Tony Cascarino claims that Mikel Arteta’s long-term plans must exclude Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka after hearing the manager’s latest post-match comments.
The Gunners dropped two points at the weekend thanks to the Swiss international gifting Burnley Chris Wood a goal, with his failed pass ending up deflecting off the striker’s hip and into the net.
Squawka moved to highlight that the error wasn’t a rarity however when claiming that Granit Xhaka has made eight errors which led directly to conceding goals, at least three more than any other player in the division.
Tony Cascarino claims that Xhaka’s is ‘one of the worst’ you will see at all in during the entire campaign, and insists that the manager’s pre-match comments have him convinced that the midfielder is not part of his plans moving forwards.
“Granit Xhaka’s error for Burnley’s equaliser against Arsenal is one of the worst you will see this season,” Cascarino told his column at The Times.
“Arsenal are trying to play out from the back but there is no way the midfielder, with three Burnley players bearing down on him, should be demanding the ball inside his own box.
“Mikel Arteta said before this game that the club need an ‘unprecedented’ level of transfer activity if they are to compete at the top of the league again. It is difficult to see Xhaka being a part of any long-term plans.”
Will GX ever remove these errors from his game? Does the manager deserve some flack for demanding the team to play out from the back?
Pstrick
Playing out from the back can be sensible in my view, it saves crazy scrambles in the center circle, but NEVER across the penalty area. How crazy is that? We knew better than that back in school! The goalie is beginning to think he’s an outfield player. A 40-50 yard goal is coming soon, just because he gets caught too far off his line.
He’s not the worst, he has his strengths and weaknesses but overall he’s pretty average. Like Bellerin, he’s never been one we were desperate to improve on because there’s always been more pressing concerns (particularly in defence). I agree with cascarino, though, if we want to move forward, we need to improve on Xhaka
Ramsey,Fabregas,Hleb wa doi !!.Such silly mistake by Xhaka is why we are 10th on the table.Arsenal will keep missing the top 4 with zXhaka still in the team.The best is selling him.
Ramsey,Fabregas,Hleb wa doi !!.Such silly mistake by Xhaka is why we are 10th on the table.Arsenal will keep missing the top 4 with Xhaka still in the team.The best is selling him.
Perhaps the only Arsenal midfielder I would trust to receive that pass on the edge of the box is Santi Cazorla. Maybe Partey as well, after he has settled in. Allowing Xhaka to drop back for that pass was undoubtedly a blatant, bone-headed coaching error. Wasn’t Xhaka supposed to leave last season too but our new manager at the time convinced to stay. No disrespect to Xhaka, this in hindsight was not a good decision.
For a number of seasons, I have been advocating moving on Xhaka, for a number of reasons, which includes his propensity for errors which invariably cost us goals and points.My main problem with him however is his complete lack of athleticism and pace which is basically the reason why he has to resort to fouling on a regular basis..To be fair to him, he is very capable when it comes to retaining the ball and recycling possession, but when he finds himself in space he simply cannot drive on and commit opposition defenders .As a deep lying midfielder ,you should be a capable defender which he is not, nor has he the temperament to reign in his frustrations when the going gets tough.All in all, if we are to become a force to be reckoned with in the vitally important engine room, we need an upgrade on Xhaka in my opinion.
Grandad who can possibly disagree with a single word you say. I have ben banging on and on ever since he came that Xhaka is a liability.
I constanly urge an increased passing pace and quickness of thought and action for all , including even LENO with the ball at his feet. Xhaka is a dreadful slow coach and that will never change . He has a few strengths; power, height and toughness but no real skill at all and nothing is ever quick about him, except his rashness at times.
We badly need to see the back of this player,who lets face it, was a really bad mistake from Wenger and he has held us back for years. Mobility too is sadly lacking in Xhaka and I am glad to see on THIS thread no one is even urging us to keep him. Sense seems to have dawned at last!
The manager needs to be more transparent about what guarantees have been given to Willian, Ode, Luiz and Xhaka…it’s clear to me that all of these players have clauses within their contracts and the fact that this isn’t being talked about more is mindboggling…remember this team basically gutted out it’s whole scouting department and seems to be shifting to more agent-centric system when it comes to recruitment…if this is the case, there’s no doubt that these agents will require these types of very problematic clauses and higher than market value wages, especially when their respective clients are going to teams without European football in the offing, going through a rebuild and/or moving to an incredibly expensive city like London
There’s little doubt about Xhaka’s weaknesses. Everyone can see them. It is however overly simplistic to say that he should be excluded. In order to do this you need to have a strong roster of senior players. The other options in midfield have proven either inconsistent or injury prone.
Further to this there have been so many other weaknesses in the team (e.g. defence)that have needed addressing.
Despite what many here seem to believe Arsenal do not have a squad full of world class players.