The Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka was given a straight red card in Arsenal’s 5-0 defeat at Man City at the weekend, but the Swiss captain doesn’t feel like he did anything wrong at all as he quite clearly got the ball.
At the time the Gunners were already 2-0 down, so he could hardly be blamed for the defeat, but there were quite a few Arsenal fans that felt it was a crazy attempt and the captain should not be risking leaving his team with only ten men on the pitch.
Xhaka, though, was obviously not in the mood to apologise…. “After such a false start, you get criticised. That’s normal and part of it. Every player has to accept that,” he told Keystone – SDA, transcribed by Bluewin.
“About the red card: brutally surprising! In connection with the Premier League, people often talk about English toughness.
“I hit the ball 100 per cent and got a red. The pictures were not checked by the VAR. I’ve seen tougher tackles that weren’t even assessed as a foul.
“Am I prejudiced against? I don’t know – I don’t want to judge. I’m not going to let it drive me crazy. I can’t undo anything anyway. All I can do is look ahead.”
This is a little worrying in my eyes.
This is not the first time that Xhaka has got red cards for challenges like this, and all footballers should know by now that any two-footed, off-the-floor challenge is a clear red in any referees eyes.
What is more worrying to me is that Xhaka has no remorse…
😂😂 it’s likely that after this season xhaka will become our captain full time
Bellerin gone
Lacazette leaving after this season
Auba will have one year left in his deal and arsenal will definitely take anything for him while getting him off the wage bill…
It’s likely that if arteta some how manages to get past this season sorting out the attack will be high on his priority….
Then we are left with captain xhaka as the alpha captain of the ship
I can’t be angry anymore i just try to take things the way it is
Doubt Xhaka will be made club captain again.
Slated for his gesture to the crowd.
All but on the plane to Italy.
Much older than the new profile player
and likely to be replaced by Partey and some one like Bissouma next summer.
Game day skipper some time this season. Yes.
Ben White is prime real estate to be captain because he is young + plays at CB.
An English skipper at Arsenal is long overdue.
It’s most unlikely to strip him off the captaincy in the absence of auba,laca and bellerin…
Ben white will have to be exceptional this season to even warrant a mention Tierney is a far more qualified candidate as it stands
Pepe got a red card and he was made to apologize xhaka got a red and gets a pat on the back
It’s a team thing.
Arsenal was being over run time and time again by a far superior outfit. Xhaka was thus caught out of his comfort zone too often and lost his rag.
As the season goes by Arsenal will rarely be over run like we were at Citeh. .
If our frontline could score more opponents will have more numbers in defense so Xhaka will be more able to stay within manageable parameters.
Don’t fool yourself because xhaka has been here long enough for you to start telling us what to expect and what not to expect from xhaka
Xhaka= errors leading to goal, red cards, and sideways passes
Are you not tired of making excuses after excuse most people are beginning to see you as a 😨
People talk like Xhaka is sent off every day.
Xhaka has played 161 Premier League games.
In that time he got red carded just four times.
So once every 40 games or less than
once per PL season on average.
Most folk don’t let the facts or the evidence
get in the way of their opinion 🙂
Yes he has 4 red cards and 9 Errors leading to goal without any highlight reel in an arsenal jersey at least i still remember guendouzi for his villa horioc, luiz had many man of the match performances where he ran the show so are many other decent players From now and in the past
Just 4 red cards and that’s ok by your reckoning
How about when he score sometimes don’t hate the players hate the game
The man is a joke awful player
Slow cannot tackle and has poor vision
Spot on, but like someone else said ” I’m so freakin tired”. Someone who isn’t there for the team ,continually makes the same mistakes, wrong shoulder of the defender, always has terrible positioning ,and then sticks the leg out or mindlessly barges people over ,sideways pass? “The king of the back pass invariably always shaky in possession I’m sorry this guy is a German league guy ,slow ,unimaginative , and no vision ….and we resign him? People who cannot conform ,people who are lazy , who you have to beg to run, to make an effort People who make the same mistakes over and over again and don’t show a capacity to learn CANNOT BE CAPTAIN an absolute joke.
Arsenal fans need to step back & reflect their view on Xhaka & especially this tackle. His tackle was 50/50 & many times especially if it is an English player then it is not even yellow. He is our best MF in the current team at least until Partey proves himself. He may not be one of the top MFs but very decent team player. It is not his fault that Arsenal hasn’t bought better players in MF. So fans should stop over the top criticism.It doesn’t help him & affects the team.
Pogba made a similar tackle the next day and manure got a goal from it yes there’s absolute prejudice there
No matter how much he tries to justify it, he’s one of the overrated players in Arsenal. Xhaka and Arteta do not deserve to be in Arsenal.
It’s a blessing in disguise that he got a red card. Atleast in the next coming game, he won’t feature
It’s standard practice for him not to own up and apologies. I think it’s widely accepted he won’t learn from his mistakes, would be surprised if he is not sent off again this season but Arteta has a blind spot with him and that he is seen as the leader of this team doesn’t bode well for the foreseeable future
I will not stand directly by xhaka on this one but I will be honest… There are more robust tacklers in this league who go full blown and are not punished in same regard( apologies for name check but look at hojberg, McCarthy of palace)… I oppose that notion that all two footed tackles are red cards…best I know is getting the man gives a red, but dangerous attempt but getting the ball serves a yellow… Xhaka should have been yellow carded… By the way did anyone see Mendy’s kick out on Henderson…please refree decision is poor lately
Especially when it comes to Arsenal
What remorse? it was never a red card offense, truth be told
Referees have historically caused problems by being inconsistent in the decisions that they make. This then leads to so much whataboutery.
Xhaka’s challenge endangered an opponent and was duly a red card. It was almost universally supported by the referees, pundits etc.
Pogba endangered an opponent, play carried on. Referees, pundits etc. made all sorts of excuses.
This was also not the only “offence” that went unpunished over the weekend.
The lack of consistency and fairness is a problem. How often do you hear pundits/commentators saying things like “he’s not that kind of player”. This should obviously be irrelevant to the decision but it does seem that in some cases the referees do take account of a player’s reputation as similar offences can lead to different or no punishment.
I also suspect that but for Xhaka’s reputation there would have been more support for him as he did indeed get the ball not the player.
xhaka has learned how to tell entruths from the greatest master of them all, arsene wenger.so, i suppose it rubs on xhaka when he claims his innocence .why cant he just own up to the fact that is was a lousy tackle, take his punishment, and,move on. but no, he has to claim innocence, but as we all know, the camera does not lie, not even for a pupil of the professor of untruth .move on granit, in every sense ,please.
In every sence please move on from wenger pleas
Kudos to you GERRY!!!
Please don’t appeal the red card. Nobody wants to see him in our next three matches🙏
It used to be that if you appeal against a red card and it was rejected the ban then became 4 games, I’m all for the appeal 🤣🤣🤣 just keep appealing till he is out for the season 😀
Arteta will have the last laugh. Arsenal now has a rb… expect better football
So nothing about the lack of midfield or lack of goals, it’s all down to not having a RB, that is so funny, you keep making apologies for Arteta, the rest of us can see what is happening, an unknown from Italy
A team will only score goals if it is a proper cog..one of the major issues hitting us aside injuries to partey is a proper right back.
Peace
I agree there is prejudice over Xhaka.
Rubbish, it is about his attitude and his lack of basic tackling, he is a fool and needs to go
Two footed with spikes showing on both feet; it’s almost an automatic red.
The fact that Xhaka is habitual with these tackles/fouls is alarming, and Arteta has never punished or corrected these is concerning.
But hey, at least he didn’t grab someone’s throat or give fans the finger.
Baby steps my friends, baby steps
Diving in with both feet off the floor and he pleads innocence. What a twonk!
Xhaka is not even worth debating anymore. He epitomises what Arsenal is all about!!!!!!!
👍. dont see the point either. he adds nothing to this team anyways. less games he plays for us the better.
Yes,
i hv heard arsenal fans Say; take a card for the team.
11 red cards in his career, the man is a clown, refusing to apologise, he needs to go because he is a liability and Arteta the clown for keeping him, this is the reason we will remain a mid table team
If we drop our identity emotions and look at Xhaka’s red cards for a moment, a pattern emerges. Xhaka’s cards remind me of corrupt police officers in Jamaica who like to target taxi drivers and persons who drive European cars to hustle money. These drivers are at different ends of the SES scale, but are the core victims of police hustle. The corrupt traffic cops are the most aggressive or active. The clean cops are mature and they are very lenient – except to annoying law-breaking taxi drivers.
People pretend that only the clean cops exist in the premier league; and that all teams and players are treated without prejudice. This is why the discussions are so scattered. A lot of the referees are motivated by impulses other than the fairness of football. Xhaka would be a taxi driver in Jamaica. He is annoying and arrogant. He is not liked by the clean cops and the prejudiced and hustling cops. He also does not play for a team that has a history of brown paper bags. Kante would be a European car. His fouls are fancy and effective. I watched him endanger the lives of 3 players in a single game and walked away without a single card. Xhaka would have done the same damage loud and angry looking like a Jamaican Taxi driver.
The premier league and its prejudices against Arsenal and taxi driver Xhaka will not change – we can. We need to get a luxury car type midfielder like Santi. He was not only creative but could foul like Kante and get away with it. We have to adapt to the game. It is not a clean one; but moping that it is not will not help. If you cannot change the game, change the players.