Granit Xhaka: Experienced midfielder, Arsenal captain… and a liability Diving into your opponent in the penalty area as Xhaka did against Tottenham isn’t embracing unpredictability – it’s stupidity

The turnaround in personnel at Arsenal over the last two years has been remarkable. New manager, new off-pitch structure, new players. Of the 18-man squad selected for the FA Cup final in 2017, only four players remain. Only one of those started in yesterday’s north London derby. The vast majority of Arsenal supporters might be happy to keep that revolving door turning.

Granit Xhaka, Arsenal captain and liability. It’s testament to the resolve of a man that he can be surrounded by constant flux and remain true to his ideals. But Arsenal could really do with Xhaka changing his spots.

Arsenal saved themselves from ignominy. They might even have snatched victory during a ragged, fatigue-fuelled last 15 minutes in which both teams surged forwards and defended frantically. But they cannot expect to come from so far behind the starting line.

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Wrong tactics

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Unai Emery may consider that he got his initial team selection and shape wrong; the outward anger in the concourses of the Emirates at half-time may persuade Arsenal’s manager if he is unsure.

Picking Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe as a front three demonstrated some attacking intent, but by allowing all three to stay high up the pitch Emery forced the central midfielders up the pitch to join them. The pressing wasn’t intense enough to break Tottenham’s rhythm, and that left vast swathes of space into which David Luiz was only happy to charge into nonsensically.

But if Tottenham’s first goal owed much to systematic issues, the second was an individual error of judgment from Arsenal’s midfield clot. Xhaka lives to his own mantra: act first, think later. His wretched lunging challenge on Son Heung-min conceded a penalty, but it could easily have provoked a red card.

When Xhaka first arrived in England we excused his tempestuous nature and reasoned that he was desperate to impress. Even in his second season, Xhaka was trying too hard, having struggled to hold down a place.

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There are also times when embracing chaos is the best option. If you don’t know what is going to happen next then there’s no chance your opponent can. But the first half of a local derby is not the time for chaos. And diving into your opponent in the penalty area isn’t chaos theory, it’s stupidity.

Experienced

Xhaka is now in his fourth season at Arsenal, and there can be no more excuses. In a midfield trio with Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi, he is the senior member. If a lapse into hot-headed frustration on derby day is hardly unique, it’s also exactly par for Xhaka’s course.

That petulance might just about be permissible were Xhaka the pace-setter of Arsenal’s midfield, his penetrative forward passes into midfield creating as much danger as his loose tackles inflict.

But Xhaka’s off-ball indiscipline too often combines with a safety-first passing strategy. Guendouzi does Xhaka’s job, better. His assist for Aubameyang’s equaliser was magnificent, and he ran the midfield after half-time.

Guendouzi was ably assisted by Dani Ceballos, whose ball retention and forward passing is far more of an asset than Xhaka’s ticking time bomb. For so many seasons Arsenal were supposed to be looking for their new Patrick Vieira. Perhaps in this Emery system, replacing Santi Cazorla was as important. Ceballos looks every bit the new model.

But Xhaka is the old model. There has been so much change at Arsenal over the last three years, but that only makes those who are soaked in old Arsenal all the more conspicuous. It is now time for Guendouzi, Torreira and Ceballos to welcome in the new age. Patience has run out; Xhaka’s nine lives have been used up.