Quote Originally Posted by HCZ_Reborn View Post
I understand why you say that but you are of course completely wrong. The fact that Xhaka has been allowed that free role is an admission by Arteta that he simply can’t be trusted in a deeper role. Its in fact a sign of the hubris Arteta has whereby in my view he should have been relieved of his job by now.

This isn’t the Bundesliga or Serie A, you simply cannot have a player who has no anticipation or reading of the game, takes too long to get the ball on his preferred foot and lacks positional awareness in central midfield at all. You can get away with it when playing championship level teams like Bournemouth or teams experiencing a crisis of confidence like Leicester.
But otherwise you’re ceding the middle of the park to the opposition, you cannot have a player who gives the ball away as frequently as Xhaka near the team. You might think I’m worried when we play teams like Man City or Liverpool, no I’m worried when we play Fulham. Fulham will not allow us to play the way we did against Bournemouth…a slow player like Zinchenko won’t be allowed to look better than he is and Xhaka giving the ball away like he does could even be fatal.

It’s not hyperbole. Central midfield is the most important part of the pitch….it’s where games are won and lost and if we don’t improve that position before the window closes…we will certainly lose at home to city, home to Liverpool and other games too.
I don't entirely disagree, but you can't say for sure that this will be the outcome with Xhaka without the game taking place. I am not sure exactly where you are taking this conversation now. I have admitted Xhaka has weaknesses and was moved into a position to mask them to an extent...I have said we can upgrade on him...he is not the only player we can upgrade on if we really want to cement ourselves as a top 4 team / challenging team.