Arsenal: Granit Xhaka Provides One Positive From Bayern Embarassment

Arsenal didn’t have anything positive happen against Bayern Munich, but they did have one blip of consistency and that blip was Granit Xhaka. Hello, future!

So, Bayern Munich sucked and everyone involved sucked. Let’s get that out of the way again so that we can get into the discussion. In the process of sucking, Arsenal did have one tiny sign of life – Granit Xhaka.

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Xhaka had not lost to Bayern Munich since August of 2013, which was an impressive streak that I’m still having trouble fathoming. The Gunners ruined that streak, but at no fault of Xhaka’s.

The numbers tell no lies, so let’s get into the Swiss’s numbers.

Granit Xhaka was the only Arsenal player on the day to complete over 80% of his passes. He was the only player to complete over half of his long balls. In a game where nobody could find anyone in yellow and it was a luxury to see the team string together two passes, that is actually pretty impressive.

Xhaka also won the ball back five times. That was also more than anyone else on the club other than Laurent Koscielny (the Boss…).

He only surrendered possession twice and neither one was a dispossession. Compare that to Ozil and the Ox who gave it up six times each.

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I’m not going to sit here and say Xhaka had a cracker of a match. Any time you lose 5-1, no one had a cracker. But I am going to say that what we saw out of Xhaka in this horror show is so promising that it can definitely be used as a massive piece of evidence that Xhaka belongs here and is exactly what the club needs.

Why?

Consistency. The Gunners don’t often associate with that word. They are completely unpredictable. Granit Xhaka showing us his regular self as the rest of the team crumbled is incredibly promising because, yet again, the numbers don’t lie.

These tallies against Bayern fit right into the averages that Xhaka has been building all year. Passing against Bayern 84%, 90% on the season. Winning the ball back five times against Bayern, just over four times on the season. Surrendering possession twice to Bayern, 1.2 times on the season.

If he can do what he’s been doing against Bayern Munich, then who can’t he do it against?

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If a massive overhaul is coming, then hopefully Xhaka is one guy that can be built around. He can be the foundation of a top tier club. He is already proving that.