What Does Granit Xhaka ACTUALLY Do? | The Tifo Football Show Ep. 8 

Need to see an Alex video that talks about all Pedri's flaws so we can have TiFo: Civil war

i greatly appreciate that jj was given so much liberty to make such a beautiful song for pedri. please protect him (jj) at all costs. maram too, been loving her statistical analyses in the last bunch of episodes. please protect the entire tifo irl team at all costs.

Tifo's classic British humour is unmatched

When is the Pedri song available on Spotify and iTunes?

17 mins of world class analysis and 2 mins of musical brilliance, interspersed with manic episodes never change tifo, never change

Question: Will there ever be a second Sergio Busquets? If no then how do you replace him?

Cracking football analysis along with the fever dream of the Pedri song. Never change

Wonder when the official release of JJ's Pedri album's coming out. A single song just doesn't do him justice, we need more of it for sure.

Kinda strange that a physical, emotional, tough as nails player like Xhaka is not appreciated in the supposedly very tough, very physical Premier League

Honestly, Joe would be a good wrestlers. Works very well with gimmicks and he has a physical humor along with a extremely funny ingenuity. And he's a great Improviser. Never seen the body though, so who knows if a Ultimate Warrior 8 pack is hiding under there.

I love JJ's slow descent into madness more than life itself. The Pedri song is a straight-up banger.

Emotional player. I think that is his general perception here in Switzerland too Great leader and captain because he can bring in the motivation and belief that we can win as underdogs

I like how they get straight to the question in the title

Woo, they answered my question! Special thanks to Alex for all the immense level of detail & time spent to come up with the answer... 'sort of'. ;)

Wow..PEDRI song was awesome!!

Glad to see Xhaka getting the recognition and respect he deserves, far too misunderstood and underrated by most. Obviously not without his flaws but he's crucial to his team

The Pedri song NEEDS to be on Spotify!

14:10 Alexander-Arnold is just on another planet when it comes to attacking full back play. As the scatter shows, there’s him, then there’s Robertson, and then there’s everyone else

Question: Historically teams haven’t had a huge amount of success just stockpiling the best players in the world, PSG being a great example. (There are some obvious exceptions to this rule). Why doesn’t this method work? And what’s the best team of the best players that could actually work tactically ?

Question: What's happened to Houssem Aouar? Burst into the limelight big-time couple seasons ago but seems to have now fallen off the radar

The Pedri track was unbelievable scenes

Question: Christopher Nkunku seems set to move this summer, what top team would he best fit into based on his current playing style?

JJ’s pedri tribute is the greatest piece of football content I have ever witnessed 👀 What a guy!

Fantastic analysis as always, keep up the good work. Question: Why can't Arsenal score goals?

Question: Is David De Gea playing better this season when compared to his 17/18 campaign?

terrific content, love the mention of xhaka(as an arsenal fan) blown away by how serious the stat analysis was conducted on the world cup successes and temp, the Pedri song Im still singing a 20 mins from hearing it!

Question: what tactic has been most successful at getting a team promoted from the Championship into the Premier League?

Question: With Klopp's contract running out in two years, who do you think should be Liverpool's next manager if he doesn't re-sign? Are there any manager that plays similar football like Klopp in Europe?

This is the best series y'all ever did. Looking forward to every week!

Question: If the Champions, Europa, and Conference league this year were all to be won by Premier League teams, how would spots in Europe for next year be assigned?

I’m waiting for “Pedri” by JJ Bull to be launched on Spotify

I knew JJ would say Pedri for that last question but I didn’t expect a whole rock song😂😂😂

As a statistician, i was so happy when Alex talked about significance. Its like tifo has entered and replicated my life. Football and Statistics

jj so talented i cant lie

Best tifo show in a while I liked the weather thing, Marams analysis and especially the Pedri song at the end

love it lads!! Keep up the good work

Love seeing the big squad answering a question each !!

honestly every episode is brilliant

Man I love JJ songs

James is a legend, love the Tifo/Gunnerblog crossovers

thanks for the great upload!

Well "You know it's going to be Pedri" will be stuck in my head all day... That bangs 🙌

these guys get everything right in every video. Great team here at TIfo!

I'll really love to see the spreadsheet as well.

Love the mix of information and humour. Brilliant stuff as always

Best song ever. Now Pedri is growing on me too.

This show needs a complete revamp. I want to see Alex Stewart singing and JJ Bull doing a spreadsheet.

Simply amazing

Absolutely incredible song at the end about Pedri I think it was. Will be looking for it on Spotify

I love that JJ stays objective, in spite of his love for Pedri. Kudos!

It’s an extremely high bar. But I really think the Pedri song is the best Tifo song yet. We need a Tifo Spotify

These videos are the highlight of my week

From what I heard of your Come On Eileen cover I was severely impressed.

I usually listen to these on 2x speed and let me tell you that that takes the Pedri song to a different dimension.

Keep this show cominggggg 🎉

You know a show is funny when you can see everyone struggle to not break character. Alex was trying his hardest not to laugh after the video segment on Pedri. Another great vid guys

That is quite possibly the greatest song I’ve ever heard about potential future balon d’or winners. Also, if Ten Hag can coach AWB as a RCB in a back 3 then he’ll be fantastic.

Completely disagree, Özil’s form & production massively dipped when we replaced Cazorla with Xhaka and now we are seeing the same when we have no Partey in midfield, Xhaka’s ball progression is overrated. Great as passing it to the leftback though

Question: why is it, that the left-sided CB in big teams almost always seems to be the more reliable one (e.g. VVD, Dias, Ramos, Maguire 😂,...)

The whole Tifo IRL Team are great, that Perdri song is a classic, made my day!

Mc NIcholas doesn't know what he is talking about. 1)Granit is one of our better midfielders. Him and partey get the best out of each other. But 2)he's also a player that can transition us quick particularly with his range of passing. 3)He can switch the point of attack for us. Particularly form flank to flank but also with quick through passes 4)He is also flexible to cover at Cback and Lback if need be. Which means he is positionally sound and discipline. 5)He also in addition generates a lot of turnovers and intercepts which many prefer not to see. 6)He is also strong in the air which helps defensively in particular. As per usual most commentators on Xhaka prefer to see the ills and miss the positives that are there. They simply do not know what they are looking at.

Q. Is there a correlation between certain football leagues/divisions and the players being brought from them being able to evolve to Premier League football quicker than others? And how do teams go about comparing performances between different leagues/competitions?

A high bar this week, surely that song will in the charts soon

I love this series and hope you all continue to do it for a long time. Question: Will Fulham stay up this time? Can they keep relying on Mitro?

you guys are the best

jjs pedri song is tremendous

i love how musical tifo is

I'll always watch a James McNicholas guest segment episode

I think there’s a class of players who the “what do they do” question can apply and they all keep playing. I think Rodri, Tielemans Henderson (Liverpool) all have this quality where they get lots of games but their main attribute seems to be passing neatly as far as I can tell.

JJ Bull's songs are getting increasingly Hat Films and I am very here for it

How good was Steve McManaman he won champions league’s and La Liga’s but is rarely mentioned when discussing best English player of that era

My two favorite things at The Athletic: James and Tifo

On weather at the world cup affecting outcome, there's one element that would likely would have an effect but hasn't been considered (probably because it would be a massive pain). Weather in the country the players play their league football in (a lot of them in thr last 20 years will be spread around the world)

Alex talking about statistical significance pleases me greatly What do Villa (Aston) need to do to get back into European football?

This is so funny and educational

I want another version of it now

Holy Sh... that song was damn funny. And the dryness at the end is superb. Great job.

Hi I’ve got a question. What have Leicester done and what else can they do to replace Vardy’s importance?

I listened to the song at 1.5x speed and it sounded like a very aggressive speed metal song. I liked it.

Shouldve gone with the pedri topic in the title! Loved it 😀❤️

Cant wait to hear that song being sung around the Nou Camp.

Protect JJ at all costs

showing love for Alex's spreadsheet deep dive

Very interesting take on what Xhaka actually does for Arsenal. Whilst James might have made him sound a bit more viable to the unsuspecting fan, the fact remains that any CDM worth their salt can do exactly what Xhaka does just as well, if not better. Being physically fit and available is a basic requirement of any footballer in any position. Some are more injury prone than others, but Xhaka is by no means as durable as say Declan Rice (only missed 2 league games this season so far), for example. Dropping back to cover the wing back is a simple task that he doesn't actually do all that well. He will often get caught out by his lack of pace and/or his inability to win the ball firm but fairly; his sending off in the Carabao Cup against Liverpool being my most recent recollection of this. As for playing a good forward ball, this would seem to be his best attribute. But unfortunately, due to Arteta's preference for wanting to attack via the wings, Xhaka's forward passes are often diagonal balls or ones that offer no goal scoring opportunity. Even an out of form of Pogba is able to thread a better through ball than Xhaka. Taking all of the above into account, Xhaka's negative qualities impact his game far more than the positives he brings to the table. He has been labeled Mr. Liability for a reason and has cost Arsenal more points than one should expect from a team looking to get back into the Champion's League. Desire to want the ball is not enough at the top level. Your team need to have confidence that when you get the ball you will relieve pressure, not induce it. So my answer to what exactly Granit Xhaka does: He creates vulnerabilities via his lack of reading a situation, coupled with his desire to make an impact, resulting in bad tackles and bookings/suspensions. As much as it hurts me to say it, his likelihood of a mistake makes him considerably less of an asset to our club than a player like Højbjerg is for those lot down the road, and why he is still here I will never know.

The fact that Wan Bissaka still plays like a Palace defender years after leaving is a damning indictment on the coaching at Utd

I really enjoyed the song

My weekly dose of happiness ♥️

With 5 subs now being the norm, is is possible to have a tactical combination on the bench and send them out as a unit. for example starting the game with a fluid front three and if that is not working sending out a big powerful tall striker with a great crosser of the ball to change the complexion of the game? Will that realistically happen?

I love this

I can't wait for the special-release deluxe CD compilation of Tifo IRL songs.

the graphic for underlapping was hilarious!

Thank you Alex for using the word "data" accurately.

Question: I have noticed that certain teams have started to play a sort of: 5 at the back without the ball, 4 at the back with the ball. Most notably Chelsea, so much so that Thomas Tuchel played Reece James (commonly played as a right wing back) as the right sided centre back of the 3 against Crystal Palace. Could you please go into detail about how teams can shift between shapes and how it gives them a tactical advantage?

You just can’t get this kind of content anywhere else…in the universe! I’ve checked!

Really good analysis of Xhaka. Also I can see why the impersonation of the Tifo IRL podcast did eagle noises for JJ 😂😂 PEDRI

“Pedri” is second only to transfer hawk in my mind. Well done JJ. Question for the team: would Edson Alvarez solve Manchester United’s defensive midfield woes?

that music used in the xhaka section made me check in haste if I was getting a call on teams

Another always sunny connection with the golden man musical, similar to night man! 🤣

The best show on the internet

i cant believe this free