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Arsenal: Critics Of Granit Xhaka Must Remember Mesut Ozil
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal supporters and critics have been unduly harsh on Granit Xhaka and some are calling for his exit. But remember Mesut Ozil?
I don’t think there is a fan base out there more critical than Arsenal’s. Liverpool loses to Swansea at home and nobody bats an eye, but Arsenal beat Burnley and everyone freaks out about Granit Xhaka.
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I get the criticism, it was a stupid, stupid tackle and he’s done it before. But can’t we all just take a moment to think? It’s so early into his audition and let’s be honest, there has been much more improvement then setbacks.
I said before that for every massive setback, he takes two steps forward. His scope of pass is unbelievable, his long shot needs some work, but it is there for the taking and I have no doubts that his intelligence will weed out the stupid tackles and he will emerge as a stone cold stalwart in the midfield.
Not everyone agrees though. Martin Keown thinks that Xhaka may be confining himself to a short stay at the club.
“He needs to get out of the habit of trying to win the ball straight away. If he keeps getting sent off then it will only shorten his stay at Arsenal,” he said, via ESPNFC (who have been the torch bearers when it comes to criticism of Xhaka).
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All of these critics need to take a step back and remember Mesut Ozil. The German maestro came to the Gunners and looked so far out of his element that it was laughable. He was being kicked all over the pitch and he showed far less usefulness than Xhaka has in his short stay.
Rather than being kicked around, he is going to ground too easily and getting punished for it. That is something that is far less of a trial to fix and something that will be fixed long before it took for Ozil to learn how to be useful.
It took Ozil a season and a half to figure out how to make it in the Premier League and while there were calls for his sale, Arsene Wenger is the master of faith and it almost always pays off. It paid off here and so long as he hangs around, that same faith will be reinvested in Granit Xhaka and yes, it will pay off there as well.
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We have such short memories sometimes.