Arsenal: Granit Xhaka the sleeping giant that needs a wake up call

Arsenal put in a shocker against Swansea City, but none were more shocking than Granit Xhaka. There only one way to wake this sleeper.

Every single goal that Swansea scored, and they scored far too many, stemmed from them pressuring an Arsenal player into making a mistake through sheer tenacity and then pouncing on them and knocking it home. It’s a simple strategy. The Gunners massively lack any sense of urgency to counter it.

For the first goal, however, we saw Granit Xhaka do something that has become all too common with him. He fell asleep.

Now, before I get to into this, let me pen a disclosure. As many of you know, I am a major Granit Xhaka believer. I have seen what he is capable of and will testify to his strengths all damn day. There are just a couple niggling fixes needed to his game, but those couple niggling fixes are literally tethering him to mediocrity, where he absolutely does not belong with the skills that he has.

Xhaka falls asleep on defense. It’s happened before, it will happen again. More times than not, it ends up with the opposition scoring, because of course it would.

Eventually you have to wake this lad up. You can’t allow a player who is capable of so much continue to deteriorate before your eyes to the point that he is unrecognizable for his strengths anymore.

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All of the positive things Xhaka does get overshadowed by his inability to stay awake. It sounds asinine, but I can’t think of any other way to put it. He has a brilliant footballing brain and the passing ability of at least a demi-god, but he’s been making these same mistakes like he’s sleep-walking through them for months now. And he is long overdue for a wake-up call.

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There is only one way to wake a sleeping giant in the Premier League. You have to bench him. You have to drive home the point that these mistakes are not acceptable, even in the wake of everything he is doing right. Theses recurring mistakes, I should say.

It’s kind of like the “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” If he messes up once, maybe twice, fine, shame on him, but stick with it. But if he’s making the same mistakes over and over then do you keep blaming him or do you blame the man who can’t seem to drive the point home, Arsene Wenger?

I will continue to believe that Xhaka has a long-term future at this club, but not if you aren’t willing to give him a lesson of life – that if you do not do your job correctly, then someone else will be given a chance.

I never thought I’d say this, but drop Xhaka. Drop him until a time when you feel confident to see if he has learned his lesson. I have been adamant that he not be dropped in the past, but these mistakes have to stop.

It’s like the first thing you learn in parenting. Teach a child from an early age what is right and what is wrong, because if you don’t, then they have no bearing. They keep doing what is wrong because no one ever stopped them. Xhaka has been dropped before, and when he came back he was better. Much better. He cut out the disciplinary problems and then some.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Swansea City

Don’t ruin Granit Xhaka by not being willing to make a hard decision. He could not have an ounce of beef if her were dropped. And given that he is a professional, you can bet he would take it to heart and look to improve from it.