Souness slams Arsenal star who ‘neglected the basics at times’

Graeme Souness has slammed Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka for getting himself his latest yellow card, which may well have cost his side a place in the Euro 2020 semi-final stage.

Switzerland pulled off an amazing comeback to overturn a 3-1 deficit late into their round of 16 clash with France, with Xhaka teeing up Haris Seferovic late on to send the match into extra time, before going onto win the tie on penalties. Unfortunately for Xhaka however, he also picked up a yellow card during that matchup, resulting in him being banned from the quarter-final against Spain, which ultimately went to penalties also. Switzerland were not so lucky this time around however…

Souness has now slammed Xhaka overall, insisting that he has never been a fan of the 28 year-old, who he claims should have learned better by his current age.

Souness told ITV(via the Metro): ‘Don’t ask me.

‘This guy got booked 42 times in five seasons for Arsenal. At his age, you’d think he would learn not to get himself in trouble.

‘It was the same coming from German football he got booked there all the time. I’ve never fancied him when I’ve watched him at Arsenal, he never did it for me his decision making.

‘Yeah he was good enough on the ball but he neglected the basics at times for me.’

Whether Xhaka would have been able to help Switzerland to overcome the Spanish will have to remain unknown, but I believe many Gunners fans have the same issues with the midfielder, and some sections will certainly feel a little relieved if he does depart this summer as has been rumoured, with the Metro also stating he is ‘edging closer’ to a Roma move.

Patrick

Tags Graeme Souness Granit Xhaka

10 Comments

  1. Grossly overated player, what has he done for Arsenal while he was here ? NOTHING! Only for himself. A total fraud of a player and not prem standard at all. Would never play for any other top EIGHT club.

    1. Do you seriously read anything you write?

      I’ve never been a huge fan of the Swiss man
      but accusing him of being “A Fraud” of a
      player is ridiculous and quite frankly
      unbecoming of a supposed Arsenal fan.

      You can do much better…

      1. Yes he is a fraud of a player, cant dribble, cant tackle, a yellow card waiting to happen, cant run and plays 95% safe balls backwards. Yes a fraud of a player. I dont rate him at all.

          1. JI I dont know what fraud site that is from but the only team of the year that matters is PFA and xhaka obviously got knowhere near that. I have always said and you can go back and look. Xhaka passes backwards more that any player, to keep his passing stats up. That doesn’t make him a good player and people like Souness and Keane know that. They can see his flaws.

        1. Your description of Xhaka is so accurate with nothing more to add.
          If was a coach he can’t even be a ball boy talk less of being a player in my team.

  2. I wouldn’t call him a fraud, he never misrepresented himself, he never claimed to be something he wasn’t.

    He sits back, recycles the play, and keeps things ticking; no more no less.

    He won’t dribble through the midfield, gliding past defenders, creating his own chance to score a goal.

    He is a counter balance; he’s emotionally driven (both good and bad), and plays through teammates because he lacks the skillset and pace to do it himself.

    He is a luxury player, a decent “and one” type, nothing wrong with that, just not a good fit at Arsenal; for us or him.

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