his best season in a long time, long may it continue
Granit "The Hacker" Xhaka | Likes his reds
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Good for him. Long may he continue to be first choice for Arsenal.
Reasonable form? C'mon now. They're draw was lucky. A set piece goal after 90 seconds and it wasn't their performance that stood in the way of more goals being conceded. It's the worst defense in the league and they were missing key players against you. They've lost more than half their games this season now.
Oh yeah I forgot they scored first. Correction: they made United earn the draw
More like they held on for 69 minutes but whatever. They weren't good in that game, weren't good in the cup game and also very bad against you guys. Bilic' seat must be very hot.Oh yeah I forgot they scored first. Correction: they made United earn the draw
No doubt it is. I'm surprised they haven't kicked on from last season, they really should have with some of the quality at their disposal.
Anyhow back to Xhaka - with Cazorla out for a while he's guaranteed to start our games in CM. He just needs to continue to develop an understanding with the Coq and keep using that wand of a left boot.
You'd think he'd be guaranteed to start but we've been seeing a lot of the Elneny-Coq combo.
As for West Ham, they've been a horrible mess this season, can't cope with injury problems. If you look at their transfers barely anyone of the new guys has minutes. They surely have the squad to turn it out around but it depends on how the squad is mentally. They should have put more effort into EL instead of being knocked out by a Romanian team.
He was good this morning. We desperately need him to be with Cazorla gone. West Ham were diabolical though.
Needed to be great as he looked well off the pace against Southampton the previous game.
Yeah that one poor half-a-game in the Cup in amongst some good performances really let everyone down.
Pogba has been our best player for about a month now, not even sure if some people on here watch us play before spouting bullshit. He is the fulcrum of our attacking play and is one of the main reasons why we are creating good chances.
Being the fulcrum of a team that can't score is faint praise.
Too bad he can't go up the other end and finish the chances.
Not really. As the ol' cliché goes, creating chances is the hardest part, and Paul's created them in abundance.
That's not a cliche.
Eh? Praise for doing your job well is faint because others aren't doing their parts?
How does one compare Ozil with Xavi and Pirlo. One plays on the edge of the opponents final third assisting and playing that final ball while the other two start attacks and orchestrate from the deep.
Comparing deep lying playmakers with central attacking midfielders is a strange comparison.
How'd the chance-machine go this morning?
It could be a cliche in a remote place like well...Newcastle.
Anyway as the old cliche goes 'if you don't brush your teeth in the morning your breath can stink for the rest of the day'. I'm about to MacLeans my teeth.
Engrish fail. Have mercy.
He conceded a brainless penalty but Xhaka ran the show again for Arsenal. He has been very good in the last 3-4 matches. This passing map looks quite a bit like some of the maps from earlier in the season with Cazorla playing alongside Coquelin - super influential, spreads the ball everywhere, and specifically supplies the ball to Ozil a lot. Xhaka's positioning is less advanced, more in line with Coquelin whereas Cazorla would be ahead of him, but the passing is similar.
All that said, Xhaka really needs to learn to play with more restraint. Twice now he has needlessly done something really stupid (the red card against Swansea being the other) and jeopardized our chances of winning what should be a relatively easy match. We got away with the three points each time but we won't ride that luck forever.
All that said, Xhaka really needs to learn to play with more restraint. Twice now he has needlessly done something really stupid (the red card against Swansea being the other) and jeopardized our chances of winning what should be a relatively easy match. We got away with the three points each time but we won't ride that luck forever.
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He's been especially good these last few games. His passing is a real joy to watch.
You can definitely see his influence is growing on this side, love his passing. Have been crying out this kind of player for years now. Still think the best is yet to come, still not fully up to speed yet but he is improving. Needs to cut out the silly mistakes though.
Besides the penalty he was very good today. If he can keep this up and cut out the stupid fouls from his game he will be one of the best midfielders in the league.
He is the type of player we should look to get to play alongside Pogba in midfield, someone who can sit deep and protect the defense but also dictate play from deep.
He is the type of player we should look to get to play alongside Pogba in midfield, someone who can sit deep and protect the defense but also dictate play from deep.
That's Carrick. But I see your point, it would be good to have someone who didn't also have a pipe and a pair of slippers waiting for him back in the changing room.
I'm surprised your lot didn't look at someone in that profile. Carrick is on his last legs, he won't be able to play every game. People here assumed Pogba would solve everything but for me he is more a final third player. As we found out with Ozil if you can't get the ball up to those kind of players in the right position you are nullifying one of your own players.
Xhaka needs to improve defensively though, I think he gets caught out a bit. I think he is still getting used to the league, even though I've wanted to see him a lot more in the long term easing him in will do him more good than harm. His passing is just brilliant though, can go long and short, his passes are crisp and plays passes most of our midfielders wouldn't even consider.
Not many around in that type of mould, only one I can think of is Weigl. Dortmund will let go of a lot of players before they consider selling him though. He is very young though so probably could do with at least a couple more years at Dortmund.
Xhaka needs to improve defensively though, I think he gets caught out a bit. I think he is still getting used to the league, even though I've wanted to see him a lot more in the long term easing him in will do him more good than harm. His passing is just brilliant though, can go long and short, his passes are crisp and plays passes most of our midfielders wouldn't even consider.
Not many around in that type of mould, only one I can think of is Weigl. Dortmund will let go of a lot of players before they consider selling him though. He is very young though so probably could do with at least a couple more years at Dortmund.
I think having someone like Xhaka/Cazorla there this season has helped Alexis and Ozil in their new roles. Ozil not really playing like a creative player as much, when Alexis drops deep he is always looking to get ahead of him. In previous seasons he would not be able to do that because firstly Giroud isn't one to come deep and also our passing was so poor we'd usually be going side to side in pointless fashion rather getting the ball into positions where we can do some damage. Averaging over 2 goals a game at the moment, they were a struggle last season!
LvG bought Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger. Mourinho can't really add anything more unless he gets rid of some players first which he will probably do now after having seen them frequently in training. Everyone agrees with you that Carrick needs replacing and that Pogba should play further up (which he does when possible).
Was great tonight huh. .
Strange bump. Did you watch the game? Thought he and Coquelin were excellent, it was the four in front of them who let us down.Was great tonight huh. .
Ahh don't panic. Cesc's_mullet over here likes the banter and the comparisons with our Pog.
Xhaka is a good player but nothing more.
Was alright, that guy is on wind up.
What let us down today were our wide players, offered nothing all game.
What let us down today were our wide players, offered nothing all game.
He was alright but nothing more. He's not very mobile and that's a big issue in the PL.
Can't play with Ox and Walcott together, the whole formation loses its shape. We control games a lot better with Iwobi on.
Agreed, Iwobi worked well on the left for us earlier on in the season but since his form dipped Wenger has been reluctant to put him back.