Arsenal fans have taken to social media to demand that Granit Xhaka pay the price for his recklessness in today’s Swansea win.
The summer signing did not have his best performance, being at fault for losing the ball to Gylfi Sigurdsson to score Swansea’s first goal, before failing to hit the target with a close range effort, and then he capped his display off by getting sent off.
The midfielder picked up a red card for a deliberate foul on the half-way line, with around 20 minutes left to play, just as his side had lost their two-goal advantage, putting his team-mates under increased pressure.
Arsene Wenger has already come out in the press to claim that the red card was harsh, describing the foul as a ‘dark yellow’, but the masses of Gunners fans clearly think differently.
There were a number of tweets highlighted by TalkSport, with some calling for him to be docked wages for his lack of discipline at such a crucial point in the match.
This anger is rather unusual considering that Arsenal still managed to hold onto the three points despite the Swiss international’s actions, although should Modou Barrow had to have been hauled off after the foul, the attitude could well have been different.
The Swansea star was terrorising Nacho Monreal down our left side for much of the match, and continue to do so following the red card, and should he have been taken out of the game permanently, our final 20 minutes may well have been less stressful.
I’m not condoning his actions, but he clearly intended to stop our opponents from breaking quickly, as he was simply too far from the ball not to get a straight red for his actions.
Does Xhaka deserve to be docked two weeks wages for his actions? Did he target Barrow specifically?
Pat J