The reaction and diagnosis is quite typically misplaced - 'he can't adapt', 'he's a shithouse', 'he's tidy and good in possession but offers little else'.
That's really not the issue. Yeah, he's looked a bit rusty, and who wouldn't, having played just 4 games last season, and coming into a completely different league. But the real issue is where we've been playing him most of the times - at the highest position in midfield. It's ridiculous. Anyone read that Daily Mail article on he says he hates playing the no. 10 role, and prefers the deeper position. I've been saying that for about 3 months now. And before anyone says that's making excuses, it isn't.
Remember Pires in the first six months. He was played out on the touchline, he was timid and tidy and did little else. A few months, Wenger shifted him a little centrally, and used Cole and Henry to provide width on the left, and hey presto, Pires transformed magically into one of the best attacking midfielders of the PL era.
Remember Silva in his first six months - played out on the wing, ridiculed for being too small and weak to play in the centre. I remember Brendan used to regularly rip into him - said he wouldn't cut in the middle. A year on, he's shifted to the centre, and he's the best fucking attacking midfielder in the league inspiring City to their first ever title win.
Six months, or in Sahin's case, four months, is way too previous to be judging a technically sound foreign midfielder coming into the league for the first time, and being played out of position.
Give him the year at least. And give him a run of games in the centre of the park with a holding player like Lucas or Henderson. None of this, he's too lightweight or he's a shithouse nonsense. That's the role he established himself as one of the best midfield talents in Europe as. And that's the only role he's going to prosper in.
