Arsenal: Granit Xhaka With Another Two Steps Forward, One Back

Arsenal’s thrilling win over Burnley helped us forget Granit Xhaka’s red card, but we have to remember how positive he has looked aside from that.

Yesterday, before Arsenal took the pitch against Burnley, I pegged Mesut Ozil and Granit Xhaka as the guys that could make the most of this Burnley match. Ozil did his part, Aaron Ramsey was an amazing surprise and Granit Xhaka well… that’s what we are here to talk about.

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Granit Xhaka was red carded in the 65th minute with a 1-0 lead. It’s not the first time he has been penalized for doing something rather daft at the most inopportune time. He has now surrendered two penalties and been handed two yellow and two red cards.

While I don’t think that this tackle was deserving of a straight red, the point remains that it was sloppy and, the first word I thought of – impetuous. He gave the ball away and gave himself away in the span of three seconds.

That is a massive step back for the Swiss midfielder, but at the same time, we have to look at the two, three even four steps he takes forward before being hit with that one step back.

Today, for that first hour, Xhaka was using his scope of passing to spatter the pitch with workable balls. His keen eye was shining bright. It’s such a good feeling when the Gunners get clustered on one side of the pitch and Xhaka gets the ball and launches it across the pitch where a team mate can shift the angle of the attack.

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Not only that though, Xhaka created three chances in his limited time, as his lengthy side-to-side passes are also evolving into forward passes that put attackers in a position to score.

That is a major step up, a step that I identified as the last step for him to solidify himself as an all-purpose midfielder capable of everything. He could have had several assists on the day and it’s a shame he got sent off because I was sure that one was coming.

So for as much as we heap shame on him for another foolish tackle (another orange card, if you will, if even that), we have to also keep in mind how much he has shown in improvement. Burnley provided him a fantastic chance to show his developing offensive arsenal as well as his restraint to not fire so many shots into the 38th row.

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I’m going to miss having him out there for as long as Wenger sees fit to sit him down for a nice stern lesson. But at least that guarantees Ramsey another go or two or six.