Arsenal: Granit Xhaka never blames anyone but himself

Granit Xhaka’s was clear after Arsenal’s draw with Tottenham, but fans are misconstruing his words again. So come on over and let me explain.

Some Arsenal fans will probably never see eye to eye with Granit Xhaka, despite the fact that he is an upstanding individual on and off the pitch. He is always the first guy to shoulder responsibility when called for, he’s the first guy to apologize after bad performances or mistakes. He is a dude that cares.

After the North London Derby, Xhaka was quick to own up to his mistake, as he always is. He’s one of the only players I know that will own up to every single mistake with an, “I’m sorry, I’ll do better next time.”

But the criticism was coming in so hot and so fast that Xhaka defended himself. He fought back against the talking heads and the fickle fans and stood his ground. Yes, he had made a mistake, but the match is 90 minutes. Which is sound logic. Logic that Unai Emery also reaffirmed.

In the process of defending himself, he also said that no one focuses on the forwards for missing chances, and now fans are outing Xhaka for “blaming” Nicolas Pepe, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for the draw.

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Which is just asinine.

Xhaka is doing no such thing. He’s just saying that if you’re going to hold one mistake accountable for the fate of the match, why is it only ever his mistakes that get ousted?

It’s an argument I’ve made before too. Remember when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed a penalty against Spurs? How the fans swarmed to his defense and didn’t hold him accountable for the fate of the entire match? That was the right thing to do. Aubameyang misses chances, he makes mistakes, so does Lacazette and Pepe.

So does Xhaka.

Xhaka often gets blamed for the entire fate of matches when he makes a mistake or, God forbid, two. But the hypocrisy here is all he was calling out. If you’re going to blame Xhaka for giving up the goal, why wouldn’t you also blame the forwards for not scoring in premium chances? Pretty simple logic, but rather than confront it, these “fans” lash out and criticize him further.

It’s a vicious circle of misinformation and idiocy. Xhaka owns up to every mistake, which is way more than most players do, but people will always find more reasons to complain.