I agree the team is playing well - who wouldn't - but that doesn't make me blind to the fact my opinion that Xhaka is our weakest link and at some point will cost us again, as others here point out - it's in his DNA and to ignore it is foolish

I've corrected this for you. Listen you and others are entitled to your opinion, and to respond to GG also I would actually agree that Xhaka is probably a player whom we will and should probably upgrade at some point if we want to push on. But his use by successive managers does speak to the fact that Xhaka is not the fundamental problem that he is painted to be. The past 12 months have shown us if nothing else that players who do not work, or fit into how Arteta wishes to play have been winnowed out. That Xhaka has not been included in this - despite an obvious suitor in Roma - is either because there is no-one else available (doubtful), or that there is a useful role for him in our team. As for 're-invention' - maybe of all our players, Xhaka has shown himself to be the most adaptable, as his role/position has changed a few times. I think that his current re-invention as a more advanced 'box-to-box' role does reflect his frailties as a defensive MF, but if this works then the player and the manager should be acknowledged for achieving this.

Will Xhaka work for us this season? Who knows. But IMO its a reflection of the anti Xhaka bias to attack him on the basis of something that has not happened yet.