So yet again we have seen an Arsenal player over-react to an opponent, and yet again we now have to do without Granit Xhaka for the next three games after VAR persuaded the ref to change his decision from a yellow to a straight red.
Mohammed Elneny nearly suffered the same fate as well but luckily got away with just a yellow, although the replay saw the Egyptian clearly push both his hands into James Tarkowski’s face. This is what Arteta said when asked by Arsenal.com whether Granit Xhaka’s behaviour was unacceptable. “Absolutely.” he said.
“Yes, but honestly, I think it was unacceptable to do that action, and the players are in a moment that they are so willing to do more and fight more and show how committed they are, to be alive in the game, that on this occasion Granit has overstepped the line.
“It’s another action with Mo that I haven’t seen, but it looks similar. We cannot make those mistakes because they’re the wrong approach to what we’re trying to do.”
So, since Arteta took over, Arsenal have had 7 red cards dished out, and the next highest team opnly has three. If the boss thinks that means the players “are committed”, then its obviously a ploy that is not working when you look at our position on the table.
Arteta’s retaliation was not just “unacceptable” it was totally unneccessary and simply shows that Xhaka is not in control of his actions, or simply doesn’t care what the consequences are. We have seen this far too many times from the Swiss international and it is about time he grew up and accepted some responsibilty. Don’t you think?