Arsenal and Granit Xhaka: Where does Unai Emery go from here?

Granit Xhaka and the Arsenal fan base publicly clashed in unique and vitriolic fashion on Sunday afternoon. But where does Unai Emery go from here as he looks to manage the man to whom he entrusted the club captaincy and the command of the midfield?

It was an ugly affair. A goading club captain. A vitriolic fan base booing their own player. A trudging substitution after a deplorable performance. In the end, everybody lost, no one more so than Granit Xhaka.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — The Granit Xhaka One

Speaking after the fact, head coach Unai Emery did not even attempt to defend his player, which is unusual for a modern-day manager who tends to deflect the pressure and expectation away from others and onto himself. Emery knew Xhaka was in the wrong, and his post-match response made it quite clear:

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"“He was wrong. He was wrong. Now we need to stay calm and speak with him, to speak inside about that reaction. His reaction was wrong in that moment <…> We are going to speak about that, of course, because the reaction was wrong. We will speak with the players and the club about this reaction <…> We are here because we have supporters. We are the workers inside, but we play for them. We need to have a lot of respect from them, through applause and criticism.”"

The Arsenal midfielder is set to be reprimanded by the club, one way or another. James Olley of the London Evening Standard reports that discussions will be undertaken on Monday, with potential repercussions involving a hefty fine or even being stripped of the captaincy altogether. But how should Emery handle this highly contentious and unstable situation, in which one wrong move could set off explosive ramifications?

One option is to withdraw Xhaka from the firing line. Drop him from the squad, allow him to recuperate emotionally in private, shield him from the fans’ ire and hope that the great healer of time can work its magic once again. He took a similar approach with Shkodran Mustafi, who has struggled with similar performance issues and subsequent fan abuse.

But Emery is far more tied to Xhaka than he is Mustafi. In Emery’s eyes, Xhaka is viewed as a cornerstone piece of the Arsenal team. He is the starting anchoring midfielder, the captain of the club, and invariably one of the first names on the teamsheet, whether that is deserved or not. Removing him from the squad, then, would be to admit defeat and concede your mistake. Emery is not in the strongest position to concede such.

Similarly, Xhaka is a strong character. He might even respond well to being thrown back into the firing line. It depends on a player’s make-up but everyone reacts differently. Xhaka might embrace the challenge of changing the fans’ opinion of him, recognising his mistake and responding as a result. Maybe, then, Emery thrusts him back into the line-up, both for Xhaka’s personal good and his belief that the Swiss international is beneficial to the team.

And then there is the calamity of the captaincy. If he is stripped, can he carry on being a principal and preeminent presence in the dressing room? But if he is kept on, what respect could he command as an apparently aware and inspiring leader? And who else should take on the role of club captain? This whole mess arose from there being few other clear candidates.

What this quite clearly illustrates, then, is that the Xhaka situation is a mess. Emery and Arsenal, therefore, have some serious management issues to resolve, and it seems, whatever they do, they will be in the wrong one way or another.