I must say this has nothing to do with him giving away another penalty against City when we were 1-0 up. Even if it was a Penalty (which IMO wasn’t), we were simply robbed of three points on the new year day!
We had a brilliant transfer window last summer. We have a functioning Right Back, CB partnership of Gabriel and White looks solid and Tierney literally had to fight for his spot against an unknown Tavares. Considering that White can play as RB provides a cover for Tomi if needed, we have a huge prospect in Saliba bossing out on loan and Holding is a decent enough back up.
In the second half of the pitch, we have some of the brightest youngsters in Saka, ESR, Odegaard & Martinelli. Not only are they playing good, they are also scoring goals this season and is one of the reason we are turning into the fat track bully we were.
Real challenge for us has been in the middle of the pitch and up top. Partey, although have showed glimpse of what he is capable of, has not played to his potential often. Against City though he was a beast and controlled the game as if we were playing Norwich.
Xhaka on other hand is a decent footballer on his day but those days are numbered. Not only is he slow(ish), you always feel there is an error in him which can costs us a game. A shirt pulling in penalty box is not what you would expect from a Swiss International who has been with the club from 5 years and is captain. In his 171 appearance in red and white, he has gathered 46 yellow cards and 4 red. If you compare it to Kante from Chelsea who has played more games, the difference is staggering. Kante has played 206 games and has only got 30 yellow and 0 red cards.
One of the main reason is because he is slow in man marking and thinks bringing down your opponent is easier than winning the ball back. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don’t and when you are hoping of getting back in Champions League, these should be a calculated risk and not a resort every time you lose the ball.
The faith in him from Mikel is even more surprising. Lokonga was playing pretty decent football along side Partey. He did cost us a game with some errors but he is a kid on learning path and can be improved…that’s what coaches and managers are for! We have had Maitland-Niles earning man of the match and then we never see him playing again.
Everyone thought the Gods have listened when Roma can calling for him but we didn’t accept what they were offering and gave an improved contract to him. Yep, it doesn’t make sense. We can only hope we get a Kante/ Neves sooner rather than later. We are fighting for the 4th and it’s a tough one. We need a fast, versatile player who has less fouls in him and doesn’t cost 2 games per season.
Hopefully, Edu and Mikel will come up something.
