Arsenal: Granit Xhaka did more than you gave him credit for… again

Arsenal gave the armband to Granit Xhaka and he repaid the honor, doing far more than any of you out there gave him credit for… again.

Any idiot could have seen this coming. Arsenal came out of the gates a bit slow against Newcastle. it was a nasty day, raining and gross, and for want of a true culprit, fans turned on Granit Xhaka… again. They accused him of being worthless, they accused him of being wasteful, of never passing forward, despite the blatant fact that this is wrong.

I even had a brief Twitter debate because someone accused him of leading the Premier League in defensive errors leading to goal last season. Which is just a bold-faced lie. But guess what? People bought into it. They believed an incorrect stat because it was anti-Xhaka.

And then there’s the “he single-handedly cost us the top four last year” which, to be, is the ugliest thing a fan can ever say about anyone. Even when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed his penalty, so many of the intelligent ones were saying “now let’s not blame him for anything bigger than what this is.” And we didn’t.

Instead, you blamed Granit Xhaka. While the sensible ones were there to say that it is never a single player’s fault where we finish in the season.

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And against Newcastle, it was more of the same.

Xhaka came out of the box as slow as everyone else. But as the game progressed, so to did he. He was massive in the second half. Absolutely massive. He was so intelligent late on in the match and for those that want to complain that he has no use, consider that he had eight ball recoveries, won the second most tackles on the team (3) and created a team high two chances.

Like it or not (for most of you, that is bizarrely ‘not’), Granit Xhaka lived up to the part he needed to play. When we took the lead, and the match needed to be killed off like we so rarely were bale to do last season, Xhaka was there to oversee the effort. To ensure that nothing went awry.

But he won’t get credit for it. If he does, it will be with the caveat “but he should be doing more.”

A very small part of me wants Xhaka to go somewhere he’s appreciated, just so fans can see the difference, and see what happens when he isn’t with us. But I’d rather him stay with us forever. Forever ever.