Undisciplined, rash, too easily drawn into fouls and simply will not learn when it comes to hitting passes long, this is Granit Xhaka to a proportion of Arsenal fans and even worse, the media. At £35 million pounds he is viewed as a mistake, especially and the Gunners under fire boss continues to have faith in him, starting him in every game he has been able to play this season. The anger comes as the Swiss midfielder isn’t the defensive midfielder that the North London team require, however, here is the news that should be obvious, he isn’t one. Not only that, Arsene Wenger doesn’t see him as one and to decipher this, perhaps look to Turin.
Some years ago, in the pre-season madness that now embodies the transfer window, German midfielder Sami Khedira, was proposed as Arsenal’s answer to the next ‘old school’ defensive midfielder. The whole affair reeked of the notion seen before, Khedira was that man. He didn’t arrive but when Xhaka did from Borussia Monchengladbach, he was now seen as the new Emmanuel Petit, extra. The link between the German and the Swiss seemed simple to many, a holding man, this immediately emphasised the point as to why Xhaka us misunderstood. He isn’t a defensive midfielder, had Arsenal bought Khedira they would have also been disappointed.
Firstly, saying neither player can play in a holding role is like saying Paul Pogba can only play on the left of a three-man midfield. Referencing Juventus again, it is easy to see how this would be farcical to suggest. All the aforementioned players can drop in and play this deep lying role, Xhaka has done for Arsenal and Sami has for Juventus, just look at the last Champions League game against Tottenham. The fact it is, is that it is not they’re position and as in the Juventus players case, he played because of the absence of Blaise Matuidi. Granit too has had to fill in due to Arsenal’s lack of competency in this role (even if this role is still necessary) and has performed better when Mohammed Elneny has played.
Like Khedira, he has an incredible engine, a good range of passing and who can also finish, Xhaka is the ‘mid-point’. Whilst in Turin Khedira is normally a link between Matuidi and Miralem Pjanic, Xhaka too, is that man who can link the holding player to the likes of Arron Ramsey or Mesut Ozil. These players normally only help when the teams are defending yet possess good physical fitness, a good range of passing and often an eye for goal. This season the Arsenal fans have been looking for a deep lying ‘hard tackling man’ and that is fine, but it is not Granit and Wenger also know this, he has never professed he is.
At Borussia Monchengladbach Xhaka was renowned for an extraordinary amount of running, intense tackling, a goal, superb passing, he was almost an offensive midfielder. When Lazio came knocking, before Arsenal paid the money they were looking at deploying him similar to the role Pjanic plays at Juventus, high up the field. Xhaka is also criticised for his indiscipline, yet he has changed his time in Germany, often he is trying hard to fill in the for the incompetence’s of his team mates, he received five yellow cards and a red last term which proves he is far from perfect, but you can’t argue with his commitment.
The Swiss player should not be pigeoned holed to being a holding midfielder, a deep lying player or a box to box midfielder, after all was Santi Carzola when he played in a deeper role? Was Andrea Pirlo? If they were it is an insult as to thinking they could be labelled. The first retort when you mention Pirlo normally comes with a talk of technique or passing ability. Well last season Xhaka completed 2,298 passes last season second of the whole divisions to Cesar Azpilicueta.
The Swiss midfielder is not without criticism that is for sure, he should be more of a goal threat and his temperament has regressed somewhat since his time in Germany, but every player has weakness. The issue about understanding Granit is that he should be judged for what he is and that isn’t an old school, defensive midfielder, he is much more than that. If Arsenal perhaps allowed him to be himself and give him the help he needed, then arguably Arsenal have a superlative midfielder.
