Captain Xhaka tells Arsenal fans to ‘fu*k off.’

by .

You can analyse incidents in isolated moments or you can spread them across time to paint a clearer picture of what’s going on

Granit Xhaka; jeered and booed by his own fans, on the face of it looks like a horrifying moment. I don’t like it when we boo our own, I found it disgusting when folk in my stand used to do it to Theo Walcott, I find it embarrassing when they do it now.

However, it’d be unwise to cast this as a ‘bad fans / sad indictment of the social media generation’ type of incident.

Simply put, Granit Xhaka has been one of the worst signings of the past decade. He has never been well-liked by the fans and for good reason. He’s not built for the league, he has consistently been one of the most error-prone players in the squad, and he’s not a leader.

Unai Emery was so petrified of his decision to award a bang average player the armband, he waited until September, then leaked a sham captains election to solidify his skinny case for the defence.

Xhaka is a tactical liability for Arsenal. Not only that, he’s also demonstrated a real lack of leadership this season. This was him after his embarrassing Spurs mistake.

“We had a lot of chances, but this is football, nobody speaks about the chances, about how many we missed, always they speak about mistakes. That’s a part of football.”

This is our captain after the Watford game.

‘“We were scared in the second half. We knew they would come at us and push us hard but we have to show more character and not be scared.’

Scared? Can you imagine Tony Adams going on the record with such a stark admittance?

This is Xhaka after being jeered, presumably for slow-walking when we’re chasing 3 points at home to Crystal Palace.

He appeared to mouth ‘fuck off’ twice to the fans. Say what you will about how it must feel to be booed, that sort of response is not cool. You represent the badge and the fans are all that matters to your standing. He could have turned that moment on its head if he’d been smart, but instead, he played into the circus, now he’s on the backfoot.

He can’t even fall back on the decision being a poor one.

60 minutes of Xhaka on the pitch, Palace completed 219 passes, had 4 shots on target. Arsenal had 7 attempts, 3 on target (2 from corners).

30 minutes of Xhaka off the pitch, Palace completed 39 passes. Had 0 shots o target off 2 attempts. Arsenal had 8 attempts, 3 on target. We also had a fair goal disallowed.

It is not in debate whether he is good for the team. We are better with Xhaka on the bench. Baffling that Emery is only just realising this, but he is. He took his captain off on 69 minutes against Sheffield United, then removed the Swiss on 60 minutes today… which is a real fuck-you-very-much move.

Now the manager has a really tough decision to deal with. He has Mesut Ozil sitting in the stands for reasons he can’t disclose, but he did give us this.

“Here we have one agreed strategy as a club and a team. Because the most important thing is the club, the team and finding a performance.”

I am completely game for brutal decision making in the world of elite-level sport, you just have to be consistent. The manager made Mesut Ozil one his five captains in September, then he bombed him into exile, apparently because he’s poor in training. If it’s performance, I can get onboard with that, but you have to be consistent. Granit Xhaka almost never gives us a performance, fans were complaining that he was a 6 out of 10 today because that’s a good day in the office. If poor performances are an issue, why does Granit seem to be immune to the bench? There has to be consistency. Additionally, telling the fans to fuck off is presumably not a good look for Emery or exec leadership?

I also think we need to talk about the manager’s general performance. Palace completed more passes than Arsenal up until 55 minutes. A team that treats ball like an ebola grenade, completing more passes than us, in our backyard? It’s abhorrent to think that our game has sunk to those depths. Emery is destroying our identity on the pitch, he chips away a little of our pride in every outing, and we don’t even have results to show for it.

We have very little squad stability. The Mesut story is totally out of control, now we have a captain that just pushed the nuclear button on live TV, and we’re floundering in the league. Things are so bad, no one is paying attention to the fact our two star strikers are heading into the ‘we have to sell’ moment in their deals. Auba is final year next summer, Lacazette is at the point where he’d be sold if we take Raul at his word.

This situation we’re in is going to get worse. We haven’t hit the bottom yet, but believe me, we’re going to find it. Our plan is Champions League football. We seem to be betting on a manager with no vision to deliver that. We’re in ‘get it over the line’ mode. That’s not a real plan. We should be investing in a footballing philosophy we can build around. Emeryball is not that. His style of football a dog with wheels for back legs trying to climb the stairs. One step forward, 3 back.

The club needed to invest in a vision. We should have done that when we replaced Arsene Wenger. Find a young coach with an attachment to the fans. Map the coach to the vision of football you want to see. Build the backroom team around that. Sign players that fit the mold for the style you want. That coach could have been Freddie, Paddy, or Arteta. The plan Chelsea are activating is what a lot of us wanted when we replaced Wenger. They’ve set the bar low, told the fans this season is about the kids, and they’ve hired someone exicting they already love. Chelsea might not make the top 4 this season, but Frank Lampard is a young coach with an attachment to locals, one they’ll give time to, and one that believes in good football. He already has his kids playing better than Arsenal.

If we’d take that approach, could it really have been any worse than a sauceless manager that shipped out Ramsey, binned Mesut Ozil after making him captain, made Granit Xhaka captain, and gave us anti-football? It’s so sad, fans are clamouring for Jose Mourinho. Think about that.

So a point against Palace. We’re tanking our easy games. If you’re honest, we were lucky against Burnley and Villa. Not a single good performance this season. It’s bad. It’s only the beginning. Wait until December. Emery is an out and out disaster.

See you in the comments.

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Adam Benabbes

1st

DM

DM

MrT

Hello

grooveydaddy

Tr4phy

grooveydaddy

Woo-hoo!

Obum

Outside top 6… where we will finish with Emery on the wheel

Samar

Fourth?

gonnerram

What is the combination that makes us stable and makes the team tick? What ever we seem to try at the moment does not work and more importantly does not make the team tick. The fluent football we had with Wenger is required as table stakes – and then kick the team into gear.

habesha gooner

Liverpool Wolves and Leicester means he will be sacked at the end of this run. Pity our Hopes of top four will go with the run. Can any one confirm it was Mike dean that rulled the goal out from the VAR box?

habesha gooner

ruled *

Guns of Brixton

Tough ass times ahead.

Redtruth

A whole post on that stupid waster Xhaka lil

Redtruth

Fans are actually wanting Arsenal to lose so that Emery gets the sack!
Talk about supporting your team lol

Gentlebris

‘This plus the fact that today’s result was clearly on our inadequacies in midfield and weaknesses in defense, not on Emery.’

The weaknesses in defense is not on Emery, it’s on the white-bearded old woman who spoon- fed you with pure lemon whenever she visited your nanny.

Un na naai

Fuck off emery. And take Bamford with you.

terraloon

The fact that Xhaka is still at Arsenal, the fact that he is picked to play, the fact he is captain & the fact that he hasn’t been bombed out and exposed to the displeasure of the paying public falls 100% on the shoulders of UE

Un na naai

Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho

Lalalalaa
You know it’s coming

Ishola70

Emery took his time on Xhaka didn’t he.

Slowly very slowly the gruesome twosome messrs Ozil and Xhaka now look cooked.

Kolasinac wasn’t picked today.

But alas it may well be too late and of course we are not happy with the coach either.

But make mo mistake.

As well as the coach this first team needed to be rid of characters like Xhaka and Ozil.

Redtruth

How is Emery going to shift a piece of shit like Xhaka out of the club..Wenger has a lot to answer for.

terraloon

Habesha

Mike Dean was 4th official at Anfield today he was VAR official on Friday at Southampton

Guns of SF

Emery had to save face and pulled xhaka. He knows. Fans hate both of them

Peckobill

Red
How about not selecting him for a start and maybe he puts in a transfer request

Pierre

I still have a feeling that it may have been disallowed for offside ( Lacazette) …haven’t seen any replays confirming though.

Bamford10

Xhaka out.

Play Guendouzi + Ceballos at the base or Guendouzi + Torreira at the base, and begin thinking about Chambers as an option at holding mid as well.

Chris

Apparently Emery was asked about Ozil not playing and replied that we lost the corresponding fixture last season and improved in today’s game. Balls of steel!

Redtruth

Not fans like Champagne charlie whose favourite player is Xhaka.

Un na naai

RT clearly delighted with the result. Why a bellend

Peckobill

What did emery have to say in post match interview people ? I didn’t have the stomach to watch that part

Bamford10

Red

He can be of value in a slower league. It won’t be impossible to move him.

Ishola70

Peckobill
“How about not selecting him for a start and maybe he puts in a transfer request”

He’s going after him now but it’s very long drawn and played out.

Maybe he likes putting players completely through the drier.

Un na naai

Bamford out

habesha gooner

Terraloon at least that is something. I was going to lose it if it was him screwing us.

Guns of SF

Xhaka has to go. Summer is a long time to wait

Peckobill

Chris
Emery really come out with that ?

Bamford10

Chris

I love it. And he’s right.

azed

Pierre

There was no offside as Lacazette won the first ball. The goal was disallowed for an imaginary foul by Chambers.

Ishola70

Bamford

“and begin thinking about Chambers as an option at holding mid as well.”

lolz

Champagne charlie

Pedro

That causal relationship bollocks is embarrassing, be as well drawing the conclusion that Saka coming on made us 800% better.

Just nonsense to be so superficial. We were better because we were fucking desperate, and the remainder of the players on the pitch just saw one of their teammates castrated by his own fans.

Emery has this club right back to the lowest lows of Wenger, didn’t take him 22 years though. That’s the only improvement out there, despite the resident dipshits idea of improvement across the board.

Guns of SF

Emery out. I’ve had enough now.
This season will be like this . Hovering around 4 to 6 place and blown at the end

Bamford10

The guys who are completely losing their minds at the moment aren’t going to like this, but I’d just like to point out that we only conceded 10 shots today. That’s improvement both against last season in this fixture (16) and against our average this season (16).

Gentlebris

‘He could have turned that moment on its head if he’d been smart,’

Exactly what I thought.

azed

Emery is on his last legs because he hasn’t decided if he wants to be like Liverpool lite or City.

If you are going 4-3-3, then the middle 3 should be Guendozi, Willock and Torriera/Ceballos.

If you are going 4-2-3-1, then two of Willock, Guendozi and Torriera.

Redtruth

We used to regularly smash teams like Crystal Palace under Wenger for no reason other than to paper over the cracks on how poor a fuckin side we were.

Bamford10

Ishola

We don’t have a lot of options at the moment, and he was player of the season in that role for Fulham last season. He was also excellent today, and he has been excellent for us in general this season. One needs to begin thinking a little outside of the box. Otherwise it’s Guendouzi + Torreira + Ceballos for the remainder of the season (I assume you agree that Xhaka can’t be in the XI).

Ishola70

He definitely told the fans to fuck off. And cupping his ear.

How dare he.

It’s over. Over.

This sham is done.

Gentlebris

Emery facial expressions make you remember the serial killers you have seen in the papers.

Surely after this no serious club touches Emery again? He could get a job in Scotland though with Dundee United.

Gentlebris

‘He definitely told the fans to fuck off. And cupping his ear.How dare he.It’s over. Over.This sham is done.’

Your anti-Xhaka activities are a comedy Ishola🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Ishola70

Bamford

“He was also excellent today”

No he wasn’t excellent toay.

He got mugged by Zaha for their penalty.

He was completely out of position and nowhere to be seen when Crtystal Palace got the cross in for the second. We had silly Granit where Chambers should have been.

I appreciated his effort today but the guy doesn’t have the overall necessary quality and that will be more highlighted the more he plays in the first team.

But he will be out of the first team soon when Bellerin gets fully back.

Wenger signing of course.

Gentlebris

Emery loaded the trouble on himself when he recommended Ramsey’s contract to be pulled. Ramsey and Ozil together in that team would have saved his sorry ass.

Ishola70

oh lots of emojis.

Over-use of emojis always a sign that someone is pissed off and agitated and the gentlebris is agitated.

He is agitated because he only wants people to say how shit Emery is and not any players.

For the record both Emery and Xhaka look a bit shit gentlebris.

Pierre

I sometimes think Emery is a bit thick or lacking common sense. He must have some idea that there is a groundswell of opinion against xhaka and that Ozil still has many supporters at the club . To allow xhaka to be made captain was always going to end in tears if the results and performances dropped, and to completely freeze Ozil out of the line up was again a stupid move as again, as soon as the results and performances dropped , the manager would have questions to answer. He could and should have used his brain and given… Read more »

Danny M.O

i have been screaming xhaka was shit from the day he signed. Complete liability who thinks body checking is a form of tackling.

I would go as far as signing santi back in january to sort out the midfield.

With players like zaha you always need to go three man up. One standing one ready to intercept when he dribbles to the byline and another when he cuts inside.

Rookie mistake by chambers hanging out a leg.

Bamford10

Ishola

Fair enough. He did make an important mistake. But he’s not a fullback, and we’ve long known that. Personally, I think he was excellent aside from that mistake. Regardless, we have problems in midfield, and I don’t know that we have the solutions within our existing options.

Ishola70

Un na naai
“He was our best player today ishola you mug.”

Effort wise probably yes.

Key defensive moments no.

And this is where he can and does fall down. Key moments defensively. Also not quite enough quality going forward but again he does try hard.

Top marks for effort.

Wenger signing.

Manxgooner

Bamford

Are you okay?

Like seriously.

Pierre

Azed
“There was no offside as Lacazette won the first ball. The goal was disallowed for an imaginary foul by Chambers.”

As I said , I haven’t seen a replay but I had a feeling that when chambers was tussling for the ball , Lacazette was in an offside position and he challenged the defender after chambers touched the ball and that may have deemed him offside.

Definitely not sure though , it’s the only reason I could see that they may have disallowed it.

terraloon

Bam ford It might have made sense for Fulham in desperation to deploy Chambers as a holding midfielder but should Arsenal, a club with ambition really be looking at putting a very average player in such a crucial role? As for him playing well today sorry he was at best average and I doubt he would be looked at a first 11 player at the vast majority of PL clubs. UE has spent approaching a quarter of a £billion and I can’t see any improvement he is way out of his depth and the sooner the powers that be realise… Read more »

Un na naai

Ishola

Our best ever players were wenger signings you brain dead mong.

As for chambers. He was our best attacker today. How many good crosses and cut backs did he put across their goal only for nobody to get on the end of them?

You’re a fool.
Wenger forced emery to play xakha
Fucking idiot

Un na naai

Terraloon

He was their player of the year in that position. Pay attention. What does that mean? That he can play that role to a high standard. Not many DM’s get player of the year at any club.

Paul Mc Daid

As long as we are Owned,Managed and Run by complete losers nothing will change.
Complete regime change needed.

Chika

Emery: “I’ve made Arsenal more competitive.”

Ishola70

Maitland is very good

Willock is great.

Chambers is super.

Xhaka was good a few months back.

Arsenal need Ozil back.

You’re a fucking giraffe Don.

Nelson

Leicester City and Chelsea are winning away and we tie at home. I am afraid that by next InterLull, top4 will be out of reach. We’ll be going to Leicester City in two weeks. I guess Emery will play the midfield diamond again.

Danialtos

I think Emery has run his race,I can’t see a way back because from now one,xhaka will be booed off in every match by our fans.I m not a xhaxka fan myself but Xhaka probably has had enough tbh,I just read that people are even sending death threats to his pregnant wife and the constant weekly abuse he gets,not to mention players like ceballos who had bad games but nothing will be said against them,he is the lightning rod now and it looked like he reached boiling point today…..Raul and Edu should me taking note

Tee

A lot are mad but few are roaming is the case of the retards who go any length to defend this show of shame.Idiots are even praising Emery for substituting the same xhaka he made the captain. Waiting for the usual culprits to tell us it’s because bellerin didn’t play, xhaka is poor, we need to spend another 100s of millions before Emery can be judged.

salparadisenyc

His man management was his undoing at PSG and will be at Arsenal.

terraloon

Un na.

Indeed he was.

Must have been effective because Fulham conceded 81, the most in the league, got relegated and bar Huddersfield who finished bottom they let 11 more goals in than any other team and even Huddersfield let in 5 less.

Ishola70

terraloon

“Must have been effective because Fulham conceded 81”

lol Don

You fucking giraffe.

Un na naai

Terra loon.

One capable dm isn’t going to stop a team like Fulham from conceding goals

Danny

Pedro
You didn’t mention Xhaka removing his shirt and heading straight done the tunnel.
Besides Sanchez pulling shit when substituted, I don’t recall one of our players doing that before.
He must now be finished at the club.

Redtruth

Leno 6
Chambers 6
Sokaratis 7
David Luiz 5
Tierney 6
Xhaka 0
Guendouzi 7
Ceballos 6
Pepe 6
Lacazette 5
Aubameyang 3

Chika

When Xhaka is eventually taken out of the starting eleven and Bellerin returns, I wonder the next excuse the usual idiots will serve.

Nelson

Ishola

For your information. CP starting a counter. The ball was passed to Zaha on the sideline. Chambers was covering Zaha, who kicked the ball forward. It became a one on one between Xhaka and CP’s #18. Xhaka lost and CP scored the 2nd goal.

Chambers was not at fault for this goal.

Ishola70

Emery has been slow cooking Xhaka.

It’s cruel Unai. Cruel.

Ishola70

Nelson

It became a one-on-one with Xhaka defending his goal line lol.

How did it come to that Nelson.

Chambers is meant to defend his flank. He was in another county watching silly Granit trying to do his job.

Champagne charlie

Pedro That’s the question, not about Emery now imo as I think anyone with half a clue realises he’s not going anywhere fast. What we said in the summer about Josh, Edu, Raul and the new brigade is going to be put under a spotlight massively. For me? He goes in December when we’ve lined up Allegri. Not for Freddie at all, he’s Giggsy II. Trouble is, I think Emery’s interview where he condemns Xhaka is his first step toward proper self preservation, going with fan consensus etc and if he does that he’ll get over the winter hump and… Read more »

Josip Skoblar

Emery is toilet. Fact.

azed

“You know if Jose Mourinho takes over, something I deeply fear, his first agenda item will be to restore Ozil. Instant PR win.”

Pedro

The Ozil situation is way beyond Emery and I’m willing to bet that the next manager would be told to concentrate on young players as Ozil is no longer wanted.

There’s no way Ozil wouldn’t make the cup teams without Edu and Raul talking to Emery.

Emery didn’t know Mhkitaryan was going to be out the day he played for Spurs.
Emery also wanted Monreal for the NLD and overruled.

Nelson

Ishola

You should watch the replay again. Zaha is the danger man. Chambers’s job is to stop Zaha. I am not wasting time on you.

Pierre

Pedro
“You know if Jose Mourinho takes over, something I deeply fear, his first agenda item will be to restore Ozil. Instant PR win.”

And he will focus on his positives and tell fans and media what a quality player he is .

Even if he doesn’t mean it …..clever whereas Emery is dumb.

Ishola70

Nelson

You defend your flank if you are a RB.

In that instance Chambers wasn’t defending his flank.

He is not a first team player anyway and is only covering for Bellerin.

Overall I thought his efforts today were very commendable. Just doesn’t have the overall quality.

Pierre

Azed
“There’s no way Ozil wouldn’t make the cup teams without Edu and Raul talking to Emery.Emery didn’t know Mhkitaryan was going to be out the day he played for Spurs.
Emery also wanted Monreal for the NLD and overruled.”

What’s the point in having a manager, if what you say is true .

Danialtos

Regardless of our football being absolutely painful to watch,I(and someone else I think) said it here last season(and it looked unrealistic) and I will say it again…there needs to be an investigation of referees being bribed ala in Serie A…it is getting ridiculous now,even with VAR the refs are still finding new ways to cheat

Manxgooner

I just think Mourinho has something to prove to the footballing world? Like he would make the point of Turing arsenal around.. this whole emery thing is driving me crazy and even considering Mourinho is not something I’d have ever thought possible. But really, how can it get worse?

terraloon

Pierre

Personally I can’t see the likes of JM wanting to be anywhere near this pile of S**t. But if he did ship up that’s exactly what he would do.

UE is out of his depth he has alienated and confused the players and the reality is unless something changes, and quickly, this season will be gone.

Bamford10

Rambo

“Could you please explain to Le Grove how a ‘more organized, more disciplined Arsenal team’ throws a 2-0 lead at home?”

Sure. What happened today happened because we’re slow, un-athletic and porous in midfield, and because three of our four starting defenders are slow as well.

It did not happen because we are poorly organized or undisciplined, and it definitely didn’t happen because we’re not better organized or more disciplined than we were under Arsene Wenger.

Nelson

Ishola

He was defending the frank. The ball was initially on Zaha’s foot. Chambers couldn’t cover two persons at the same time.

The first goal was Chambers fault. He didn’t defend like a FB. A FB would give up the inside, turned the body to get ready to run with the winger. Instead, Chambers defended like a CB. He stood square to the ball.

Bamford10

Cesc

“He made a very unpopular player who causes the side issues captain.”

He made a player captain who the players themselves elected captain. What are you talking about?

Bamford10

The irony is that while a certain section of Arsenal fans are losing their minds at the moment and calling for Emery’s head, I can pretty much guarantee that neither Edu nor Sanllehi is thinking in this way in the least bit. They might be thinking we need more athleticism in midfield, they may be thinking we need more pace in the back, they might be thinking Xhaka can no longer be in the XI, but there is absolutely no chance they are thinking that Unai Emery needs to be replaced in the morning. I mean that: there is literally… Read more »

Gunnernet

It has become really clear Emery has been affected heavily by criticism. He has lost the plot with ozil now with xhaka. He is really in the ropes now. Just to make it clear granit is a horrible captain and based on his notorious past on both national and club level he doesnt represent the values of the club whatsoever. He shouldnt have been named captain in the first place. However fans stance booing our own players is blatantly wrong. Whoever thinks that by acting like this sends a message has to think twice. It affects all the players on… Read more »

Olu

Before it gets to a point where Top 4 would be out of reach, UE should be let go. He has shown and continues to show that he is not to take Arsenal to the next level. Another Manager with this same team will be challenging for the title.

#EmeryOutNow

Un na naai

No point talking about allegri. It was never going to be allegri

It’s Jose. Guaranteed.

Un na naai

He’s been whoring himself for the job. Was in the directors box Wednesday while the vultures begin to circle for Emery.

Receding Hairline

Champagne Charlie doesn’t want any discussions to veer off how shit Emery is. One could be forgiven to assume those making the decision to fire or carry on with him are on this forum.

Manxgooner

I think the question is, what is emery high on!? Guy is payed absolute wedge for what?

RodneyKing

Great post as always. Arsenal hiring Emery was simply down to us needing to find a way into the Champions League via the Europa League backdoor and he almost pulled it off but that’s history now. I agree that Arsenal should have hired a manager with a “vision” however, in my opinion, that vision, whatever it is, should be defined by the club followed by the club identifying a manager who can help realize said vision. Arsenal stopped being a “big” club (according to none other than Wenger) when we lost Nasri and Fabregas followed by RVP. We haven’t bought… Read more »

terraloon

“Another Manager with this same team will be challenging for the title”

This team is further from challenging for the league than it has been for a while.

Let’s be honest it’s hard to see any of the starting 11 being anywhere near getting into either City or Liverpool’s team and the way Leicester and Chelsea are going I am not sure that other than maybe the odd player any of Arsenals squad would be a guaranteed stater at the current 3rd or 4th place teams.

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