Arsenal: At least Granit Xhaka takes the captaincy seriously

Arsenal’s captaincy has been moving around over the years, but we finally have someone who is treating it with the respect it deserves—Granit Xhaka.

You’ll probably hear me talking a lot about the Arsenal captaincy this year, mostly because it gives me another opportunity to gush about Granit Xhaka and how integral he is to the state of this club both now and going forward.

That said, I have always been a rambler when it comes to the captaincy because I feel like we haven’t had a good captain since… I don’t know… Patrick Vieira? Every other captain has ended up ditching the club or retiring a year or so after receiving the band and few have even been the kind of captain you’d want to build the club around. It was more of an ‘attaboy’.

But Granit Xhaka is the captain now, and that’s all changing. Say what you will about the guy, but even the haters have to admit that he takes the captaincy very seriously.

He was already calling for it in the summer and in just one match, we saw why he’s the captain. Within moments of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring, he was yelling at his teammates to keep their head in the game.

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When the match needed killing off, Xhaka took control and saw the match to a safe 1-0 conclusion, securing the first away clean sheet in over a year.

I love seeing a guy wearing the armband, screaming at his teammates and making sure no one checks out of the game early. That’s what a captain is for right? Of course, this is something Xhaka has done plenty of times previously, but with the armband, there seems to be an added sense of urgency with his commands. He seems, if possible, even more passionate.

Now, I’m subject to the idle flattery of Xhaka, I’m willing to admit that, but I’ve been clamoring for over half a decade for a captain that can orchestrate the team on the pitch as if a manager himself and I can’t help but feel, biases aside, that we finally have that. Which also means that I have an even shorter fuse with the unbelievers.

In all seriousness, if you think there is a better candidate for the captaincy, I’d love to hear your argument. I just don’t think there is another guy on this club who would have reminded his teammates to stay focused literally seconds after scoring a goal. Only my man Granit.