Three seasons in Granit Xhaka still continues to divide opinion in north London. The Swiss international has been Emery’s most trusted central midfielder and his role has been vital to how the manager wants his side to play.
Xhaka has been improving over the season and 2018/2019 might have been his best campaign so far but some Arsenal fans still feel he is not their man. This season he made 29 league appearances scoring four goals and had only two errors leading to the goal. As a deep-lying playmaker that is not awful.
Despite all the criticism, the former Gladbach man has increasingly become a dominant figure in Emery’s debut season. Without him, in the first eleven, the North London club looked a far worse team and maybe that’s the biggest compliment the fans can agree on.
During the season the Arsenal man was an easy target at times. Barely a word is said about him when he plays well but he’ll be ripped apart when he has a bad game.
His intelligent possession was essential in midfield and his ability to bring others into play made Arsenal tick. With Emery demanding his team to play from the back, he always made himself available to pick a pass and turn defense into attack with his long precise passes. His calming influence in midfield was always missed when he didn’t make it in the starting lineup.
Defensively Xhaka wasn’t off-color as some observers would want us to believe. Some pundits have relentlessly disapproved his defensive abilities labeling him as a player who can’t defend.
52 tackles, 36 interceptions and 54 clearances in the Premier League for a player who doesn’t know how to defend? This is clear evidence that this is a player often judged on what he doesn’t offer rather than what he offers.
There are a few leaders in the Arsenal side and absolutely Xhaka is one of them. He does not shy away from scuffles and is always barking instructions to his teammates. However, this overzealousness has sometimes caused him as almost half of his bookings are for trifling issues like confronting the referee.
He arrived at Arsenal with a poor disciplinary record in terms of booking but he has significantly toned down. The Swiss midfielder hasn’t picked a red card in two seasons now and it is somehow biased to label him unruly.
It is fair to say that he is just being haunted by his disciplinary record in the Bundesliga. If he doesn’t leave as gossips are suggesting then he should be ready for a make it or break it campaign in 2019/2020 season.
