Xhaka - worst buy in recent history?: Page 22 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Xhaka - worst buy in recent history?

MuswellHillGooner

That may be true but fatigue has been the cost paid by his dedicated babysitter, Torreira.
This has led to him losing his place to Guendouzi.
Xhaka is not bad at all and he is our best option in that position but what made me overreact (sorry Speedy!) was seeing selective stats making him seem better than/equivalent to the best current midfielders in the premiership.

QuincyAbeyie

I think Speedy was only talking about his long shot ability.

Bold Tone

I have adjusted my rating of him as, for 2 years, i thought he was not simply useless (like Elneny) but a liability.
I think that spell in the back 5 made him, as it taught learnt to attack defensive headers and reduced his stupid lunges that often got him a card.
The long range shot and passing have always been there and without DM duties this season, he has flourished.
I still want him gone as he needs a partner who tackles for him all the time.
Torreira is ending up with red cards as he spins from his man to Xhaka's man and back to his man when we are under the cosh.
Xhaka's 4 goals till now is no compensation for a burnt out Torreira with the business end of the season upcoming.

speedy

Quincy Abeyie wrote:
I think Speedy was only talking about his long shot ability.

Yea I think my point got muddled along the way.

flobaba

This “Torreira is burnt out because of Xhaka” narrative also needs to end.

It’s as silly as the Litchsteiner matchstick and gasoline ones.

Torreira is burnt out because he doesn’t have enough stamina and is still adapting to the heavy pressures, pace and physicality of the premier league. Could he be receiving more help? Sure. Doesn’t mean he wouldn’t still be cramping up by the 80th minute instead of the 70th. His conditioning needs to, and will improve, but let’s not blame that on Xhaka as well.

Qwiss

speedy wrote:
Claudius wrote:
The point is that the xG suggests that the intrinsic qualities of the shot (location, type of shot, coverage) are more important than the shooter. So get your team to create shots that have good intrinsic qualities.

This is why City scores so much. It doesn't really matter who is shooting. They just create shots with really good intrinsic qualities, so any of their 4 or 5 forwards can stick it in the net. Aguero isn't scoring those 90-100 league goals on his own. All that zigging and zagging moves defenders out of position until a good shot materialises in the box.

I get what you're saying but the logic crumbles when xhaka is in a good position to shoot and nobody else is offering a decent option.

Obviously we needed to create chances close to goal aswell. Speed of counter attack directly relates to chanve of scoring aswell. Ramsey's dickhead passes in thr centre of the park behind the player cost a second and probably drop the chances of scoring by at least 30%.

Yeah focussing only on the xG of a shooting area is a very one dimensional way of thinking about a football match. You want defenders to feel they need to close down people like Xhaka too so that they can't sit as deep and tight so we can create more space for the forward line, that means you have to mix it up and take some long shots.

Focussing on xG in that manner reminds me of the whole zone 14 shite.

Claudius

There are other ways to create space for your players in the box. It needn’t just be the threat of a Xhaka shot. Fast, precise passing and movement will help.

By the way, the title of this thread... at a time when Mustafi plays professional football.

Tam

Nobody is saying Xhaka should shoot more as a primary way of creating space but it's a tool like any other, and has a variety of outcomes.

I remember playing Man City (about 10 years ago i reckon) and they had a goalkeeper making his premier league debut. He was from somewhere like Faroe Islands or Iceland. Details are a bit fuzzy but I think he may have come on as a substitute. We didn't test him the whole game. We drew I think but he went a whole game against us without anyone having a pop to see how he reacted. We should have had a few digs and seen how he coped with it but it was Wenger's inspiring passing play at it's very worst.

No real point to this story, but the chat of long shots sparked that memory.

Claudius

Lol. Problem with Wenger is that at its worst, his football was predictable and very easy to defend against. Some of the stuff we were doing was an affront to football

Clrnc

I remember going to the Emirates Stadium tour with Lee Dixon and he mentioned something about Wenger highly discourage our players to shoot at all times from outside the box as the chances of scoring isn't high. Back in those days we hardly see any pot shots from distance.

Now under Emery we are leading the goals from outside the box stat in the league. How times has changed

Anzac

Clrnc wrote:
I remember going to the Emirates Stadium tour with Lee Dixon and he mentioned something about Wenger highly discourage our players to shoot at all times from outside the box as the chances of scoring isn't high. Back in those days we hardly see any pot shots from distance.

Now under Emery we are leading the goals from outside the box stat in the league. How times has changed

The old 'walk it into the goal' era of '50 touches inside the opposition area' in search for 'the perfect goal'.

banduan

Discouraging play because of a single stat is pretty silly anyway. I fully support stats to help with tactical decisions but you use multiple stats for that, not just the one or two.

Ray

Scored another long ranger for Switzerland.

GooneriC

Hammered it with his right foot too, cracking strike.

Claudius

Shooooooooooooooooot!

Jed

And when they subbed him off, Switzerland bottled their 3-0 lead. What a player!

Anzac

banduan wrote:
Discouraging play because of a single stat is pretty silly anyway. I fully support stats to help with tactical decisions but you use multiple stats for that, not just the one or two.

I remember reading an article a few years back and the success % for shots taken outside the area was lower than scoring from a corner or something similar in terms of being in single figures. That said IMO there is nothing wrong in shooting from around the edge of the area if the right opportunity presents and you have the right attributes re technique, controlled power & accuracy, and if the opposition want to stand off instead of closing down.

HomeSteak

GooneriC wrote:
Hammered it with his right foot too, cracking strike.

Yep.

Segway

Best player on the pitch yesterday by a huge margin. Hopefully his injury is not too bad.

MistaT

Ooooo, that's a heater

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