Arsenal: Granit Xhaka scapegoating bringing out the ineptitude

Arsenal fans are a fickle bunch, and they are known for their scapegoating. Granit Xhaka has that unfortunate role now, but my, how undeserved it is.

Arsenal’s loss to Tottenham was an all-encompassing one. Defensively, they were strong, but a relentless assault left them bending. Offensively, they were toothless. It was a poor effort all around. But for some, that isn’t enough. They have to point to someone in particular and that someone is, as always, Granit Xhaka.

I get what it’s like to have biases. I am not fond of Alex Iwobi and I tend to pick out every little thing he does wrong. But I am also willing to hand him an “attaboy” when he does something right and most Granit Xhaka haters aren’t willing to do that.

Which are the type of people that really need to reassess their anger. Xhaka isn’t a perfect player. No one is. Obviously. But if you want to scapegoat him as the reason behind all of our troubles, you are seriously oversimplifying a complex issue and picking on a perfectly viable player that in no way deserves it.

Of course he shares part of the blame. There aren’t really many players right now that can exempt themselves from the perpetual blame game after any given loss. But against Tottenham in particular, Xhaka made one major mistake, and that mistake did not come back to hurt them.

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He let Dele Alli run unchecked behind him in the 70th minute. In his defense (because yes, there is one), he was far enough up on the pitch that he had every right to assume that someone was stationed behind him. He still should have checked the run, granted, but I can actually understand it this time.

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Other than that, he was an effective distributor of the ball. He passed forward. He played smart passes, even the short ones that tend to plague him. He was a controlling force in a game that drastically lacked any controlling factor for the Gunners.

Now, he wasn’t enough to control the game, as should be obvious by the result, but is it his fault for upholding his end of the bargain when no one else upheld theirs? This was not a game that could be controlled in the first place.

Only Shkodran Mustafi completed more defensive actions in a game where this team was under siege for the gross majority of it. He completed 94% of his passes, higher than anyone else on the team, including centerbacks. Only Moussa Dembele had a higher percentage on the entire pitch (96%).

Xhaka completed all six of his attempted longballs, too.

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But you won’t here the anti-Xhaka agenda talk about what he did do right, only what he didn’t do. He didn’t check Alli’s run. He misplayed a pass or two. That was not his game. This was a really strong effort from the Swiss and I hate that so few are able to see that.