Mikel Arteta seems to have improved most of the Arsenal players he has added to the team, but the most surprising change has been to convert granit Xhaka, our “defensive maverick with an agressive streak” into an “attacking midfielder with an eye for a goal” ahead of this campaign.
The Swiss captain has moved further up the pitch for Arsenal and is not afraid to shoot when he gets his chances. He has already scored 4 goals this season, which is more than he has ever scored in a full season before, and because he is not being used so defensively any more, he is much less likely to be cautioned for reckless tackles, and giving away ridiculous penalties.
So how did Arteta manage to change our veteran midfielder’s state of mind after all those years in the one position? Let Mikel tell you. This is what he told Jamie Carragher on Sky last night: “I spoke to him at the end of the season and said, ‘I need to unlock something in your brain because you’re so comfortable and confident playing in this area that you have forgot what is actually going to win us the game and the team now demands somebody here, so unless you unlock that I’m going to have to do something about it’.
“He took it straight away. He’s a very intelligent player, he came to pre-season fitter than ever, slimmer than ever, and he knew that if we wanted to take the team to a different level we had to change his role. He knew that was coming.
“We believed he has those qualities, those qualities were there to be exploited and they were hiding.
“The team needed those qualities very much. As I said, he is extremely intelligent, he has the physical capacity to constantly threat and occupy those spaces and recover his position quickly enough to have the balance we need.
“He’s been really consistent, the way he trains, the way he practises, to evolve to the demands we want for the team.
“He’s a special person. He’s very straight, he’s very honest, he’s very loyal and he’s very passionate about what he does.
“So when you have someone like that you want to help him, you want to protect him, you want him to fulfil the talent he has.
“He’s made some mistakes and he’s learnt from it, but he has always faced adveristy and difficulty and he’s never run away from it.
“This is what all managers wants from their players. You know you can count on him, he will fight and break walls for you. This is what we expect from our players.”
Xhaka is probably the best example we have that Arteta can get the best from his players.
Trust the process…..
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