Arsenal: Granit Xhaka Reputation Worth Expanding On

Arsenal “bad boy” Granit Xhaka has made a rising reputation as a card-collector, but isn’t that something that we all wanted to celebrate?

Arsenal had about a decade stretch where they didn’t have a spine in the middle of the pitch. They had no physical presence, no one to step up and make himself known and make the other team feel a bit uncomfortable.

We’d been spoiled by Patrick Vieira and Gilberto SIlva and nothing else would do. Especially not Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini.

The call was clear. Gooners wanted someone who wasn’t afraid to pick up a card or two for the sake of making the opposition a bit uneasy. They made the midfield feel like an unsafe place to be for opponents.

So here comes Granit Xhaka, coming in here, picking up cards, and everyone is complaining that he’s a flop.

On the surface it seems contradictory, but the difference is in motive. Xhaka’s cards have come from his inability to tackle and his impetuousness. Vieira’s came from actually being a hardass.

But now that that distinction has been made, let me say that this reputation that Xhaka is picking up needs to be expanded on because, in the end, I think it can be used as a weapon. Right now, it’s damned inconvenient because he is far more likely to get a yellow card than anyone else in the game (that may be an exaggeration).

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It’s even let to teams trying to provoke the Swiss midfielder into making silly tackles or poor decisions in the hopes of getting him into trouble.

That is where the start of his turnaround can begin. Xhaka is an intelligent midfielder, that’s why Wenger likes him. He can exploit being baited and turn that around on the other team. Of course the idea behind how to do that sounds easier than it is – just stop going for it. Football is as much mental as it is physical and Xhaka clearly has the mental prowess to turn these situations in his favor.

This reputation that is being moaned and groaned about isn’t the end of the world. The guy is 23, he has a fantastic base of talent to build off of and yet he is already being dubbed a bust because he makes a poor tackle or two and refs think it’s an excuse to flip out the card every time.

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This kind of stuff doesn’t last forever. You can’t judge his entire prospectus on a reputation he brought over from Germany.

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