Hello all,
On this podcast 3 of us try to understand the outrageous differences in opinions on our former captain. For some, like me, he’s our most important player and the heartbeat of the team, while to others he is the worst midfielder in living memory. I can accept that there should be scope to discuss what degree of good he is, but some of the rubbish spouted by people that actually have football as their hobby, is inexplicable. That said, I do have some explanations and they don’t put his critics in a very good light.
So if you have the time give it a listen, and any comments or promotion on SM would be greatly appreciated.
Pedantic George
Positively Arsenal 
Good to see some blogs using their brains. 😊💪
Xhaka is one of the most important players in this squad and his stats are amongst Europe’s elite.
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But my problem with him is all his mistakes result in goals that end up bieng a defeat to us and he does not want to learn from his mistakes, So i refer him to watch those of Patrick Viera and Ray Parlour. or Gilberto Silver., THEY USED TO MAKE MISTAKES BUT NOT ALMOSTLY COSTING ONES, if you do that it should be once or twice a year.
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Meant to be working so can’t listen to all but jumped in for couple of minutes and picked perfect moment- around 3.40 on. Aint that the truth- about the people who act that way and why.
He certainly provides his moments which make me question my very high opinion of him as a player and asset to team, but ultimately always come back to us generally playing much better when he’s in side, and also that he typically has a lot of good moments in course of a game. Partey’s next best game behind City may have been that early one at old Trafford, with Elneny, but I’d bet almost every other one of his top ten games was with Xhaka.
The sticky moments for me are combination of aggression/competitiveness, not having quickest of feet and, by far biggest factor, the no mercy reffing with him.
Painful reality is they won’t go away, any of those factors, but still believe he’s firmly in the plus overall in what he provides.
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Mikel just confirmed And is going on loan to Roma, if it’s loan to buy then I disagree with it. It’s strange when you’re looking to get rid of a player who was MOTM in his last match.
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Was it Xhaka mistake that led to citys pen and then goal or was it Keiran, Martinelli and Gabriel caught out of position leaving Xhaka one on one in the area and exposed.
Maybe Apangu you should watch the city game again and watch the amount of times Xhaka helped out his teammates and stopped goals. Keiran for one was toasted several times and it was Xhaka every time who got back and made the difference.
Since Partey has been at the club he has had a couple of good games but has made loads of mistakes and is nowhere near Xhaka’s level as regards consistency and what he brings to the team
As regards the midfielders you mentioned they were in a side that went unbeaten for a whole season not a side that finished eighth twice and so mistakes were not punished as much as the teams your comparing are like chalk and cheese.
Our best performances for several seasons have just about all had Xhaka at the heart of them his pluses outweigh any negatives by miles.
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Ian, I said most of those very things on the podcast.
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If Xhaka was in the invincibles squad we would be speaking about him in hushed tones with awe.
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our U23’s are playing Brighton U23’s at the moment, and have left out 3 of their best midfielders, Akinola, Patino and Salah-Eddine, so its possible all or some of those 3 play in our FA Cup game on Sunday.
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Balogun not in the U23 squad either, but he is in talks over a loan move away this month so that might be the reason for that, but with Eddie still out on Sunday he could very well be in our cup squad
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reports that Crystal Palace and Newcastle are among those in talks to sign Aaron Ramsey from Juventus
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https://youtu.be/B9G1fq1jjzc
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Arsenal Academy
@ArsenalAcademy
·
6m
Some brilliant hold-up play from Ideho, who slips in Biereth to finish well from a tight angle! Clapping hands sign
Goal number 7️⃣ of the season for Biereth Fire
Blue circle 0-1 Yellow circle (9) | #PL2
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Arsenal will be wearing a one off all white kit for our FAC game on Sunday, part of a campaign at stopping knife crime
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the u23 game finished 1-1, it was a fairly open game, and I must say that the Brighton commentators on the coverage were very unbiased, which is very unusual for these things.
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sky reporting that Atletico Madrid are looking to sign Cedric Soares from Arsenal on loan with an obligation to buy in the summer
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Granit Xhaka, Captain, leader, misunderstood genius
His performance when he took France down last summer ranks with one of the most impressive I have seen , he has done some rather good things in an Arsenal shirt as well. Partey clearly plays a lot better with Xhaka at his side, as do others. The team does better when he is fully fit and plays , worth noting he took Tottenham apart back in the autumn until he got injured.
This guy is so good, the PGMOL are sent out to take him down a peg or two whenever they can, usually death by yellow, but this guy is so brave, they sometimes have to resort to the most pathetically embarrassing of reds.
We are lucky to have him, arteta seems to know that , as did Wenger, just a shame Emery had that yellow streak
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Icon.
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Mandy with the post of the year so far.
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What say you on this Cedric to Atletico link?
Personally don’t think he’s half as bad as a lot think, and that he’s generally been pretty solid- a few poor games but some good ones too. Like chambers, though, kind of highlights how beneficial it is for us to have an excellent athlete like Tomi at full back. Cedric had good game in attacking sense recently but couldn’t get back to defend.
However, if he still has few years left on a decent contract, well…
Thing is, if just a loan, not sure it makes much sense. Leaves us short, prob doesn’t save huge amount of money, and I doubt Atletico would end up buying in end.
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They (whoever they are) were on to him from the start, from the moment he came in to add steel to the fiddly weaknesses of Arsene’s last few midfields. Gary Neville led the charge from his postion as chief national pundit (which soon made up the minds of many fans with not much in the way of mind in the first place), and the referees were quick to emasculate him too.
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Rich: Cedric to anywhere highlights the problems of a side like Arsenal: he is an excellent player to have as a reserve, but we haven’t the money to keep very good players happy with a bench position – and without European matches we don’t have the games to offer them either. A loan now would keep him happy, and maybe a return to European competition next season would see him back and content to be a part of the squad.
But I think it does seem that the squad right now is being stretched to its minimum and I fear that much of the momentum that seemed to be being built up will be lost throughout January.
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Cedric is a good player.
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Cedric on loan to ne makes sense as Chambers can cover both right back and centre back. We also have Nuno who can slot in as emergency right back. Though Cedric is good going forward he really is an average defender. A defence of the usual 4 plus Holding, Nuno, and Mari I think is more than adequate to manage FA and Premier league games. Carabao Cup is coming to an end and without European games we shouldn’t be too stretched at the back.
Midfield though is another matter. We only have Xhaka and Lokonga. Therefore we urgently need an extra body with AMN gone. Even if Partey comes back early he may take a bit of time to get back into the grove. Any injuries etc and we could be down to relying on academy players. Playing any of the attacking midfielders instead or using Ben White as cover is not a good idea and just means we disrupt settled partnerships.
A striker in would an excellent addition. So if as rumoured we can get Vlahovich in that would be just unbelievable and a real show of intent. If we could both a quality central midfielder and striker this could end being one of the best January windows we’ve ever had.
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Chris Wheatley
@ChrisWheatley_
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15m
Excl: Mika Biereth and Omari Hutchinson are included in the Arsenal squad to face Nottingham Forest tomorrow.
As previously reported, Charlie Patino and Salah Oulad M’Hand have also been selected. #AFC
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seems Arsenal are willing to loan out Mari, and several clubs are in for him, with his former club in Brazil, Flamengo looking to take him on a one year loan
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I’m now a ten minute YouTube expert on Vlahovic. He reminds me of Paul Merson.
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Amazing Liverpool can’t play on Thursday but their training ground reopened Thursday and they have no problem playing bottom of league one Shrewsbury. Assistant manager doing the presser as well, all looks a bit iffy to me.
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It’s a clever virus, it can even replicate the English football authorities and give Liverpool whatever they ask for .
When we do play Liverpool, the virus will likely strike down available refs until only Merseyside’s Mike Dean is available
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…the big market money virus? And Im not talking about Newcastle!
Anyone like the screaming free-kick in the Barnsley-Wheel Barrow game yesterday?
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Doubt if it will happen, but would be amusing to see Tottenham knocked out at home by a lower division team named after a Luton supporting comedian ( and by that, I don’t mean Robbie)
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LOL! Lets hope it does…
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Leno
Cedric
White
Holding (c)
Tavares
Lokonga
Patino
Saka
Odegaard
Martinelli
Nketiah
Substitutes
Ramsdale
Tierney
Chambers
Mari
Lacazette
Kolasinac
Hutchinson
Oulad M’Hand
Biereth
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xhaka out with covid
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Nottingham Forest or Arsenal vs Leicester at home in the fa cup 4th round
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seems Emile Smith-Rowe also out with Covid
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Arsenal
@Arsenal
· 55m
Warning sign Granit Xhaka and Folarin Balogun miss today’s match after testing positive for Covid, while Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu are absent due to a tight groin and tight right calf respectively
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all the little decisions are going to forest
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Tierney on for Tavares
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Tavares throws away his gloves, he does not seem a happy boy
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Saka taken out of it off the ball, forest player booked,
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T will be on the transfer list tomorrow…
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HT: 0-0
oh what a boring load of shite
tavares taken off he was that bad, martinelli cul de sac running, and the game has totally passed young Patino by.
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Tavares was sloppy from the get go. Poor passing, poor position, poor link up play, not at all surprised that he came off. However we have been very sloppy with passes especially Holding. Not much to shout about but Patino has had a tidy game. We need to step up the pace second half. So far Eddie has not shown that he can lead the line. Would not be surprised to see Laca in the second half.
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Need a sip of Irn Bru this HT.
Seems more like an early Arteta game, where you cant call it either way. We could win but we could lose…
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I hope they announce Nuno was ill before the game or something otherwise it’s so embarrassing .
All those who were raving about him and saying he was better than Keiran must look good with all that egg on their face now.
I do think he is one for the future and he will improve but he has to do a lot of work.
Cedric was lucky Tavares was so bad as he also may have been pulled.
We are leaving ourselves to open at the back and Davies has been one on one with our last defender several times, even though he is a lower division striker we need to keep two players back at all times as this looks like one of those games where first goal wins.
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leno with a great save to keep it 0-0
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bad miss by Nketiah six yards out fluffed his header
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leno with another good save, and forest claim for a penalty for a shove by saka in the area
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we are not playing well at all
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