Maybe we were harsh on Xhaka – New video reveals new angle

It’s probably a lesson in life as I have always been taught that ‘the camera never lies’. but now it should be changed to “you can’t believe everything you see?

If you saw the video earlier, it looked like Xhaka just ducked when he saw the ball coming towards him, but in this new video (how does everyone have so many angles?), it looks like he was in the right position to head the ball, but once he prepared for it, the ball ricocheted of Sokratis! After seeing this I hope you will all be a little less critical of our captain.

I was out of order earlier but now I have to eat my words….

Maybe we should all have an open mind more often before criticizing on very little evidence? Just a thought…

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65 Comments

  1. It’s not that. When I saw the lineup and saw Torreira, Guendouzi and Xhaka, I thought to myself “Where’s the creativity?”. It was two defensive or too negative

    It’s that we didn’t need 3 defensive type midfielders.
    We needed more creativity to get the most out of our wingers and striker ie. Ceballos, Wilock

    I would have preferred:

    Torreira/Guendz..Ceballos..Wilock

    Or

    Torreira..Ceballos..Guendouzi

      1. Apologies or not

        Why always xaka?..no apologies needed imo, is he unfortunate and badly blamed..or hes very good and perfect at finding himself at the wrong place at the wrong time

        Does he place himself there?
        Why is our defence trash? Like why kolas hand moved towards the ball?..

        Why do we have to be relieved a penalty wasn’t given..wer lucy it was john moss who blew..

        Simple thing is you people have to learn to raise your standard..stop being woke or polite or what ever..what’s no good enough isn’t good enough…

        Xaka isn’t good
        Our defence is trash
        Fortune favours the brave and confident…

        Ferguson was a brave man…and fortune was always on their side..

        Guendozi isnt All that bit his passion is carrying him on

  2. but we still supposed to win this match againts floppy MU..why can’t we win? wrong team selection again??

  3. A let off for Xhaka? Maybe.

    What about the yellow card late in the game? I think he needs to get these things out of his game. Taking one for the team?

    Emery needs to be bolder in his approach to games. He clearly is showing too much respect to teams, big or small.

    Arsenal appears to be a bit too timid in my opinion and needs to take it to teams. We pack a bit of creative edge to our midfield and it is holding the team back.

    1. With General coward putting captain scared sh*tless in charge of the team what do you think we are going to be getting? Cowardly scared football is now our new identity that is what this spineless manager and his wimp captain are force feeding us, he has stated that we have to get used his coward style of play

      1. Spot on Akan. Will Emery ever pick a team that plays to OUR strengths?
        Don’t hold your breath!

        He’d much rather pick a team which tries to ‘contain’ the opposition. Top six team or bottom of the league, it doesn’t matter, he’s terrified of them all.

        BTW if you carry on telling it like it is, instead of looking through the rose tinted glasses worn by many others, you’re going to be criticised. In fact I see you’ve already collected a pair of numpties to get you started 🙂 Such fun!

        1. Gunner Jack, the article was specific in detail, showing Xhaka was not ducking out of the way – point proven.

          Can I suggest you now write an article voicing you legitimate concerns about UE…you will get my 100% support on the subject, I’m pretty certain.

          If I was admin, I wouldn’t bother trying to clear up a controversial issue, as it seems no-one can be bothered to stick to the specific subject…well done admin and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to admit I was wrong.

          1. Ken I think an article about Emery would be overkill – so much has been said about him already. In fact I do feel sorry for him at times as he seems bewildered as to why things are not really working out. It may seem obvious to some of us but it seems he’s almost desperately clinging to the players he thinks will help – and they constantly let him down.

            Besides that, articles tend to show up on such sites as ‘Newsnow’ and I would not like to add to his worries… rather I would like to help him.

            I’m hoping he’s learning about life in the EPL, about what his best team is, and then having the willingness to play that team WHOEVER we are playing.

            I really hope he will improve soon so I can say good things. I’m rarely downbeat so even I get fed up with my constant criticisms! 🙂

  4. Humbled.
    Wow I was screaming at the tv calling him all the names for ducking I was wrong and owe him respect. To later find out he was actually trying to head the ball before it took a deflection. I stand humbled I actually thought he made some great passes today maybe just maybe there is hope yet. And our rushes to judgement should sometimes be checked but Pepe is shit what a waste of money another Joe Campbell no control and can’t shoot for shit I don’t think he is gonna come good.

    1. Send pepe back and demand a refund we were duped that’s why they agreed long time instalments take him back saka was the better player there

  5. Is there a way for us to write to Emery directly and let him know how we feel about his team selection & tactics? Somewhere he actually reads the messages from our supporters…

  6. Personally, I think he doesn’t use this midfield often enough. Guendouzi and Xhaka have the passing range to get the ball to the forwards. The three forwards can fend for themselves with the help of fullbacks. That midfield can just work on pressing and winning possession back.
    Let’s be honest. When it comes to passing, Ozil just keeps doing the same things Xhaka is doing. Looking for a winger / fullback with a pass in behind the opposing fullback, Guendouzi does the ball holding I’m expecting of Ceballos and drives the ball forward at feet.
    The mistake maybe was taking off Torreira for Ceballos then Saka for willock. I would have thought Saka for Ceballos would have been more effective keeping the middle more solid.

      1. What exactly were you expecting of him? What was Torreira’s contribution? If you say Xhaka did nada, you could say the same about torreira. They were both silently effective and kept their games simple

        1. Spot on Joe, if we are going to criticise xhaka like we all do, then do same for the whole midfield cos that was our weakest area yesterday..

          Auba seriously needs a top creative midfielder which we ain’t got at the moment

          1. Not quite true Ike John. We do have creative midfielders. Problem is Emery doesn’t like to play them. He’d rather play what he calls ‘runner/pressers’.

        1. @Callum: please watch Xhaka’s first half again and spot 3 positive things he did..
          He’s a fine player, but has proven time and time and time again he is not up to the task in different Arsenal teams.

      2. Unai’s game plan was to avoid embarrassment, avoid another 8-2, so he played safe with 3 CDMs, somehow it worked, we did not get spanked. I feel the line up was OK for an away match with so much history. The substitutions were bad. The pairing of the central lunatics continues, so Unai should take responsibility, Pepe is turning out to be a waste of space, not Unai’s fault, the Board signed him. Sako is making the left wing his own and that was a good talking point.Overall, I am OK with a draw, fourth as of now,six teams are separated by a single point,the road ahead will get tough and I do not see an adventurous Unai taking risks and playing attacking football. So let us focus of EL and the FA cups and the League Cup for the fringe players.That will still be a successful season and next year we target the league with a new manager.

    1. Xhaka may not be the best player on the pitch it’s just that we are all putting him under a microscope looking for a mistake.. If you go looking for a mistake you’ll sure find it.. Let’s be a little positive with Xhaka..

    1. Yes Akan but saying he’s better than Xhaka means nothing really as everyone’s better than Xhaka.

  7. Arsenal for all the criticism whether positive or negative does have a fantastic team compared to the previous couple of years but are not playing a free flowing decent Football that Arsenal is familiar with and that is causing frustration among the loyal fans. The fans who think they are very smart justify by using either Xhaka or OZIL even when he is not played .

    1. Be careful Jon the missing FOX, accusations like that about Ozil will give you the label of a clown.

      The one player who MIGHT just bring back decent flowing football was left at home by the headmaster…and yet it seems no-one seems to put two and two together.

  8. What is wrong???
    we went to Man U and got a deserved draw.
    I like Emery’s selection as we contained them extremely well.
    Utd. got a goal from stupid over-commitment on a corner. Something both players and UE must take the blame for.
    Other than that, they had 2 good chances from Guendouzi loosing the ball in dangerous positions and they had a great chance from a corner. Other than that they had nothing.
    We scored a goal thanks to we finally were good at pressing, and we created 3 huge chances. Unfortunately, Torreira, Saka and Nelson couldn’t convert.
    This is how, we potentially can finish in one of the top posisitions in the league. Getting draws away to the other top teams and hopefully play a bit more adventorous against lower ranked teams.

  9. Had we used MO10, we would have lost the match, plain and simple.
    If he could not control the Forest game, what would that feeble chap do against MU?
    Fans criticize Unai, but he is bang on target with reference to Ozil. Please realize that Ozil has past his prime and is not suitable for a Physical league like the EPL, maybe France or Spain.He has retired from international football so has no drive or passion left to impress national selectors.If he had any self respect, he would have gone on loan to revive his career like Sanchez or Lukaku or even Mkhitaryan. He is a fringe player suitable for Europa or League cup games against lower ranked teams.His wages do not make him look poor, his commitment and performances make him look poor.

  10. This is officially the worst man utd team in 30 years and there are still those who reduce this shambolic performance to be happy we got a point against a top team … They aren’t … I missed the xhaka ducking out incident .. But I ‘s irrelevant … He’s a footballing bug whose ineptitude infects the whole team … The combo of kronke as owner Emery as manager and him as captain means the team is devoid of spirit vision and leadership … Sadly there seems little chance of change which means another 7 months of dreary football endless frustration and glimmers of hope (such as saka yesterday)… The gunners are dead long live the gunners!!

  11. I’m amused as to how people still trot out excuses for Emery and Xhaka, despite all of us seeing the same match. Xhaka was useless majority of the time, and commited some daft fouls too. Less said about Emery’s team selection and substitutions, the better.

    1. Who cares about those facts, Sue? Excuse brigade are thrilled we won a point yesterday. Welcome to the new world order.

      1. Shocking really, Viju. It’s been a crazy season so far, as results go.. but nothing has changed in this fixture! I keep reading how poor United are.. they lost to Palace at home (like us last season) they lost to West Ham away (like us last season) ☹
        So our wait for 3 points goes on…….

  12. All i observe from most comment here:
    1. Some ppl are furious with coach way of handling their favourite players
    2. Some are addicted to Wenger tikitaka and are disapointed we are not playing that way yet
    3. Some are just joining badwagon
    Either we played united u-23 squard or the real squard, all i know is, we played Man Utd at OT and came away with a draw. Playing possesion game would have gotten us beaten, that was utd expectation and the reason the entire game look boring, utd didnt want to play us but intend to seat back and hit us on the counter, we tried to do same, they were better than us at counter and so we went behind

    1. Adajim, are you truly happy on how things are looking at Arsenal at the moment, are we playing better, are our results better.
      Are our players really bad
      Have the board spent enough money
      Do you think the money spent is reflecting on the team’s performances
      Do you think we have a good defensive tactics
      Do you think we concede less goals
      Do you think we are on the upwards. These are questions you should ask yourself because if these answers are negative, then fans will have every right to question the management (for me have invested), if management has invested then the responsibility rest on the coach. These players can perform better, Arsenal can become better, we don’t need tiki_taka football. WE WANT RESULT!!!!! You will find plenty of bad wagon when results are shambles

  13. When emery first signed, i said i dont want him because of his records. Then, someone pointed out that emerys got three europas on the trot. Me said “Emery won ZERO away wins” and a total of TEN loses . I hate to say this but I was right in being critical of emerys away record. Last season was his free pass , but he needs to get his act together or it wont be long before “Emery OUT” banners fly.

    1. Hi Sue – no need to ask Roy. I think many on here already know that Emery does not pick teams on the basis of their ability to WIN.

      What he seems to do instead is concentrate all his energies on selecting teams that he thinks will not LOSE.

      This outlook has the byproduct of forcing him to concentrate on our OPPONENTS strengths and OUR weaknesses. A decent manager would reverse this mind set.

      Freddie would do that I believe so time the baton was passed as we need someone with a far more POSITIVE OUTLOOK i.e. ‘Let’s go out there and batter these b******s from start to finish . . . and don’t stop when we’ve put five past them, go for ten!’ instead of the usual feeble ‘Let’s go out there and hope we can stop them from scoring.’

      Because so far that outlook has not worked. Well that’s how I see it anyway.

        1. Sue I’m afraid that’s why I sometimes go over the top with my criticisms – pure frustration as you said. I was convinced (still am) that we had the players to stuff Man U and we didn’t take that chance. My frustration with our manager boileth over! Really hope he sees that the players he’s being relying on are not working for him. Then we can start saying good stuff!

          1. What annoys me is, after the game, when certain players come out with ridiculous statements – we were scared… or we were happy with a point..
            I seriously doubt that’ll happen, GJ… certain players are picked week in week out no matter how awful & costly they are! And one day, as usual, we’ll rue these dropped points!

  14. Just another camera angle proving the camera can lie. He ducked out of the shot and is quite rightly being pilloried for it. He even admitted being scared of Watford. Former captains like Adams would have let it hit his face and break his nose if necessary to take one for the team.

  15. @Sue “Maybe we should have asked Roy Hodgson for some advice on how you go to OT and win”
    Better not ask Woy how England should beat Iceland though 🙂 🤔

  16. A different camera angle proves nothing. Yes it looked like he tried to flick it away but Adams would have let the ball hit him in the face and get knocked out if necessary. But then again captain Xhaka is scared of Watford so a ball in the face is unthinkable.

  17. It’s confusing to see fans okay with 1 point when Arsenal can field a team that could have brought 3 points easy in yesterday’s match. Baffling really.

  18. I was not in at Old Trafford. But from where I was I saw Xhaka DUUUUCCKKING. He should have headed the ball.
    SOkrates also decided to fall down but far away from Mctomney. He should have gone closer a bit to get a deflection.
    Xhaka ducked. He knows it very well why he did to aide that goal.

  19. Xhaka should have done everything to try to get that ball except duck. He is just not good enough in any way and slows our game down. After the Watford game I lost faith in Emery. His team choices always surprises me for the worse. He’s not the MAN. That’s the truth.

  20. He tried to head the ball rather than put his face to it, look at it this way, Leno further back with more reaction time had stayed rooted to spot and just looked to the right of his goal, he didn’t even lean that way to make an effort. The only way Xhaka was going to get a head on that ball is by putting his head forward and the ball heading in that direction, I think the ball might have took the slightest deflection of Sok too and it was that that took it slightly away from Xhaka. Slow motion, you could see in real time that there was no time to react and it was either head or face or nothing at all, most time a first reaction will be ..not the face. When it does hit the face it is not by choice, it is the player not having enough time to react.

  21. Camera’s almost always lie.. It was sokratis who should have blocked it. Can’t believe Xhaka’s performance again. Is there still a fan who believes in him?!

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