By Daniel Finton (Deputy Editor) and Alfie Cairns Culshaw (Chief Editor)
What up, Pimps?
Welcome one and welcome all to the Finton's Frolic right opinion zone. It's been way too long since an FF has been posted, so I figured I would get a responsible writer to help me across the line of publishing. Oh also, I would sound like a blithering idiot trying to explain stats, so I reached out to the Chief Editor Alfie Culshaw who's luckily a total nerd about that stuff.
In this week's installment we will be looking at the two subcategories that have made Granit Xhaka the game changer he has evolved into this season. You read that latter part right, by the way. The emotions are an aspect of Xhaka's game that have helped us greatly thus far. More on that later.
For now, however, here's Chief Culshaw assessing the Swiss semi's tactical shift and importance in the team.
Tactics: Xhaka "Xhocking" Everyone with Switch
Granit Xhaka's switch to operating as a six in a double pivot to operating as an attacking eight who's primary job is to attack the left-half space with penetrative runs has been nothing short of remarkable. For so long, we all perceived him as a fairly limited, immobile deep-lying playmaker, who's forte was progressive passing to a very high level but doing almost nothing else.
He would sit deep, get us up the pitch and into the final third but barely contribute off the ball or in shot creation. No-one could have anticipated how well he would adapt to such a drastic change in role- except Arsene Wenger of course, who infamously dubbed him a 'box-to-box midfielder' upon his arrival in 2016. Arsene was right all along.
We've all seen with our eyes how well Xhaka has played this season, but as Daniel asked me to provide a statistical outlook, how do the numbers reflect his performance this season? The answer is, they basically show us what we all intuitively think when watching him.
The most glaring signs of a change in role within the numbers is his increased presence and influence in the final third. There are a number of metrics that demonstrate this, but I'll start by looking at his direct output in terms of shots and chance creation. Xhaka has already matched his best ever goal tally for Arsenal, just a quarter of the way through the season, scoring four times and you'd now expect him to comfortably exceed that. He's also managed three assists already, just four off his best tally of seven in the 2017/18 season.
The underlying numbers suggest this is no fluke. Xhaka is posting career highs for expected goals and assists, producing 0.12 xG/90 and 0.15 xA/90. His previous highest xG per 90 was 0.07 in his first season, while last season he produced his best xA/90 prior to this season with 0.12, highlighting that he's improved and evolved in this role even from last season. This indicates that he's getting forward more, finding himself in better goalscoring positions, and in better positions to lay on his team-mates for good shooting opportunities.
The timing of his late bursts into the box and his runs into that inside left channel are immaculate and relentless. This is reflected in that he's become a receiver of progressive passes for the first time in his career - he receives 3.73 progressive passes per game now, compared to an average of 1.22 per game in his previous five seasons.
Xhaka is also just generally finding himself inside the final third and the opposition box a lot more. In the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, he managed 10.5 and 12.9 touches in the final third (per 90) respectively, compared to 17.6 and 20.8 last season and this season respectively. He's now managing 3.64 touches in the opposition penalty area per game, compared to 1.27 last season. Prior to last campaign, he was averaging less than a single touch in the opposing penalty area per 90.
Career highs in shot-creating actions (up from from 2.29 per 90 in the previous four seasons to 3.48 this season) and key passes (up from 0.99 per 90 in the previous six seasons to1.69 this season) continue to show the story of a player that has transitioned from a good but not elite deep-lying playmaker to a verging on elite creative advanced eight. Every metric under the sun shows it and we can all see it with our eyes.
It turns out that you don't need to be elusively agile and have a rapid turning circle to operate in these advanced areas, but more have a tactical awareness and intelligence of where to be, where to run and when to run, as well as a pristine weight of pass and choice of pass. Getting him further away from the areas where losing the ball or getting run past is potentially more damaging was a stroke of genius from Mikel Arteta, which not many would've attempted when looking at a player of Xhaka's skillset.
Of course, this is just the tactical and analytical side of things. As well all know, Xhaka is an emotional player, who has often been viewed as rash and impulsive, which has affected his game at times. Now, he feels the love of his manager and his fans. Here's Daniel with the phycological outlook.
Emotions: The Side of Xhaka's Game that will Never "Xhift"
Enough of that nerdy shit. Kidding. It's great to see that the underlying metrics of Xhaka actually match his goal and assist record and the way we're feeling, one may even say ... emotionally about him. It's like making friends with a former mortal enemy. Anyways, emotions. Let's talk about those. Xhaka is not an ever-typical athlete filled to the brim with sour tasting toxic masculinity. He does not hide those things.
In truth, most of Xhaka's hiccups have not come from issues on the pitch tactically, though, but rather ones on it, emotionally. The red cards that we all remember too well came from fear, rage and apathy. I won't bore you with any reminiscing.
Though the Swiss captain's game has been totally altered, the emotions do still run rampant through the nooks and crannies of his wrinkly, 30-year-old brain, and they will never be adjusted in any way, ever. That's a good thing. Hear me out.
It seems like just yesterday. Xhaka chucked the captain's armband onto the Emirates carpet, shouting an expletive at his very own supporters that were booing him. The end for him was upon him and us. We needed a replacement for this hot mess.
He let his feelings get the best of him. Unlike the archetypal, robotic, widely approved, typical footballer, Xhaka brings body bags of passion everywhere like everyone claims they want. He feels things. Of course, they all do too, but he's honest about those feelings and shows them rather than masking them with a paper machete veil of bravado. That's why he had to leave. But alas, no he actually didn't. Somehow.
It takes a lot of character, and admittedly, simultaneously, a hefty dose of pride, to admit that you did wrong, but you might not change a thing, as Xhaka said in the Players Tribune.
"Was I wrong to do what I did? Yes. But would I do anything differently if it happened again tomorrow? Honestly, I don’t know." -Granit Xhaka in an interview with the Players Tribune.
That honesty is refreshing. He didn't come out with some blanket statement saying, "let's let bygones be just those," no, he admits that he doesn't know if he will ever forgive the collection of brutal Gooners that booed and hurled abuse at him. And that's great, because guess what, you don't have to forgive people, especially ones that didn't apologize and now support you in your good times like nothing happened. The refusal to accept the non-existent sorry is Xhaka, and those emotions are how Xhaka went from that terribly dark time, to now's bright and sunny ones.
I don't know of another redemption arch quite like our true captains - no shade Martin, just facts - and I know for a fact that there isn't a single player I've ever seen that has the emotional bandwidth to come back from that traumatic an experience - also packed with death threats. If Xhaka wasn't an emotional character, sure, he wouldn't have ever told the rowdy, annoyed Emirates fans to stick it where the sun don't shine, but he also wouldn't be playing the way he is now.
He's resilient, and above all a human through and through. Cyborgs of players - which most are, sadly - are wedded to their styles and positions they've been told they belong in by their programmers, but Xhaka has the emotional wherewithal to understand that making such an abrupt shift in his position out of nowhere will take the league by storm. In essence, he's thoughtful and will do what he needs to do for the team. He's the same for his nation.
It'll be interesting to see how long Xhaka stays with Arsenal for though. In that Tribune piece he was far from promising he'd stay for the long-term future. As Youri Tielemans rumors inevitably start to pop back up again, remember all that our Swiss chocolate bar - sometimes bitter like a dark variant, and sometimes like now, sweet like a milk one - has done and been through for us. He's been a servant for our great club, and there's no denying that. Let's hope the sweetness continues. Dark chocolate is horrible. Like my life.
Toodloo...!
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