SUPPORTERS changing their minds on a player is nothing new or particularly remarkable. In this day and age, a player’s quality is litigated and re-litigated on a game by game basis. A bad game is no longer just a bad game, but a sign of fundamental weakness or unsuitability. Likewise, a good game banishes all doubts and doubters.
In football, good performances and good results cure all ills. Even within this malleable framework, were Granit Xhaka able to perform a volte face on his Arsenal career, it would be one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent memory. New coach Mikel Arteta confirmed that he has received assurances from the Swiss about his short-term future at the club.
Xhaka is an emotional player and person and, indeed, his impetuousness has been an enormous weakness during his three and a half year spell in North London. With the ball pursed on the edge of his left boot and time to survey the landscape, there are few more elegant passers in English football. When situations become frayed, however, Xhaka is more prone than most to totally lose his cool and provide panic solutions to problems.
"I had a conversation with him, I wanted to understand his feelings"
Mikel Arteta explains how he managed to win over Granit Xhaka, with the Swiss midfielder now set to stay at @Arsenal this month pic.twitter.com/PA6umYaJxN
— Hayters TV (@HaytersTV) January 2, 2020
Previous boss Unai Emery heightened the player’s unpopularity with the fans by spectacularly mismanaging the [eventual] announcement of the midfielder as club captain in October. It is unbelievable how poorly Emery managed the situation and Xhaka’s ‘expressiveness’ got the better of him in October when he provoked a grumpy home crowd during his substitution in a frustrating 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace.
Xhaka refused to show a great deal of contrition for the incident – which is his right of course – and seemed to have made the decision to exit the club as swiftly as possible. Granit was unfortunate to become the lightning rod of fan disenchantment in such a way, even if constructive criticism of his performances was warranted.
I don’t think many Arsenal fans genuinely thought him a bad player – certainly one ill-suited to Arsenal’s wide-open system [as much an indictment on his previous coaches as the player himself] and his susceptibility to brain fades. Most simply questioned whether he could ever prosper at Arsenal, maybe even the Premier League too.
The stand-off with the supporters that saw him stripped of the captaincy drew a very firm line under his Arsenal tenure and a quick departure appeared to be in everyone’s interests. However, the player has been outstanding in both games he has played under new coach Mikel Arteta. Arteta talked up Xhaka’s importance and revealed that he had undertaken a heart-to-heart with the player in order to convince him not to leave in the January transfer window.
Very quickly, we have moved from a situation where his retention makes as much sense as his departure appeared to just a few weeks ago. The new coach has played him in a role that has diminished his weaknesses and accentuated his strengths. With Ainsley Maitland-Niles shifting in-field from right-back to form a midfield three, Xhaka and Torreira – another rejuvenated midfielder – have far less space to cover.
Arteta on Xhaka: "I think he’s going to stay. I really like him. If we get him on board, he can be a tremendous player for us."
Has Xhaka given Arteta assurances he will stay at Arsenal?
"He did, yes."
— Melissa Reddy (@MelissaReddy_) January 1, 2020
No longer is Xhaka asked to run long distance after danger, instead he need only scamper to it over a matter of yards. With the left-back pushed up in Arteta’s system, Xhaka is able to cradle back into the left half-space, almost as a third centre-half and receive the ball away from the attention of the opposition’s press. Arteta has reduced the space he needs to defend and carved out a nook for him to make the play.
Xhaka is no longer Arsenal’s sole distributor either. To his right, David Luiz has been able to take on some playmaking responsibilities with his outstanding passing range. It makes Arsenal far less predictable and Xhaka is no longer the solitary focus of the press. In this left half-space, Xhaka can focus on sending the ball spinning up the line to the advancing Saka or Kolasinac.
Of course, Arsenal’s tactics under Arteta are still a surprise for opponents, eventually they will become accustomed to Xhaka’s new role and he might find himself the subject of greater scrutiny. His retention makes sense for both parties; if he still wants to leave during the summer, four months showing himself in a good light under Arteta’s system will increase his attractiveness in the market.
He might be able to move to a better club on a better salary than his present suitors and secure the club a more handsome fee as a result- that is if he chooses to leave. After full-time during the win over Manchester United, he broke free from the group as they conducted a miniature lap of honour and heartily applauded the supporters on his own.
Time will tell whether that proved to be a breakthrough moment for him psychologically- a clean break from the recent past. He has attracted no kind of opprobrium from the supporters since his re-introduction to the team. Supporters are fickle after all and that fickleness can draw their ungenerous side, as it did for Xhaka in October. Yet it also means forgiveness is equally swift. Good performances heal all wounds.
