Arsenal without Granit Xhaka are an unstable mess

Granit Xhaka is not the best Arsenal can do, which makes the feeble unstable mess they were against Liverpool all the more damning, as with him he’s the best they can be right now.

One can generally outline how wretched an Arsenal display was by what starts trending in the immediate aftermath: will it be Unai Emery or will it be those who didn’t play? We got both after Saturday’s shambles.

After the performance witnessed against Liverpool the speed with which those not in attendance were mentioned tells a story of its own. Without Granit Xhaka in the side Arsenal assumed no control, had no grip in midfield and no structure with which to build out from their own half.

Pegged back deep into their shell by the effervescent duo of Thiago and Fabinho, on the rare occasion of turning over the ball the Gunners were left with a lack of clarity by those in possession.

Arsenal without Granit Xhaka are an unstable mess as witnessed against Liverpool

Dani Ceballos was woeful with and without the ball, and the diagonal dynamic that Thomas Partey would build with Xhaka muddled into a disjointed blur with no structural foundation. The breeding ground for Arsenal to progress through the thirds was stale.

Xhaka is as divisive as they come, but him in the pivot adds a composure, a cleanness of thought that was abandoned by the erratic decision-making of the Spaniard.

It is not a sudden heralding of Xhaka the Magnificent, indeed; it’s instead a visual description of the level Arsenal are at where but one piece of the puzzle is absent and the ground crumbles beneath them.

Even David Luiz’s creativity and distribution from the back were missed as the lack of an out-ball to either Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe resulted in Liverpool regaining possession within three passes of them losing it.

Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe add the technical security needed to build and slice through the opposition, but as for stability in the centre of the park, Arsenal had none without Xhaka.

The loss of all four players had an impact on Saturday by their own accord. However, lose that midfield body and there is no replacement. Arsenal’s summer is dependent on countless additions and departures, but a No. 6 is a keenly needed as any.