Granit Xhaka makes too many mistakes and doesn’t learn according to Gary Neville
Granit Xhaka may have angered Arsenal fans because of his reaction to being booed over the weekend, but Gary Neville believes that is not the biggest problem with the midfielder.
Xhaka was named Arsenal’s captain earlier in the season to the surprise of many fans. Most believe he isn’t even good enough to be starting games for them, and Gary Neville agrees with them.
Neville reckons Arsenal fans may have problem with Xhaka’s attitude, but his performances on the field are even more dreadful.
Too many mistakes
In a ruthless assessment, Neville claims Xhaka makes too many mistakes and struggles to enjoy watching him play.
“He is the least-experienced experienced player I’ve ever seen, he doesn’t seem to learn. I’ve never known a player commit the same mistakes game after the game. He’s riddled with ill-discipline.
“He doesn’t lead in any way shape or form on the pitch, other than the fact he does seem to give his all and does, to be fair, fight for the team.
“I don’t have a problem with an incident like on Sunday. That can happen in football with passion, emotion, intention and ill-discipline.
“I’ve seen those types of things happen at United over the years where you can have a spat with fans. It’s never nice to watch, but as long as you apologise, you can never really come out of these situations unless you apologise to the fans.
“But from a Xhaka point of view, he commits hundreds of fouls every match, he gets a yellow or red card every time I watch him, it feels like, and his performance levels are poor for Arsenal.
“That’s my biggest problem with him, not really the incident on Sunday. I have a problem more with the way he plays for Arsenal than the odd bit of tension between him and the fans.
“bless him”
The events on Sunday have reportedly had a huge emotional effect on Xhaka, to which Neville responded “Has it? Bless him.
“After the game the press department, manager and directors should have grabbed him and said. ‘let’s be clear here, you’re going out there and you have to apologise. Just get it over and done with.
“But he didn’t do that.”
Neville is not the only one who questions Xhaka’s abilities, the fans are hardly impressed either.
Xhaka remains one player that gets stick from the fans almost every other week. It is also bewildering for those fans that Xhaka plays and Mesut Ozil does not..
It will be interesting to see how his career develops with so many fans not wanting him to remain as club captain.
On a personal level, Neville has gone over the top in my opinion. For starters the words “Has it? Bless him” I found inappropriate, especially with so much emphasis on mental health.
Put it this way, Pep Guardiola calls Xhaka an incredible player, Neville basically says the exact opposite.
Who do you agree with, Guardiola or Neville?