It’s been overshadowed by the Xhaka situation and VAR controversy, but Zaha went out of way at the weekend to prove that Arsenal should have gone that extra mile to sign him.
The winger has been criticised by his own supporters this season of not being his usual self, while admitting during the last international break how it affected him mentally to miss out on his ‘ dream move’. So, it’s no coincidence that on Sunday he seemed to have that extra motivation to make an impact.
When Guendouzi stopped him from hitting us on the break with seconds to go you could see his frustration, this was a man who had something to prove. The irony being that he became even less popular with gooners after winning a penalty. At one point many, including the referee, thought he had dived, something he was accused of doing against us at Selhurst Park a year ago.
To add to how football fans think they can act how they want in the confines of a football match, the Ivorian received death threats over that.
That’s right, the same group of people upset that Xhaka swore at after being sworn at himself, would be more than happy for Zaha to play for us, even though he received death threats for wearing a different coloured shirt. What’s crazier, Xhaka swearing back makes more headlines, or Zaha would still want to be employed by a club whose fans could act that way?
My point is he was far more effective then Pepe. Pepe might be looking at the Xhaka situation this morning wondering how long until his ‘ fans’ turn on him, I’m sure Mustafi would have some stories to tell?
For younger fans, we never used to be that way, we used to be a family. Our support allowed the likes of Henry, Pires, Bergkamp, etc to try incredible things without the fear of getting it wrong and leading to being trolled. This isn’t to argue that Zaha should replace Pepe, more a case of surely he could only help us. Emery’s too negative to know how to deal with an attack of Auba, Laca, Pepe and Zaha.
Yet you want to know why we are going backwards? You want to know our biggest flaw? A Chelsea or one of the Manchester clubs would have found the extra money to buy a player who said, ‘come and get me.’ Given the events of the last 4 months, they would have convinced themselves to table a January bid.
What’s the betting we don’t?
Dan Smith