Mikel Arteta says he’s had an assurance from Granit Xhaka that he’s going to stay at Arsenal in spite of stories linking him with a move to Hertha Berlin.
The midfielder’s problems over the last few weeks and months have been well documented and we don’t need to get into them again. However, rumours of his departure intensified recently and it was widely though he’d depart in January.
However, after the 2-0 win over Man Utd at the Emirates, the Arsenal boss again spoke highly the Swiss international, and poured cold water on the idea that he might leave this month.
“I think he is going to stay,” said Arteta.
“He was very good, and I really like him. With the way we want to play, if we get him on board I think he can be a tremendous player for the football club.
“I like everything about him. His commitment, I like the way he is, the way he lifts his profession, how focused he is. Every time I am talking, he is listening and is willing to learn.
“He is a great football player. The way we want to play, there are not many with his quality on the ball, his range of pass, so I am delighted to have him.”
It won’t please everyone, but January is a difficult time to find quality in the transfer market, and midfield is an area we need depth.
It’s a situation that will probably be reassessed in the summer, and if Xhaka can play more frequently like he did tonight, who knows what might happen.
To be fair to him Xhaka has been terrific since his return from ‘the debacle’ and even more so since Arteta arrived. He’s going to be very important for us if he keeps playing like this.
Football is messed up. I spent a lot of yesterdays game thinking I hope we can hang on to Xhaka and wondering if Luiz will be with us past the two seasons he signed up for.
I’m still expecting to wake up out of this dream to the news that Emery has accepted Raul’s offer of a contract extension. Mmmnnn. Lovely sleep. Let’s never wake up.
It’s all down to how much a manager can extract from a player. The positive effects of Arteta’s methods are visible in Xhaka’s performance and commitment. Physically, Xhaka is quite the presence many a manager would love to have at the base of their midfield and Xhaka’s passing range is a welcome bonus. Having said that though it’s his lack of pace and the occasional stray pass coupled with careless tackles to make up is something that can be improved with the right kind of training and approach to the problem from the manager. Fingers crossed
Who would have thought having Torreira alongside him sweeping everything up would offset his weaknesses?
The more I think about it the more I see Emery was a terrible coach, this is the same squad we thought could finish 3rd in August. Never was so little done with so much.
Emery is a manager who made his name at smaller clubs.
Wenger and Guardiola’s philosophies seem quite similar to each other so maybe it’s not surprising Arteta is a better fit, and knows what to do with our players and how they want to play.
And, to be fair, the presence of Xhaka means Torreira doesn’t have the major responsibility of transitioning to the attack. Oh, and having a player like Ozil in front of them isn’t a bad idea either.
I’ve been critical of xhaka for both on and off field performances (and rightly so, he has been poor and acted little a knob at times), but this was easily the best performance I’ve ever seen him make as an arsenal player. He did things he normally never does. Retaining possession against a press (not panic passing or turning it over), playing frequent 1-2s and driving the ball through the middle of the pitch (essential to increasing the pace of our attacks) and not committing silly fouls. He’s got a long way to go before I’d even be close to… Read more »
Who knows, maybe there was something to all the “maybe all our players aren’t shit, maybe they’re just not being used in the optimal way”. We can’t have 11 Bergkamps, we have the lads we have, and I for one will be behind them. Xhaka too. The alternative doesn’t make us better, nor does it make him better. That’s basically it.
Spot on Dave. Agree 100% with all of this.
You weren’t being just critical but also offensive to a player in a time where the team was in disarray and most players were performing badly. In times like those we fans should at least keep an open mind about individuals (the same goes for AMN and Luiz for example).
Abe you were doing the same about Luiz and sokratis… Get over yourself timbo
I wasn’t, I assure you, maybe you got the wrong person. As per you not being offensive, go re read some of the stuff you wrote. Be honest at least.
Bollocks, it was absolutely you saying sokratis and Luiz are a disaster pairing. I’m got no problem with you saying that, but pot kettle black.
What I said (many times) is that xhaka has poor mobility, doesn’t fit the league, struggles when pressed, and showed piss poor leadership qualities. He’s got a lot to do to prove otherwise. I never attacked his family or him with loathsome remarks. Like I said here, he played well but has a lot still to prove, good for him if he pulls his head in and does it!
And I was never offensive to him. Just said his play was poor and his behaviour was poor… Both were true. Now he’s performed better played great last night and I said that. Like I said you said the same things about sokratis and Luiz…
Also the fact that he had death threats to his wife and new born baby.
Disgusting acts by so called Arsenal supporters, those are the ones who should be ashamed of themselves.
How could anyone blame him for saying fu## off .
Some idiots should look up the meaning of ” SUPPORT ” !
Are you the ghost of Dave Mackay?
Also the fact that he had death threats to his wife and new born baby.
Disgusting acts by so called Arsenal supporters, those are the ones who should be ashamed of themselves.
How could anyone blame him for saying fu## off .
Some idiots should look up the meaning of ” SUPPORT ” !
Life is like a box of chocolates
You know what you’re getting because it’s written on the side / bottom?
All aboard the Artetrain! Let’s hope Auba’s on board too, at least until the end of the season.
Now let’s get Laca a goal so he can get his confidence back and we’re all set.
It was interesting watching Luiz give the pre-match talk in the huddle rather than Auba (against Chelsea). Hopefully I’m not reading much into that but still…
I believe Auba, who was the least controversial choice at the time, is a reluctant captain. Others like Luiz and Xhaka are more vocal and more inclined than him.
Are you sure? I could of sworn that Luiz did it before the Chelsea game too?
Life!
I’ve been critical of Xhaka of recent but I want him to stay at least till summer. After all, like Arteta said, everyone gets a clean sheet, including this fan. ?
Just wondering if anyone has been struggling with access to this site since the game last night. I couldn’t access the site last night and it’s been really slow this morning.
I should probably add that I’m in South Africa.
Yep, there’s an issue with the News site. See the main Blog today.
Yea, me too. Even the app is not responding.
Yeahhbeen a struggle to get on the app this mprnung In the UK
Same here could access the home page but not the news page.
Servers of arseblog are always like that prior to a match. Been that way since as far as I can remember
Not prior sorry, after a match ?
I’m in SA and had no probs – just a bit slow
Kudos to Arteta “The Manager” to lifting up everyones mood, be it the fans, the players , everyone associated with the club. There were so many players who we thought should be sold right away, players we deemed not good enough but Arteta has shown his quality, how you can instill confidence in everyone. They surely feel like a team, but I hope the board doesn’t just sit back and bask in the glory of Arteta , they have to back him up with more signings.
Well…it seems ONLY the ‘Mustafi Confidence’ luggage got lost in 2019..perhaps a wrong address on the posting stamp…
And the douche bag emery agreed to sell iwobi. Told him he wasn’t good enough. How I wish iwobi was in this team with emphasis on depth
Ah! Iwobi would probably have been a rockstar under Arteta!
I think emery biggest mistake was letting Ramsey go in all fairness
I don’t think that was Emery’s decision to be fair mate
35m for Iwobi was great business for us. Martinelli has a much higher ceiling
Would have loved to see Mik get Alex putting in a proper shift… he was so gifted going forward but my lord he did nothing on defence. This new ‘work-like-crazy-off-the-ball’ style might have turned him into a great player.
It’s good for right now. But I expect he’ll be sold in the summer. If he can maintain his recent performances it will also raise both his market value and his wages at his next club. It could be a real win/win for him and the club.
I don’t see – if he keeps performing in a consistent way and quality of latest matches – how losing him would then be a win for us.
He is immense with Switzerland. I think he just needs the right system where he can play to his strengths.
“Everyone starts with a clean slate”.
How good was that statement?
Ozil, Sokratis,Luiz and Xhaka………different overnight operating in this now well oiled machine.
Xhaka seems to be mopping up as a auxiliary midfield general alongside Torreira, and they’re both creative on top of this at appropriate times.
NOBODY goes anywhere right now!!
If you add Auba and Leno (I still have doubts about Sokratis tbh), it does look like a potential nice spine of experienced players and potential leaders.
Mustafi can go
If you watched the game yesterday it was obvious to see armband or not how much of a leader Xhaka is from the team huddle to marshalling the players forward, he is a real asset to this team and happy he is staying with us
I, like others, deemed him surplus to requirements not long ago, but if he keeps paying like that I will happily eat my fair share of humble pie, and ask for more.
He might still be a bit slow for the PL, but the team can clearly adapt, especially with THAT Torreira around.
In theory good players don’t become bad , but with the 18 months of Unai Emery collectively they all became worse He couldn’t get the right structure of a game plan to suit the players at his disposal , hence the chopping and changing every game , in the early games there individual output was very high as they bought into what he wanted them to do but in the end the team was a mess lurching from one disasterous game to another . MA has obviously change a lot of things but most importantly the players believe in he’s… Read more »
Next hell be turning Mustafi into a world cup winner. ?
Don’t go overboard. Lol
LOL… but of course you meant, turn him into a two-time World Cup winner :p
If he keeps playing like this he is welcome to stay
It is a shame that Xhaka never really apologised for his outburst as I’m sure most of us would be willing to forgive him especially knowing the circumstances with which they came. He washing death threats to his wife and child and seriously who wouldn’t have been affected by that? Then it all boiled over. Had he come out and said something along the lines of that he was really suffering and he should never have reacted like that then I think most fans would have been accepting of that. Personally I think he is a good player who has… Read more »
*Been not Benn
Terrific? He’s been ok-good. Torreira and Ozil have been outstanding and I don’t think Xhakas contributions measure up to theirs. We’ll still need a central midfielder who contributes more overall than he does.
Arteta’s tactical setup means Xhaka will be virtually undropable for the rest of the season. I have to admit these first three games have me very excited for the Arteta tenure, because right off the bat you see the tactical blueprint. As games come on you’ll see implementation will get even better, but his use of Xhaka and Maitland-Niles as well have been superb. In fact there’s potential for EVERY SINGLE PLAYER to pick up their games because he seems to know how to get everyone playing their best. In attacking phases we build up in a 2-3-3-2 shape. Papa… Read more »
Surprised? If anything, Arteta can get the best out of the Swiss. He played a similar position and role when at Arsenal switched in by Wenger. And you can see Granit (and Torreira) both getting immediate impact/response. The Swiss has potentially metronomic passing if he can work on fitness and concentration. His range of passing is a strong asset for the team particularly switching us from one flank to the other quickly or releasing our quick players up front from a deep position. And as mentioned for some time now, his defensive play has actually improved even under Unai. BUT… Read more »
Plus it would be foolish for Granit to go to say Hertha languishing middle of Bundesliga with no europa. Does that make sense? Too many fans lack ability to think beyond repeating what the media likes to put forth and sow as Arsenal crisis.
hence we get the nonsense that frankly complicated things BOTH for the team and Unai.
Toxic fans is one thing but the level of stupidity is almost beyond believe at times.
Glad to see at least the Emirates back in a good way yesterday.