Arsenal: Granit Xhaka situation identical to Aaron Ramsey

Arsenal shouldn’t be all that unfamiliar with the situation they find themselves in with Granit Xhaka because it’s the same one they’ve just handled with Aaron Ramsey.

In covering all the potential routes that Arsenal could take to relieve the midfield stress, it occurred to me that everything sounded awfully familiar. I kept talking about how we needed a few more pieces to make Granit Xhaka comfortable and to make him really pop and maybe a shield behind him will do the trick.

All of this accommodating hit home as the exact same process that I went through when thinking of how to get Aaron Ramsey back into form around the middle of last season.

I remember saying stuff like we needed to shield him all around, with a wingback, a midfielder alongside him, and a formation similar to that of Wales, seeing as how he certainly pops with Wales.

Sure enough, the Gunners put these things in place, and like a mediocre magic act, Ramsey comes out the other end in tights and a cape. It’s Super Rambo. All the club had to do was put the pieces in place and everything worked out.

It’s the exact same with Granit Xhaka. Nobody denies that, individually, Ramsey and Xhaka are phenomenally useful players. They each have skill sets that Arsenal immensely benefit from. The problem is that, as a pair, it doesn’t work.

Ramsey has all of his pieces in play, so he is going to go do his thing, which leaves Xhaka exposed, because one of his crucial pieces is having defensive help behind him.

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It may seem bothersome, to think that we have two midfielders that require specific circumstances to be at their best, but I don’t see it that way. I’m actually quite impressed that Arsene Wenger moved enough around to get the best out of Ramsey. For all the crap we give Wenger (rightfully so, most times) his handling of Aaron Ramsey couldn’t have been better.

He knew the talent that he had and he knew how to unlock it. But now that that puzzle is solved, he needs to solve Xhaka’s puzzle and fit it into Ramsey’s puzzle for a sort of two-for-one puzzle special.

Thankfully, this means a couple things. First of all, we know that it’s fixable. Second of all, we know that it works, just look at Ramsey. Third of all, the only thing we’d really need to see the full picture of this puzzle is slipping another midfielder in behind Xhaka, which could mean swapping to a back four, or it could mean that Wenger has made the DM floater a real thing. And wouldn’t that be exciting?

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Xhaka brings so much to the table that we can’t just do away with. And since we have done the whole nine yards with Ramsey, replicating it for similar results for the Swiss just makes sense.

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