Arsenal: Granit Xhaka spite may be the deciding factor

Arsenal fans, as a majority, don’t like Granit Xhaka. Is this why in the the wake of complacency, he is the only one performing to an acceptable level?

Yes, I am a huge fan of Granit Xhaka and think you could build the Arsenal midfield around him. But that isn’t what I’m here to talk to you about (not today anyway; try again tomorrow). What I am here to talk to you about today is a theory I conjured up, since I actually spend a lot of time thinking about Xhaka and the aura that he currently has in North London.

I have been unabashedly pro-Xhaka in an attempt to balance out all the ridiculous hatred that comes his way. Sometimes I do so even against my own criticisms of him (believe it or not).

Yet, in these past three matches, the criticism has been dulled down. People are actually acknowledging that Xhaka has been playing at a higher level than the other players in the team. How odd, no?

I was pleasantly surprised to see that some fans were actually capable of giving him the praise he deserves, even if it wasn’t really praise. But it was also somewhat surprising to me that as the team crumbled, Xhaka seemed to step up and demand more of himself.

Why would that be? Well, in my ideal world where Xhaka is the best midfielder in existence, it’s just because his character dictates that he play at his best, but let’s be honest, earlier in the year he was watching runners pass on by and picking his nose outside of the goal box as Watford scored a winning goal.

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There’s no hiding that he was mentally checking out of matches. So why has that changed recently?

My thought is that he has identified an opportunity to shut the fans up. I don’t care who you are, you don’t live in a bubble. Xhaka has to know that he is not well-liked among the Arsenal faithful. Maybe that hatred towards him not being the player that fans want has spurred him to up himself and stand out among the throng of poor play.

I think back to other players that I felt were unfairly blamed for not being who fans wanted them to be and the first two names were Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey. Both suffered through intense spite, yet in the end, both are undeniably hard workers, constantly out to change things, and never quit.

Is it possible, then, that players can be motivated by the anger of the fans? With Arsenal, I’m often left asking where players can find extra motivation. There is no threat to their jobs, there’s no threat to Wenger’s job, there’s no urgency to win anything.

So how can they find that extra level? Well, knowing that an entire fan base is against them is one way to do that. Challenging themselves to win this fan base over.

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I’d like to think that Giroud did that. Ramsey is still doing it. Xhaka may be doing it too. Who knows. Either that or we can all just accept that he has a superior mentality than everyone else, but I don’t think many will be keen on that.