Arsenal: Granit Xhaka Ill-Discipline Has Massive Ramifications

Granit Xhaka is suspended for the next four games. His ill-discipline has massive ramifications for him and the Arsenal squad.

Writer’s Note: I will not be touching on Granit Xhaka and his alleged racial abuse of airport staff on Tuesday.

Granit Xhaka’s performance on Sunday epitomised all of why he is such a divisive figure within the Arsenal squad this season. For a little over an hour, he was the best player on the pitch. He showed a wonderful range of passing, controlled the game with great tempo and precision, deliberately looking forwards as often as possible, whilst also being defensively diligent and positionally aware.

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Then, he scuppered all the good will he had built up with a petulant, foolish, overly-aggressive scissored tackle on Steven Defour, immediately after passing the ball right into the Burnley’s midfielder’s leg, rightly seeing red for his actions.

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When asked about the game, and that incident in particular, former Gooner Ian Wright, stated that the Swiss midfielder must learn from his discipline issues, claiming that is hurting and will continue to hurt his team’s chances of winning:

"“When you see his tackle, he is very lax on the ball at the time. He launched himself into it. I don’t think he caught the player as much as it looked like it. It was dangerous. He has to start thinking about that. You can’t afford to go down to 10 men, especially at home where you have to win the game. He has to start learning from the fact that people are constantly pointing the finger and he is reckless.”"

Wright is spot on in his assessment. However, there are more ramifications to Arsenal than merely having to play out the rest of the 90 minutes with only ten men. After receiving a red card earlier in the Premier League campaign – it must be said that this was a harsh decision given it was nothing more than a cynical foul that merited a yellow card – Xhaka will now miss the next four games, including the crucial trip to Stamford Bridge in ten days time.

That leaves Arsenal with just Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey as viable options in central midfield.

The pair, when played alongside one another in recent years, have not been complimentary. Ramsey does not have the technical ability of Santi Cazorla to control play deep in his own half, even when under pressure, while Coquelin relies on a player to overcome his own technical shortcomings.

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Moreover, there is no depth at the position with Mohamed Elneny in Gabon and the aforementioned Cazorla still on the sidelines after undergoing ankle surgery earlier in the year. All in all, Xhaka’s ill-discipline not only nearly cost his team precious points against Burnley on Sunday, but now leaves them desperately short moving forward also. That is why he must learn from his mistakes.