3 reasons why Xhaka is better than Coquelin

Arsene Wenger built a football ideology at Arsenal that anchors on midfield play, with the central and attacking midfielders having the responsibility to retain possession whilst creatively offering threats in attack to the defensive area of our opponents.

Pundits and Arsenal fans have had bandy words among themselves as to who is a better defensive midfielder between Francis Coquelin and Granit Xhaka – this is understandable, and a good headache even for the coach as both players always exhibit class whenever they are called into action.

No doubt, the aforementioned players have their strength and weaknesses, but we must put into cognizance the fact that they cannot operate alone in midfield but in partnership with a creative midfielder, but fans are undecided on which partnership would work, and you could put your money where your mouth is and claim them at CasinoShorts.com.

However, Wenger has once stated that Coqzorla have an understanding as they have been playing together long before Xhaka became a Gunner but Xhazorla could be our most fashioned partnership.

These are three reason we think Coquelin is a better DM,

Positional discipline

Arsene Wenger plays Coquelin or Xhaka as his pivot, which usually includes Santi Cazorla as the creative midfield hub that retains possession while Mesut Ozil is to give the final pass to the attacker. You’d realise that Coquelin is always found pressing high up the pitch whenever he plays and in a way nullifies the presence of Ozil as the player behind the striker. This is largely responsible for our inability to maintain possession even against the likes of Ludogeret in the Champions League – people have argued that we have been winning games but we may not be able to do so against opponents like Tottenham that are good on the counter because Cazorla make not be able to break play when we are on the defensive.

Wenger has said that he sees Xhaka as a box-to-box midfielder but the star has also flourished as traditional defensive midfielder. He maintains his position and never assumes that he is the creative midfielder. Arsenal have had more possession this season with Xhaka as the defensive midfielder.

Photo credit: David Price

Creativity

As typified by his inch-perfect long passes, Xhaka is a fantastic passer of the ball and so, he can sit deep and provoke a build-up play with his purposeful forward passes. This eases burden on the shoulder of Cazorla who is saddled with  the responsibility of spreading the ball in midfield.

For Coquelin, despite being found high up the pitch in most games, he is yet to provide an assist or even score a goal this term, this makes him more like a spare part the instance Arsenal are able to retain possession. Although his passes have improved, he tries too hard to impress, maybe he’s seeking to better than Xhaka in that aspect.

Goal-scoring ability

Needless to say much and expanciate on this, the name Xhakaboom stemmed from the screamers he scored against Hull City and Nottingham Forest in the Premier League and EFL Cup respectively. A couple of his stats shows that he can also score from a free-kick position, it remains to be seen how he would react when he returns from his suspension. However, his antecedent suggests he would come back stronger.

When was the last time Coquelin scored?