Arsenal: Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s “spat” with fans kind of admirable

Arsenal newbie Henrikh Mkhitaryan has fired shots at the supporters of his club, which is normally a rather poor idea, but I kind of like it.

Normally, I wouldn’t recommend that a new Arsenal signing start a verbal war with his new fan base. It’s not the best way to endear yourself to the fans. But in this specific instance, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan firing shots, I am actually kind of impressed and not at all hesitant that he did the right thing.

In case you missed it, Mkhitaryan had some words for the “fans” that aren’t showing up to the Emirates for their home games.

"We’re always playing for the fans, it doesn’t matter if they could have come today or not. We’re always playing for those who come and support us; [those] who are really coming and supporting us are real fans. [To those] who are coming to the stadium just when we are winning we have nothing to say. Just thanks to the fans who were supporting."

I’m still not entirely sure that he was trying to prod the fans that aren’t showing up. I wonder if he didn’t just choose his wording wrong, but given that he is a veritable genius and fluent in five languages, I’m hesitant to make that connection. However, I do think that he didn’t word what he meant to say properly.

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That said, assuming that he did more or less call out, then I am so pleasantly impressed, and I’m pretty surprised that I’m impressed. Because, like I said, I don’t often support the bickering of players and fans, especially as I don’t think many players have earned the right to call out the fans, who have suffered with the club.

It gets even dicier for Mkhitaryan, as he has only been here a few months.

That said, Mkhitaryan has fought his arse off, tooth and nail, for every single ball. He isn’t just loafing about and barking at the fans. He is playing like a trophy is on the line every single match and if he wants to chat a bit about how he is disappointed that more fans aren’t coming out, he has earned that right.

Since arriving, Mkhitaryan has nabbed a goal and five assists and he has done it with convincing performance after convincing performance.

From a purely self-serving standpoint, he deserves an audience solely because of how hard he is trying on an individual level. And again, I don’t think his message was as malicious as it seems. I think he just chose his words a tad peculiarly.

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Still, I find Mkhitaryan has a point here, as anyone does, so long as they can back it up, which he has done.