Think this sums up exactly how i feel about Xhaka. Can't remember who i was discussing with but below is a great article of some of the problems, exacerbated by Arsene not helping with his tactics https://arseblog.com/2017/09/tactics-column-xhaka-arsenals-separate-flaws-recipe-disaster/
I like Xhaka but he's terrible when we lose the ball and he has to mop up before the ball goes into our defence. Personally I'd like to see us play 4-3-2-1 because he's better suited to this system.
The thing is Xhaka and Ramsey both have the same issue. They are very slow to get back into position. Personally think playing the both of them together is a disaster. Elneny and Coquelin are barely good enough though. Might sounds controversial but I wouldnt mind seeing Wilshere get some playing time. It makes you wonder had Wenger landed his first choice target this Summer (Thomas Lemar) - would we really be that much better off? We already have plenty of quality in attack but its the CB and DC/CM positions we need to strengthen. When your manager cant see what the obvious problem is you have to wonder.
Wenger is a man of habit and the reason he has'nt addressed the CM position is.. Carzorla. After Thierry left us we had the same issue with the CF position. Remember when we were playing Arshavin up front? Van Persie was 'perma-injured' yet Wenger was unwilling to sign a TOP centreforward. Because we had one... only he could'nt play. Its the same situaution now with Carzorla.
In some ways I admire Wenger's loyalty to his players. People said for years that we should have offloaded RVP, but Wenger stuck with him and he came good in the end, only for Wenger to sell him to Utd I'd love to see our little magician back in the middle pulling the strings. Cazorla is so good at dictating the pace of the game in there. He is quick and skillful and sees the game from all angles. He reminds of Bergkamp in that he sees the play almost two moves ahead, so that by the time the oppo has worked out what he's going to do, he's already excecuted the move. Sadly though, I think cazorla is unlikely to feature in a significant role again for Arsenal and it's an area that we desperately need to address.
Well I agree that they are both not super quick, but neither was Cazorla quick, or very strong defensively. I have to be honest that I don't think that the reason we give up goals is the DMs. I think if we are going to play 3 at the back, our WBs have to be better defensively than Bellerin and OX have been. We also are looking vulnerable to the press, and I think Ozil, Sanchez and Welbeck have to be better at making themselves available to break up the press. All our DMs including Cazorla, get caught too often in possession and it comes from not having anyone to play to. I think Sanchez and Welbeck in particular are not running around getting open for that first pass out of defense, or they are doing it too far up the pitch, and Ozil ends up doing all the grunt work. If the other team put 2 men on him, and make sure he cant get that pass, we are screwed. I think this is why Ozil ends up covering so much unseen ground, trying to get rid of his marks.
Xhaka is so ****ing slow on the ball, at times he takes an age to move the ball, being so one footed does not help, plus as with many other Arsenal players he is made to look even worse than he is by the manager being so tactically bad, Xhaka is often exposed and he is too slow to cover the ground he is required to cover when Ramsey is playing CF instead of CM. Xhaka is not bad player, for the right team and manager, he will do a good job for somebody, but to succeed in midfield for a team like Arsenal, you need to have expentional technical skills like Cazorla.
The only reason I'm not sure about this is because we don't seem to be able to find anyone to play this position well ever. As good as Cazorla is, he really shines going forward not defending. I suspect that our problems are therefore not about getting back. There are not many DMs that are going to beat Vardy in a footrace, after giving him a 10 yard start, to a ball played over the top.
Cazorla did not have to defend too much when he played in CM for us, because he had Coquelin next to him, in the last few years these two have formed the best midfield pair by a mile, also Cazorla is smart, he is one of those players who reads the game, so he knows where to be to intercept the ball, I know it's easy to hype injured players and make them out to be saviours, but truth is ever since he got injured last year, our midfield has been unbalanced and lacking in quality, we just can't boss games with the guys we currently have in there.
Players like Cazorla are able to make space and time for themselves because they read the game so well. It means that they are able to avoid situations where they end up losing the ball or making rushed decisions because they are always thinking one or two moves ahead. I so hope that we get to see Cazorla back in an Arsenal shirt in our midfield, we have so badly missed him.
Makes sense, if Kante was taken from our midfield it would completely change the way our team operates. Cazorla is a quality player.
We have played well in streaks since then and we did boss games at the tail end of the season. In terms of tactics Arsenal remind me of a tennis player who as soon as they think they are going to win a game, they get tentative, stop hitting their shots and then promptly lose. As soon as we get our hopes up, we seem to get conservative and hesitant and scared of making a mistake. I think we just get too cautious and back off teams instead of taking chances, and playing passes. I think we will play fantastic football soon, right up to the time we look like we might get back into it. I think our culture of Arsenal in assigning individual blame is not good for the team spirit and encourages this hesitancy, because it makes players not want to be the one that screws up. All our players are more than capable, but they need a completely different mindset, which is almost impossible for them to get to at the moment. I think that is why we do well in the FA cup. It is a completely different mindset.
That's not an Arsenal culture at all, that's football fan culture and the media. The media love to single out individuals who **** up. It's not something exclusive to Arsenal. I'd expect players who earn upward of 150k a week to be used to that sort of pressure though
Well, like I keep telling everyone, if you find your expectations are constantly wrong, the problem is most likely to be your expectations.