Paul Merson told Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (13/03/21 at 1:55 pm) that Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka has ‘no vision’.
The outspoken TV pundit made it clear that Xhaka was to ‘blame’ for Arsenal conceding against Burnley last week.
It was a pretty comical goal for the Gunners to concede, and whilst their fans didn’t see the funny side, their players continued in that fashion during their Europa League win against Olympiacos in Greece in midweek.
Ex-Arsenal man Merson explained that these types of issues will ‘keep on happening’ because of players like Xhaka not seeing the bigger picture.
“That will keep on happening,” said Merson. “That’s not vision. He should know as soon as that ball comes to him, and it’s rolled into him perfectly by the goalkeeper.
“People can say that the goalkeeper has stitched him up. The goalkeeper has put in a lovely pass for him to go ‘bang’ first time out to David Luiz.
“There was no need to take a touch. My worry would be that you (Xhaka) haven’t seen that pass. That’s my worry. You are a midfield player and you haven’t seen that pass.
“It’s the same in midweek with Ceballos. There are four players around him. You see the picture. You have to know what is going on before you get the ball – I blame Xhaka. I don’t blame the goalkeeper for that.
“And you have to have the vision. And if you don’t have the vision, it will keep on happening. That means no vision (on the mistakes happening again and again).”
The fact is Arsenal’s inability to play out from the back and continue to shoot themselves in the foot doesn’t stem from Arteta.
But those issues were pretty visible when Unai Emery was walking the touchline – Watford away comes to mind.
Whilst these forward-thinking managers have great ideas to try and take Arsenal back to greatness, perhaps the simple fact is that many of these players just aren’t good enough to put on the colours of the North London giants.
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