Arsenal: Another “expert” gets Granit Xhaka all wrong

“Experts” aren’t really experts, but they will always act like they are, and another expert has weighed in on Arsenal’s maligned Granit Xhaka. Go figure, he’s got it all wrong.

There is nothing quite like an expert weighing in on something and getting it totally wrong. I love it. It reminds me of how easy life can be. There are actually people who get paid to say stupid things. No surprise, a lot of what they say pertains to Arsenal.

Paul Merson, who I find the proud owner of a lot of, well, stupid opinions, has weighed in again, this time on the player who it is my calling in life to defend – Granit Xhaka.

"They’ve tried with Xhaka for big money. I look at Xhaka the other week. He scored the winning goal against Chelsea the other week. Everyone was going mad. My first thought was what are you doing in the box. He is a defensive midfielder."

Thanks for that Paul. Top quality stuff. Only you’re showing not only a foolish bias (which I will get to later) but you’ve got the basics of the game all wrong.

Granit Xhaka, in the match where he scored against Chelsea, was not playing as a defensive midfielder. This was after the change where the 4-3-3 pushed Xhaka to a box-to-box role and Mohamed Elneny was thrown into the defensive role.

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Against Chelsea, Xhaka and Jack Wilshere were both box-to-box guys and the heat-map shows this new prerogative. Both Xhaka and Wilshere were given the freedom to peruse the pitch as they liked and, lo and behold, they both had very good matches in their freedom, particularly on the offensive end of the pitch.

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When Xhaka scored that goal, he was doing exactly what Aaron Ramsey does, from the exact same position. He was making himself available in the box. He wasn’t even playing a defensive role. I just want to shake Paul Merson and ask if he even watched the match, or any subsequent match where the same has been the case.

This happened because Arsene Wenger clearly recognized that Xhaka wasn’t a defensive midfielder. So he’s test-running him in a box-to-box role which has gone pretty swimmingly. You get the added defensive benefit of having Xhaka while also capitalizing on his passing ability going forward.

Yes, it’s still a work in progress, but the progress is going forward.

What Paul Merson has said is incredibly wrong. Just… it’s not even an opinion, it’s just factually wrong and it’s damn annoying. He’s not a defensive midfielder, nor was he being used in that capacity! He scored a goal by being in the right place at the right time, Ramsey style.

Not just that, but where is the similar outrage when Elneny, who actually was used as a defensive midfielder, was found in similar positions, which does happen, it just doesn’t result in a goal?

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Why is it not surprising that Paul Merson had to go turn that into a negative? And to do it with blatant falsities. Even better.