If recent matches are anything to go by, Unai Emery appears to have settled on a first choice central midfield pairing of Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira.
The Uruguayan’s predilection for the uglier side of the game – he’s a tackle-happy, interception-loving, ball-recovering dervish – means the Swiss no longer has to pretend he’s an enforcer and instead allows him to flourish with the ball at his feet.
For the most part, Granit’s occasional lapse in concentration aside, it seems to be working for the Gunners, who are on their best winning run in a decade.
“You can see that he’s important for us because he’s strong in defence and in duels,” said Xhaka when asked about the impact his new teammate has made at the Emirates.
“He can play easily from side to side and going forward, he helps with our balance.
“He lets me play my game with the ball and go a bit more in front. I am happy with him and the other guys playing in the midfield.”
It would appear that Granit isn’t exactly one to lavish anything but perfunctory praise on those around him.
He was actually ushered away from yesterday’s press conference at Sporting Lisbon’s Estadio Arvalade within four minutes, leaving Unai Emery to deal with the rest of the questions; it’s not clear if boredom or something more urgent was the reason for his premature departure.
Why we haven’t had someone like the Terrier in the last few seasons eludes me.
Makes a huge difference.
Do you spend the whole day on this site cus you are the first to comment on every article.
I signed up for the text alerts on new articles from Arseblog.
Either that or I have a very sad life.
Just saying man no offense ?
I think the club became convinced you didn’t need one if players like song, arteta or cazorla could dictate play differently.
Rightly or wrongly it doesn’t matter, we have one now
We finally realised we need someone of similar stature to Santi Cazorla.
It’s nice to see that Lucas make xhaka play without stressed. The midfield general is a joy to watch….a true Lion???
General indeed. Just that in my iPhone, the emojis you used at the end of your comment is of a poodle ?
Also on Android
?
“tackle-happy, interception-loving, ball-recovering dervish” is about the best, most original and precise description of a player I have ever read! Hats of!
Granit Xhaka, for proper judgement, is currently most similar in play to Toni Kroos and both are midfielders in the mould of Xabi Alonso and Paul Scholes. These midfielders usually end up with the most touches and most passes per game, but rarely excel at anything else. What they never end up with is the most assists, goals, successful tackles or interceptions in their side. Their importance isn’t purely about passes completed per game, but their playmaking ability. The ability to read play, direct the direction of the team’s attack and dictate the tempo of the game. These are very… Read more »
Whoa…this was a good read, thanks man.
Really great comment Devlin. Our perception of Granit has been shaped by how we was presented to us by Wenger, and by where he was played. Arsene was our 2nd father and the soul of the club, but his attitude to signing and positioning midfielders in his later years was not good. Xhaka was never a defensive anchor. We can compare him to Kroos but also to Pirlo, the definitive deep-lying playmaker of the last 10-15 years. Looking at our average passmaps from last season, Xhaka would be stationed very centrally, almost like a single nucleus in our midfield. Even… Read more »
Best comment on this blog in years. I just felt a breath of fresh air wizz past me while i read it. Take a bow sir! I wish i could give you a thousand likes.
You really should credit Stillman when you plagiarize his work.
https://arseblog.com/2018/05/ramsey-deal-or-no-deal/#
Totally disagree..Xhaka is decent but switches off way too much. I appreciate the defense of him but it reminds of all the Ozil lovers who will take 1 good game in 20. Gotta offer more than that for me
Exactly right. I would also add the very best example of this two-man midfield partnership in recent decades: Busquets and Xabi Alonso for Spain.
Pretty good, but I don’t think it’s accurate to call Pirlo box to box. You would never see him in either box. And I think that’s true of the other players discussed. Deep-lying playmakers aren’t necessarily box to box. And also, I would think that the players you discuss tend to be players who benefit from a slower pace of game, not the opposite. We’ve seen Xhaka’s lack of mobility and how he gets robbed of the ball in quick situations – that’s not due to him being played in the wrong role, but his personal limitations (this is not… Read more »
He leaves Torreira too much to do.
The Torrid Terrier is our Lucas Torreira. COYG!
He just needed a piss..give the guy a break pls
What the media does not remember is we had a player in Santi that Wenger successfully converted from wide area to central that worked for us. BUT we failed to replace him last 3 to 4 seasons when he got injured. Granit is evidently a very good player who switches play for us from deep. BUT he doesn’t like to be harassed and Torreira fits in ensuring Xhaka has time on the ball to dictate from deep. Other takeaway from last league game also is how Mustafi put in 5 very good deep balls to release strikers quickly. We are… Read more »