Arsenal: Will Unai Emery hang his tenure on Granit Xhaka?

After a ferocious substitution culminates a long line of lacklustre performances, Granit Xhaka’s place at Arsenal is under fire. But is Unai Emery willing to hang his tenure on the oft-criticised midfielder?

A manager will be judged on their decisions. That is where they can impacy a club. And in no area is this truer than in the team they select, both in regards to the system and style that they implement and the personnel they use to execute it.

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For Arsenal head coach Unai Emery, his decisions are increasingly worrying. His continued tampering with the line-up diminished the identity and clarity of the team; his player selection is curious at best and downright wrong at worst; he seems to be blinkered towards certain players, holding clear favourites in spite of their actual performances.

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One player who has enjoyed the full benefit of being in the manager’s favour despite not deserving it is Granit Xhaka. He is one of the first names on Emery’s team sheet. He was named club captain this summer. Emery inherently trusts Xhaka, viewing his range of passing, physical presence and apparent leadership qualities as critical to the make-up of the Arsenal team.

But for some time now, Xhaka’s individual performances have deteriorated, to the extent that fans that are questioning his role in the team. Matteo Guendouzi is a superior footballer, Lucas Torreira and Dani Ceballos provide something different to the midfield, while Joe Willock offers a youthful, vibrant option also. Xhaka, meanwhile, is regressing.

This all came to a head on Sunday afternoon. After the Emirates crowd first cheered his substitution and then booed his reaction, Xhaka trudged off the pitch clearly at loggerheads with his own supporters. It was ugly. And after the match, Emery conceded that Xhaka was wrong and that discussions would not take place regarding future action:

"“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.”"

It remains to be seen how Emery will deal with the Xhaka controversy and calamity, both from a captaincy standpoint and a tactical one, but while Xhaka’s individual displays have been utterly lacking the necessary quality at the top level, so has the tactical set-up of Emery, his side having won just two of their last eight Premier League games and just six from their 17 league games stretching back into last season. He is in need of a rather dramatic and drastic turnaround.

So with Emery’s job increasingly on the line and his position at the club analysed through the lens of the decisions he is making regarding his team selection, does he really want to hang his tenure on the merits and mires of Granit Xhaka? The Swiss international has repeatedly let down his manager and his team with lacklustre performances. Why would re-assert your trust in him?

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Despite all the evidence pointing towards the contrary, there is this nagging feeling that Emery cannot veer away from Xhaka, that he likes and trusts him too much to drop him. And if that is indeed the case, it might just cost him his job. Emery’s tenure might just hang on Xhaka.

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