Arsenal: You all deserve everything Granit Xhaka did

Granit Xhak has had it with Arsenal match-goers and no one should blame him. This is exactly what all the haters deserve. They did this.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That’s the Golden Rule. The one way to make the world a better place. Just don’t be a jerk and treat people with respect. Arsenal fans do not obey this rule and for three years, neither did Granit Xhaka, though just at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Xhaka accepted brutal treatment, death threats, harassment of his wife and newborn and all he wanted was to do the club proud, to get the armband, to do it all for the badge.

Arsenal fans continued to berate the guy, never expecting there to be any repercussions. Never expecting that their grotesque actions would actually lead to them being disrespected as well.

Granit Xhaka snapped on Arsenal match-goers (I’ve stopped calling them fans) after being jeered off the pitch upon being subbed. And people acted incensed, as if they didn’t understand how he could possibly behave this way. Ian Wright was disappointingly much of the same.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

You treat any human that way for three years and he is bound to, at some point, resist the unfair treatment that he is receiving. And before you say “waaaaah, but it is fair, waaaaaah” ask yourself how you would react in a similar situation, from your office job, if a horde sauntered in and criticized even the most minute of mistakes for three straight years.

I’ll go ahead and answer that for you—you wouldn’t make it three years. But would it change anything if you were “held to a higher standard”?

No.

It wouldn’t.

You want to say that he should be held to a higher standard being a player. You say that wearing the armband, he has to conduct himself better. But it’s not that simple. This is the effect that a bunch of angry idiots can have on another human being.

I honestly can’t believe that there are so many people who actively defend themselves and say that they can’t believe what Xhaka did. For me, it’s the most real thing I’ve seen since he arrived. This is a product of awful match-goers, that’s it.

I was reading the comments on a couple of the post-match articles that Andy posted, and people were wondering if I was crying into my Xhaka pillow. Unfortunately, I don’t have one, though I am open to gifts. That said, I think the problem is that no one sees Xhaka as a human being. They see him as an obstacle to their petty goals. That’s what this is.