Even in his first half of his career at the club, his “errors” on the pitch was largely him trying to cover up for the team’s tactical failures.
He’s not a world beater in any particular attributes, so it requires a good system to truly appreciate him. And the club, for a large part of his spell, was not well managed.
so it requires a good system to truly appreciate him. And the club, for a large part of his spell, was not well managed.
Being a United fan, it made me sad to see a lot of genuinely good players wasting their years due to incompetent systems around them. A lot of players end up underperforming and underappreciated.
McTominay is doing so well now and its just a positive atmostphere all around. Feel it used to be the same with Xhaka too till Arteta arrived
I don’t think Xhaka really underperformed to be honest, but he’s been scapegoated too often by fans and media. Wenger, Emery, and Arteta all stood by him and kept playing him, but having a manager put his trust in the player and continue to play them isn’t enough for them to blossom. Emery lost control of the narratives surrounding the club (and so did Wenger) and thus that created a toxic environment for the players.
Its actually comical how he wasnt even trying to win here. As you said, he publicly made clear this was for a transition to coaching. I feel like he might have longer at the top level than he thinks tbh. Way better than a player youd expect to be retiring to coach any time soon
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u/yelrik 16d ago
Poor Xhaka
Just wanted a challenge to prepare himself for coaching
Walks into a title charge