Granit Xhaka says that Arsenal’s 4-0 defeat to Liverpool last weekend is one that must be analysed, but says the amount of games left this season gives the team time to make up for it.
The Swiss international spoke to Blick while away with his national side, and discussed the start of the season, the three Premier League games so far, and that horrendous day at Anfield.
“The start against Chelsea was good, against Leicester it was a crazy game,” he said.
“Against Stoke we were unhappy we lost, although we were clearly the better team. And yes, the Liverpool game we have to analyse critically.
“It was a bitter defeat. It is not the start we wanted, but there are still 35 laps ahead of us. Against Liverpool, we didn’t show up on the pitch.”
As for the defeat to Jurgen Klopp’s side, Xhaka was trying to keep it in some perspective.
“We did a lot wrong and could not keep up with Liverpool,” he said.
“There are days like that, I’d prefer they didn’t happen, but if we lose, I’d rather lose 4-0 once than suffer four 1-0 defeats.”
You can see his point, although the fact that one of those 1-0 defeats was in the previous game against Stoke doesn’t make it any easier to take.
Xhaka, just don’t give away possession way too chaeply. Learn from your mistakes please, you have the ingridient fot success in PL.
Giving the ball away once shouldn’t turn in to a goal conceded. Its the fact he has a left back as a cb behind him and no midfield partner. Even xavi and Modric give the ball away a few times a game but they have a game plan in place to make sure they don’t concede
Yes, and no Ramsey ahead of Lacazette.
There’s a major part of the problem Alex. Xhaka had no simple pass against Liverpool or stoke. Lots on here don’t get it, Ramsey is the problem in midfield, he is not good enough. A strong holding disciplined midfielder was needed and Wenger negated it. As much as I love the man, he is outdated. We will start winning games and ultimately end up about 15 points off leaders.
Agreed bell, every time I see Ramsey in the starting X1 my heart sinks…20 minute sub at best..
I’m Welsh, and you’re right, Rambo isn’t really all that good at CM. Elneny the much better option to keep the ball, defend and build up passes. But hey, Weng plays a right back at LB & leaves our marquee summer signing on the bench, so why the fck would he know otherwise
I don’t think Wenger ever intended to make Xhaka the a deep lying midfielder although he have the skills to be one. As the manager said first, he saw him as a box-to-box players. However, given the nature of the situation last season, were Cazorla was out and we had to juggle between Xhaka/Elneny/Ramsey/Coq who all struggled with injuries and red cards (xhaka), Xhaka ended up being the best DM of all these midfielder. We all remembered how Hazard made a helicopter out of coq who 2 years ago would’ve make a Hazard out of …(bad pun intended). My point… Read more »
The truth is, with rare exceptions (a stunning howler, a brilliant strike from distance) goals are the result of a series of mistakes, most of them fairly small. Equally obvious, every player makes some mistakes in every match. So, yes, structure and selection decisions are vital in making sure a misplayed pass near the centre circle does not inevitably lead to a big scoring opportunity.
He actually is a great passer. The awful line up and absence of any game paired with a nonexistent Ramsey a shit defensive organization and out of position players all around him… Poor basterd would be a beast under a tactican like Zidane or Conte.
I love his passing but he has to work on getting the ball set and out of his feet quicker. It will come with time. In the EPL, the opposition is on you so fast.
If I was his coach, I’d be getting Xhaka to work on foot speed drills all day. No one needs to teach the boy how to pass!
Point taken
Rather not lose at all ??!!
The way he tried to heel flick a pass to Peter Chech, ending up with giving away a corner instead of just clearing the ball. That showed how much he cared that day
There are only a couple of solutions. Either the players revolt and get Wenger out, or they manage themselves with the leaders of the team saying screw what the manager tells us, we are going to sit in a back 3, with a defensive mid in front and the wing backs stay back. The captain should be telling these players stay back or else. If anyone strays from their position, they get a rollicking. After all isn’t that what Adams used to do? I actually think Wenger is being passive because he wants the players to manage themselves.
Four weeks later: “I’d rather lose 4-0 four times in a row than lose 31-0 thirty-one times in a row”
… 31 weeks later
How about having a mentality not to lose PERIOD!
Every team loses from time to time in this league*.
*Claims that a side went unbeaten in the league for an entire season are unsubstantiated nonsense.
Lol. You mean full stop.
I like you a lot Xhaka and I still have lots of faith in you but please, less talk and try to get back to the form you showed last year. Those laser guided passes highlighted by the odd on target rocket from 30 yards out. Do that and all will be fine.
He’d better get used to it with this lot at the helm.
They’re dreaming if they thinks we’re getting anywhere near the top4? Let alone the title.
The quality I’ve seen from other teams so far this season suggests where a million miles away.
How Arsene constructs a functioning team from here? Is anyone’s guess
My issue is not with the losses; it’s with the gameplay in those losses. Leicester was not a concern for me, it was the first game. Stoke and Liverpool were major issues. Not for the losses per say, but for the team selection and the gameplay. The choice of defense against Stoke was puzzling to say the least. The substitutions against Stoke was puzzling, but I don’t usually look too much into the manager’s substitutions, BUT when the manager says he took off Xhaka and brought on Walcott to make crosses? Now that really baffles me. The decision to play… Read more »
Exactly. It’s the nature of the losses. How many of those 1-0’s have we seen? They mass ranks, we struggle to break them down yet every time they hoof the ball forward they look dangerous. And it was the gutless nature of the Liverpool loss that was so dispiriting. I just wish they’d all shut up, put things right behind closed doors (at least football-wise, at organisational level is another matter) and don’t talk again until there is something legitimately positive to speak about (i.e. Results. Not a “successful” transfer window ruined by results, or more seats at the stadium,… Read more »
My thoughts as well. You nailed it.
Our biggest problem seems to be our midfield balance. Not that Xhaka isn’t guilty of sloppy passing once in a while, but to expect a slow midfielder to cover ground on a break is quite ridiculous. I hope this international break has given the coaching staff time to analyse our midfield shortcomings. 3 at back doesn’t work if the three defenders get exposed every single time. Maybe we should go back to a 4-3-3?
Xhaka shld b passing mid n long range when he is near or above the halfway line with at least 1 cm behind him (preferably coq) to cover, and focus on getting the ball into dangerous areas through one touch n slick movements when hes closer to our goal line. This will reduce the possibility of giving the ball away in dangerous areas. With xhaka and ozil’s passing ability we shouldnt need more than 4 players involved in attack (ozil alexis laca above him, with one of the full backs in advsnce positions) while the rest stay back. Swift attacking… Read more »
I read ‘… above the halfway line with at least 1 centimetre behind him’
Took me some time to realise what you meant
I’d rather you shut up and play your role properly than talking so much
I’d rather Jack than Fleetwood Mac but thats just me
Jesus Christ, do any of you ever shut up?
You got your ass handed to you, stop talking shit like you’re in control of the situation…
Can’t stand Xhaka. It’s almost like Wenger gave birth to him. Lazy, careless, refuses to acknowledge his mistakes. It’s exactly players like him that disappear whe the going gets tough.
I’d rather Xhaka passed the ball forward once and a while, these easy little passes side to side every minute of the game do nothing apart from make his pass succession stats look good!
Would be fascinating to see first hand the ‘analysis’ that takes place after a performance like that.
What or who is actually analised I wonder?
After that performance I think the whole team deserved a good analising.
Man, I know there can be days like that. We have been watching the game for years now. There can be bad days in a season. There can even be bad seasons altogether. But you cannot have 10 consecutive bad seasons. I am not saying this because we did not win the PL or the CL during this period. But we bloody did not even challenge..
And that my friend is the saddest part.
Arsenal fans options of result permutations totally rock these days.
Would you rather lose 4 x 1-0? or 4-0 on the odd occasion?
The other options are getting smashed 6-0, 8-2 or 5-1 3x by Bayern?
So much for competing with Bayern Munich, we now look to Leicester City for inspiration.
we’ve lost 1-0, then 4-0, so…… We’re kinda half way there already Granit son. Let yourself down there kid. However id like think AW will play kolasinac and lacazette this week and we’ll get our season started. Again.
Wenger play our good players? No way!
The whole point is, that wasn’t our first big loss in recent years… not even the first time against Liverpool…
I would rather the players decided not to get a complete 4-0 ( could of been 6 or 8-0) ass spanking at anytime, even when the manager fucks the whole team balance over. Maybe we could start a hard away game with the intention of not giving away any cheap shity goals. I know it’s not possible to win every game but as far as I’m aware you still get a point for a hard earned draw! But hay if you guys still wanna all steam forward, like me and my mates do on a sunday morning and ain’t to… Read more »
Yeah, thank goodness this has been our only humiliating annihilation in the last few years. Oh, wait…
TLDR: “I know you’re kinda bored now that the transfer window is over and we’ve on an Intl break, but please get over it”
3 games in we lost one 1 nill and another 4 nill. thats 5 5-nills in 3 matchs. thank you Arsenal for not losing 5 games 1-nill
Why not both?
Exactly. We only need to lose 1-0 three more times this season and we’re there.
I think that’s achievable.
The delusion permeates thoughout the squad. How can we ever expect to improve when even our players are convinced that we were clearly better than Stoke?! We weren’t! They had us exactly were they wanted us and played the game plan they set out. Having all the ball doesn’t make you clearly better, winning the game does.
“Having all the ball doesn’t make you clearly better, winning the game does.”
Have you considered managing?
What do you think?
I think you’re more of a pundit.
he’d be a better manager than Wenger. My six year old son wouldnt pick a line up like wenger’s on his ps4
35 more games for xhaka to give the ball away, try to make amends by over running the player with the ball, and then being behind the play watching as the other team scores.
Not entirely his fault. He’s not a holding midfielder.
“I’d rather lose 4-0 once than suffer four 1-0 defeats.” – Xhaka
So I am guessing the target is to lose 1-0 atleast five times this season.
It’s simple mathematics, really. One 4-0 loss = 3points dropped. Four 1-0 losses = 12points dropped
And a completely invented choice, the goals scored are unrelated to the points lost. I would rather lose 1-0 than 4-0, which is the only thing we can really compare.
I like Xhaka, but he should just shut the fuck up.
The Liverpool game should be unacceptable. It seems as though it is accepted as something that is bound to happen.
Fuck that shit.
File Xhakas comments under “At the end of the day” level of insight. Bit of the Partridge about these comments
Putting a nice little quote together doesn’t appease for an absolutely diabolical performance. 4-0 is worse than 1-0 and watching some players cluelessly wonder about the pitch is infuriating. Never mind the sums, pull your finger out.
…the problem is we keep losing by these lob sided margins (and to Liverpool) again and again. We are NOT learning from our mistakes. AND there is very little margin for error in the league now (Forget Title even for top 4…as amply illustrated last season. These poor results start of season could cost us top 4. I’d rather we not lose these sort of games at all against Stoke then limply against Liverpool. Granit needs to find better balance in midfield bc frankly our issues mainly stamp from there. Ramsey I have always felt serves better instincts going forward… Read more »
Why raise logical questions? Haven’t we had enough of querying the prof who’s lost his marbles by now? Time to just sit it out and wait for change. If we win some games, great, but with AW we all know our team could take a hiding at any moment.
My oh my the AFC spin machine has gone into overdrive today. From Ivan’s condescension and insult to our intelligence to the we are going to get loads of not world class players to possibly sign new contracts to the we are sorry for getting a new asshole ripped at anfield shite from Wenger. And now this little gem as well. For future reference granit, we would much rather if we didn’t lose at all. I know you are probably contractually obliged to spout this bilge but why don’t you fix up on the pitch and then you won’t have… Read more »
And i would rather die than lose 4-0 all the time.
Chelsea’s rennaisance began after a spectacularly bad performance at the Emirates last season. Many people had written them off after that game yet they came roaring back and won the league on a canter.
Do we have the team and the manager to replicate that? We might not win the league but can we put together a strong run on the heel of such a horrendous display? That would please me greatly.
In reality though, this team might just pile more misery on fans cos we lack the characters that pulled off that great feat for Chelsea last season.
I have to say I would take four 1:0 over this last performance. The thing is successful teams don’t loose by these margins, with four losses of 1:0 you are still within title winnig reach from the amount of losses perspective. Now if you go on to do what Team did at Anfield, I think you got zero chance, cuz of the many flaws that suggest’s.