Match Reaction v Palace (home)

[Gooner23]

I'm not sure on the Xhaka statement at all. The online abuse is disgusting and totally unacceptable, but I don't think that should be conflated with what happened in the stadium. That was Arsenal fans showing a genuine dissatisfaction with what was happening on the pitch, and a frustration with recent results and performances. Personally I wouldn't boo one of my own players, but I can understand why it happened and his actions only made it worse. He was never fit to be captain, and that is on Emery to fix now. Just a complete mess all round.

[Özim]

Very lame statement, obviously online abuse it terrible and shouldnt happen and it's a small minority (maybe he should just close his Instagram account), but there's no apology, just a sorry if people thought he was being disrespectful which isn't apoligising. On top of that it took him 5 days to come out with this after being prompted by everyone at the club.

Many fans won't be very happy with this and who can blame them there's no apology or regret for his behaviour, online abuse as mentioned by Gooner23 has nothing to do with the fans at the stadium so it's irrelevant to be honest.

Also doesn't change the fact he's rubbish and doesn't put enough effort on the pitch, at fault for the 2nd goal on Sunday due to lack of hunger to stop the attacking player.

The club should have also disciplined him, to not do so because of his fragile mental state is ridiculous, loads of players have had far worse, Beckham when he got sent of for England, Ronaldo I'm sure, Iwobi, Walcott and the list goes on, none of them behaved like he did. For me the club doing nothing sends out the message that players can get away with anything they want, this club is so soft from top to bottom, it's the reason we've had so many substandard players sticking around for so long and that we never succeed, we're just not ruthless enough.

[Özim]

I feel sorry for Xhaka, there's no excuse for threats to his wife and children. But if you can't handle abuse on social media from toxic teenagers, then have the sense to get the hell off social media.

Spot on, plus other players get this all the time, unfortunately it's the ugly side of social media and unacceptable, but if you can't handle this then you should just get off social media and you then won't have to put up with it.

[Globalgunner]

There are idiots everywhere including amongst us Arsenal fans. Its just the nature of society nowadays that every moron has a megaphone to broadcast his views. Previously he would be restricted to shouting himself hoarse in the stands. Now thay cant get away with even that.

Xhaka is a crap football player full stop. Some players are limited but at least are good athletes and able to do the one thing they are supposed to be able to do. E.g Jordan Henderson at Liverpool. Technically not the best, but a willing runner all day who sees the game and is equipped to do the things he is supposed to do, such as stop opposition offensive plays without garnering 2 yellows in every match. I would swap Xhaka for Henderson in a millisec and i dont rate Henderson at all.

Xhaka is just an awful footballer, he deserves all the abuse he gets, but his wife and kids should be left out of it. He should ignore the idiots and not use that to excuse his own crappy game.

[GP]

I actually think we are a fairly shitty set of fans.
We have become so spoiled and entitled.
Partly because of Wenger’s early years with us, but partly because of the way the club behave.
They treat as customers and they charge a lot for their product so we expect it to be high quality.
That fan/club relationship has been deeply eroded.
I don’t think that’s a problem unique to Arsenal but we are one of the worst IMO.

Oh, and kudos to Xhaka for his statement. He isn’t good enough and he shouldn’t be captain but Emery has put him in this position. I hope the fans get behind him.

I agree. The fanebase is really toxic.

[Mac76]

i think Emery is to blame for not realising how making Xhaka captain would put him front and centre af any disatisfaction re the club's failures on the pitch - although knowing what a coward he is, maybe Emery even did it deliberately to avoid some of the flak himself - after all he didn't have the guts to make the appointment in the usual way, instead having that ridiculous 'vote' where everyone just went for who they knew Emery wnated to win

[Özim]

To not discipline Xhaka after that debacle is very poor judgement, he was wrong his behaviour was unacceptable, this on the back of a lack of desire and effort on the pitch a fine should have definitely followed, as should telling him in no uncertain terms this behaviour won't be tolerated.

Instead they've mollycoddled him, it's a pretty poor show to be honest. This club doesn't value it's fans like it should which is perhaps why they grow so frustrated.

[Özim]

i think Emery is to blame for not realising how making Xhaka captain would put him front and centre af any disatisfaction re the club's failures on the pitch - although knowing what a coward he is, maybe Emery even did it deliberately to avoid some of the flak himself - after all he didn't have the guts to make the appointment in the usual way, instead having that ridiculous 'vote' where everyone just went for who they knew Emery wnated to win

Emery is definitely to blame, that doesn't absolve the player though, he's paid a lot of money and should be doing his best on the pitch, he hasn't been, I think MOTD showed how he was doing his best not to receive the ball, the 2nd goal also showed a lack of effort and the walking off a lack of care or hunger for victory, that's all on him. But yes Emery should have never made him captain, he's shouldn't even be a regular to be honest, some might argue he's not even good enough to be at the club.

[IBK]

There are idiots everywhere including amongst us Arsenal fans. Its just the nature of society nowadays that every moron has a megaphone to broadcast his views. Previously he would be restricted to shouting himself hoarse in the stands. Now thay cant get away with even that.

Xhaka is a crap football player full stop. Some players are limited but at least are good athletes and able to do the one thing they are supposed to be able to do. E.g Jordan Henderson at Liverpool. Technically not the best, but a willing runner all day who sees the game and is equipped to do the things he is supposed to do, such as stop opposition offensive plays without garnering 2 yellows in every match. I would swap Xhaka for Henderson in a millisec and i dont rate Henderson at all.

Xhaka is just an awful footballer, he deserves all the abuse he gets, but his wife and kids should be left out of it. He should ignore the idiots and not use that to excuse his own crappy game.

I have to say I take issue with this. Xhaka is not a 'crap footballer'. He is limited in what he can do, certainly, and is clearly not suitable either for the role that he has been chosen to perform for Arsenal or perhaps more generally for a top team in the EPL. However, as far as I am aware he has been captain for every team that he has played for, and for his national team. That is not the career of a crap player, and whats more it is clear that his fellow professionals at Arsenal regard him with respect - again not something that would happen if he was as poor as you make out.

This is the problem with football (and society) today. It is the default position that things are black and white, and they are not. The whole situation with Xhaka and the captaincy is a clusterfuck of the manager's making, not the player's. He made a big mistake by reacting in the way that he did, but this is really a side issue. It's not as though had he quietly left the pitch and taken a seat on the subs bench the disenchatment with the way we are playing would have gone away. I was embarrassed to hear our own fans cheering his substitution, and Xhaka has been treated poorly by the fans and totally mismaneged by Emery. If we think that behaving like this towards one of our own players will do anything but hurt our team, then I am afraid we are mistaken.

[Mac76]

Emery is definitely to blame, that doesn't absolve the player though, he's paid a lot of money and should be doing his best on the pitch, he hasn't been, I think MOTD showed how he was doing his best not to receive the ball, the 2nd goal also showed a lack of effort and the walking off a lack of care or hunger for victory, that's all on him. But yes Emery should have never made him captain, he's shouldn't even be a regular to be honest, some might argue he's not even good enough to be at the club.

yes i wasn't absolving Xhaka, and i've made all the points you make elsewhere, i'm more just saying that Emery set up a situation where the fans had Xhaka upfront as a target for criticism.

but serparately, isn't being stripped of the captaincy a form of discipline though, so seems odd to say they're taking no action...?