Arsenal: Meet Granit Xhaka, the man playing two positions at once

Arsenal’s “defensive crisis” forced Unai Emery to put Granit Xhaka in the back three, which was a huge problem for more than one reason.

Arsenal‘s back three against Southampton didn’t work. It didn’t work at all. The problem wasn’t Granit Xhaka starting in defense though, the problem was him not starting in the midfield, and still having to play as though he was playing both in the midfield and in the defense.

Southampton had so much space in the midfield – so much space – and they recognized it and they used it. They moved the ball completely freely throughout some dangerous areas because, as we learned earlier in the season, Torreira and Guendouzi are not a good partnership.

Both are incredibly active midfielders who attack the ball, but have very little positional awareness, Guendouzi especially. Torreira is a bit more disciplined, but he’s just one man and he isn’t a ball controller.

Guendouzi is great at what he does, but stay in position is the least of what he does. That is where Granit Xhaka was missed – again.

No, Xhaka didn’t defend particularly well during his tenure in the back line, but he isn’t a defender. We’ve established that. He defends well for a midfielder, but that doesn’t translate to actually playing centerback.

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Xhaka’s presence was missing in the form of a gaping hole at the base of the midfield where Torreira and Guendouzi had either vacated and/or weren’t enough.

So much of Arsenal’s success lately has come from owning the midfield, from winning the battle in that crucial theatre of play and, fun fact, you don’t win that battle without someone who knows how to stay home, stay deep, and stay in possession. That man is Granit Xhaka, who isn’t a centerback.

And the crazy thing about it is, adding more testament to Xhaka’s ability, the more he settled into this game, the better he defended. Such that, by the end of the match, he was the best defender out there, even when Emery reverted to a back-four set-up.

To add more crazy to that crazy, Xhaka essentially played two positions at once starting in the second half, as he was asked to handle the ball from the depths of the midfield while also defend like a centerback. And guess what? He did them both pretty damn well!

He shouldn’t be playing in the defense. No one is going to argue otherwise. He should be playing in the midfield. But maybe just take a moment to appreciate how much was asked of him at St. Mary’s and how well he answered the call.