Bad news. Tuchel could do something with them.

As I can't watch as much football as I'd want I always enjoy and put some weight to these useful stat heavy graphs.
This is a graph for La Liga's most progressive passers. X axis is number of passes in to the penalty area per 90 minutes and the Y axis is passes in to the final third per 90 minutes.

So players in the top left create a lot of good chances, players in the bottom right progress the ball well (typically deeper midfield players). The very best at both find themselves in the top right of the graph where we find Messi and interestingly Ødegaard pretty much out on their own.

Also nice to see Cazorla standing out there as well.

You must think Wenger was a right prat, being it was him that paid £35m for him?

I know Tottenham have this whole idea of not playing football much and just have Kane and Son win games for them, but they have 30% possession tonight against Wycombe Wanderers - a team that's currently dead last in the Championship.

That would be funny if only it were true.

Current stats (at 86 mins) shows Tottenham as having 72% possession.

He's also still so young, these numbers will only get better. I see zero, absolutely zero chance of us signing him permanently at the end of the season. Another loan if Real still want to wait, maybe, but other than that, I'd bet whatever you like on this being 6 months and done.

Sokratis has signed for Olympiacos. We might meet him in the Europa league

Hi Gunfire,
I was being a little facetious. Tuchel no doubt knows what he's getting himself into. He'll need to throw all he's got to make it work. Added to the totem pole of managers.

The signings Wenger made that summer of 2016 ultimately cost him his job.

Signings 3 such absolute turkeys was always going to be the end of him

The signings Wenger made that summer of 2016 ultimately cost him his job.

Signings 3 such absolute turkeys was always going to be the end of him

If it was any club other than Real Madrid I’d agree 100%. However because it’s Madrid they have a history of being impatient and always wanting the marquee signing and with that ditching promising players who are right under their noses

Penny wise, pound foolish signings. Missed the forest for the trees.

Xhaka looked okay to start with. One forum member even said:

'Xhaka looks a very good signing. His left foot is an absolute wand and he was taking the ball off our back four and distributing it brilliantly.'

I wonder who that was.

After one game. After 5 everyone realised he was actually diabolical which is the dilemma of the myth of the player overall. In fact after 5 I think he had already been dropped

Xhaka played in 32 out of 38 Premier League games that season. Moreover he was sent off in two of them, which accounted for some of the games he missed (I presume two at least, perhaps four, or maybe even all six depending on the ban he got for each case).

To be fair I think the most you can say is that “everyone realised he was actually diabolical” except Wenger.

I think that he flatters to deceive. There are some games where he looks like a class act. Those are the games where his deficiencies aren’t exposed. Truly a frustrating player.

Xhaka played in 32 out of 38 Premier League games that season. Moreover he was sent off in two of them, which accounted for some of the games he missed (I presume two at least, perhaps four, or maybe even all six depending on the ban he got for each case).

To be fair I think the most you can say is that “everyone realised he was actually diabolical” except Wenger.

I think that he flatters to deceive. There are some games where he looks like a class act. Those are the games where his deficiencies aren’t exposed. Truly a frustrating player.

Xhaka played in 32 out of 38 Premier League games that season. Moreover he was sent off in two of them, which accounted for some of the games he missed (I presume two at least, perhaps four, or maybe even all six depending on the ban he got for each case).

To be fair I think the most you can say is that “everyone realised he was actually diabolical” except Wenger.

Just looked it up, Xhaka missed 5 prem games through suspension in his first season and was on the bench for a home game v Southampton in the 4th game of the season. He started every other Prem match

No i think even wenger remember by October he had been dropped I recall so when he was recalled against forest and scored a 30 yarder he gave it to the fans by giving a "talking hand" Celebration. Even early doors there were issues.

We've had to play him out of necessity really. He's all we've got type thing.

Just looked it up, Xhaka missed 5 prem games through suspension in his first season and was on the bench for a home game v Southampton in the 4th game of the season. He started every other Prem match

Our midfielders that season were Xhaka himself, Özil (who was also a regular starter in those days), Cazorla, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Iwobi, Wilshere, Coquelin and Reine Adelaide. I’d say those nine (or eight if you want to exclude Reine Adelaide as he didn’t play a single Premiership game that season) gave Wenger plenty of opportunity to not keep picking him.

For me Xhakas biggest flaw will always be his lack of speed and mobility, which is a clear limitation playing in those compact midfield areas. He's got other qualities that still makes him a very good player though, he's positionally sound and a great passer - he sometimes gets accused of only playing it safe, but the stats below shows he makes more progressive passes per 90 minutes than almost every midfielder in the league.



All in all he's comfortably the best midfielder we have behind Partey who looks to be in a league of his own, but I would also say it's an area where we should look to strengthen in the summer. If we can get someone in who can compete with or even displace Xhaka, our midfield would become a real area of strength.

Interesting stat. What counts as a progressive action because i only ever see Xhaka making 2 passes

Xhaka is our midfield iteration of Mustafi, a brain fart away from the next calamity, pick them both you have the perfect storm.

To be fair to him though, I think he has cut that out of his game to a big extent. I can't remember many mistakes that lead to a goal or good scoring chance from the past two seasons or so at least.

..

If you get banned for either one or three games for each sending off, maybe he missed at least one for sufficient bookings?

He got 2 x 3 game bans for his two red cards but served 1 game of the first 3 match ban in a cup game, so missed 5 league games through suspension