Quote Originally Posted by mandela8 View Post
Amazing reading some of the posts on here and other places.

Partey is taking plenty of criticism, and rightly so, as he's been below his usual standard for a while but not one person has mentioned the complete disappearance of Xhaka.

He touched the ball twice, I think in the first half. I've had a wee look for actual stats on this but no joy. I'm happy to be corrected but won't be far off. For a CM that is unforgivable. His first, and literally only meaningful, touch came on the 47th minute with a poor shot. The next time he was involved was an altercation with Haaland. He was then taken off.

I'm all for attributing responsibility (blame) to players like Partey but where's the balance here? I've highlighted the nonsensical standards players are held to on here before but I genuinely think Xhaka's performance last night was the worst I've ever seen from him. And, as we all know, that's a huge claim about someone who has been putting in woeful performances for the best part of a decade.

Partey was exposed badly last night. Let's call it out. But we need to also call out the mitigating circumstances. He was a lone midfielder against a team with 4 CMs, ffs.
At the risk of replying to you in a civil way. Isn’t this more a case of expectation?

Partey has set some high standards for himself this season and if he falls below them he gets criticised. Many of us myself included have been outspoken critics of Xhaka for as long as the fucker has been at the club. His lack of positional discipline, his unwillingness to track back most times, his dawdling, his stupid blind passing, his giving the ball away in dangerous areas. No one is in the least bit surprised when he does it. By his shoddy standards he’s had a good season because he’s been played in a more advanced role and therefore is less required to roll his sleeves up.

But that he was shit last night? Can barely raise my eyebrows to that fact