Arsenal: Granit Xhaka and same old flaws bring battering

Phil Neville has laid into Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka after a dismal second-half performance against Sweden for Switzerland in the World Cup. The criticism, while a little overly harsh, stems from the same old flaws.

Oh Granit Xhaka. What are we going to do with you? Yes, the oft-criticised, much-maligned, highly controversial Arsenal midfielder has been at it again: inciting the wrath of pundits seems to be his most brilliant ability, certainly more so than making a good tackle.

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Xhaka started for Switzerland in a 1-0 loss to Sweden in the Round of 16 in the World Cup on Tuesday afternoon. It was not a good performance. And Phil Neville, as Phil Neville often does, takes the most extreme of stances on the sometimes misunderstood midfielder.

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Here is what he said after the game for BBC coverage where he was working as a studio analyst:

"“The goal, the goal itself. He just went to the floor and let the lad (Emile) Forsberg goes past him too easily. Too many times in the second half. He is probably sat in the dressing room at the end of the game thinking ‘oh, I’ve had a good game today, I’ve passed it to my own players a couple of times sideways’. Look at this, charging out, too easy going past him there (Albin) Ekdal. Diving in, that was just after the goal. I think we see this week in, week out. This was just after the goal as well, let’s the lad go past him, just drags him down, lack of discipline. Look, I think I see this at Arsenal week in, week out. He’s just not my type of player. He’s fake.”"

You do not need me to tell you that Neville is not Xhaka’s biggest fan.

And Neville does make some valid points. Xhaka was done far too easily for the goal, committing his body weight to a tackle, only for Emile Forsberg to swerve around him and send a deflected shot into the top corner. Xhaka was increasingly rash in his tackling, getting yet another yellow card, charging into tackles and positions that exposed the space behind, and lacking the game understanding required to provide stability at the base of the midfield.

But then there was his play in the first half. Switzerland were largely poor during the first 45 minutes, not that Sweden were much better in a staggeringly tedious affair. But Xhaka was forwarding their play well, piercing the Sweden ranks with good passes into the feet of the Swiss attackers, looking to advance his team up the pitch and into more dangerous areas. Neville conveniently decided to overlook this part of his game.

I am not trying to defend Xhaka. I have been critical of him in the past and I will be critical of him in the future if his play does not improve. But I do believe a little more context is required for Neville’s comments. Because the faults that he highlighted are precisely the same faults that every Arsenal fan has highlighted for the past two years. They are the same ones.

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Is that because Xhaka is not improving and not addressing the shortcomings of his game that are costing his team? Or is it because he is not being played in the right position with tasks that suit his style, not ones that expose his weaknesses? I do not know the answer to that question. It’s probably a bit of both. Either way, it’s not something that Neville cared to mention.