Michael Owen sides with Granit Xhaka and accuses Arsenal fans of double standards.
The former England international has criticised the Arsenal fans after they booed off their captain, Granit Xhaka at the weekend.
The Gunners were frustrated after their team blew away a two-goal lead and took it out on the Swiss midfielder as he was substituted off the field.
Xhaka didn’t take the incident lightly and cupped his ears at the Emirates’ crowd before swearing at them.
He has come under fire by several fans, club legends, and soccer pundits, but Owen seems to think the problems are with the club’s fans, not the player.
To Owen, if the fans want the players to do well on the field of play, they should support them in good and bad times and not turning against them when the going gets tough.
He tweeted: “About time somebody went against the grain.
“Is Xhaka a great player? No.
“Should he react like that? No.
“But if 60,000 fans boo you off? Where’s the unity?
“Expect him to die for the shirt one minute then walk off to a cauldron of hatred the next? #DoubleStandards.”
Understandably, fans have become a lot more impatient with their footballers recently. While there is no single explanation for this, players earn lots of trust from the fans when the season begins and when they begin to perform below par, the players should expect to get some stick from those taking out time to support them.
It is the scale and manner of the fans unhappiness at a player that is the debating point.