Arsenal: Granit Xhaka for captain, please and thank you

Arsenal’s draw against Atletico Madrid doesn’t leave a good feeling in a lot of people’s stomachs, but Granit Xhaka’s performance did. So much so that…

It’s time for Granit Xhaka to be captain. Arsenal’s draw against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the semi-final eliminated all lingering doubts that I had. And yes, even in my fanboy status, I had my doubts about Xhaka being captain.

But not anymore. Because in a match like what we saw against Madrid, you desperately need a leader. You need someone to step up and anoint themselves the leader of this expedition and take control of the match.

Xhaka did that, and he did it so clearly too, building off of the back of what was another captain-esque performance against West Ham.

But West Ham is one thing. Atletico Madrid is another.

I recognize that touches aren’t everything. But I bring them up for a reason. Xhaka has had just under 300 touches of the ball in the previous two matches. The reason I bring this up is because it shows several things, No. 1 – that he is taking charge of games. He is making himself available.

More importantly, No. 2, he is doing so much with his touches other than just, well, touching the ball.

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He has created six chances over these past two matches, completed 93% of his passes, 28 out of 31 long passes and he is playing the sort of defense no one ever expected him to see.

And if you want to say “well, it’s only two games,” that’s fine. But this has been a steady build up going back to February, when he really started to settle into his role with the club and, best of all, started playing smarter defense.

Then there is the matter of him being as fired up as anyone in any given match. Take for instance squaring up to a fool for diving, or screaming things into the camera that is not meant for children’s ears after the Gunners cored a goal. That’s who he is.

This is the perfect trajectory for someone like Xhaka. I keep using the same terminology to describe his play and seeing it against Atletico Madrid solidified that it’s who he is – he’s a control tower. He sees everything and dominates the game, whether he has the ball (most of the time) or whether he is enforcing himself off of the ball.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Atletico Madrid

The error-prone, card-prone Xhaka is gone. Long gone. There is a new Xhaka in town, and he is the sheriff that we need.

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