David Ornstein says Arsenal will confirm Granit Xhaka as the club’s new captain after Unai Emery put the decision to a vote amongst his first team squad.
The Swiss has worn the armband in six out of eight games so far this season and whenever he played during pre-season.
While he may not be a firm favourite on the terraces, it’s no secret that the midfielder has long garnered respect from the coaching and playing staff at London Colney.
Xhaka, who turns 27 today, is captain of his country and was captain at Borussia Moenchengladbach before he moved to the Emirates. His parents also gave him a set of house keys before his older brother.
Exclusive: Arsenal head coach Unai Emery has named Granit Xhaka as permanent captain. Consulted players before relaying final decision to squad this morning. Xhaka has led #AFC in 6/8 games this season + turned 27 today. Vice not finalised, hearing between Lacazette & Aubameyang
— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) September 27, 2019
Emery has spoken repeatedly about having a roster of players to call upon for the captaincy position. Mesut Ozil is the only other member of the current squad who held such a position last season; it remains to be seen whether he retains the responsibility.
Ornstein says that Alex Lacazette, last year’s player of the season, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, our top scorer, are both in the running for the vice-captaincy slot.
Emery will face the press this afternoon, so we can expect a public confirmation in a few hours.
#EmeryOut now!
All this Emery put stuff is embarrassing… we’ve lost 1 game this season to Liverpool and are sitting nicely in 4th. Get behind your club and manager
But how can you justify giving the armband to a player who admits being scared to have the ball in a game under pressure? Captains are supposed to lead not run away in such circumstances…
He didnt say HE was scared, he said collectively the team was. He’s lacking some finer details to his play, but courage to get on the ball is hardly one of them. .
He put it to a vote. read again.
Is that like the brexit vote, if you don’t like who won you get to go again
Not exaclty an accurate analogy. Maybe if Emery had said something like: “Good morning! I want you to pick a Captain, if you pick Xhaka -we’ll win the league for the next 10 years, and sign Messi every summer until he dies at the age of 1,298. Anyone else and the earth is going to explode”.
How can he give the armband to a player that isn’t good enough to be a regular starter, is a more important question tbh
Henderson doesn’t always start for Liverpool…
I’m sure there’s a lot that Xhaka does behind the scenes, but most of know he shouldn’t be in the starting 11.
I would have gone with PEA, Laca, or even Leno, but what do I know.
Henderson was a deserved regular starter, when he was made captain. That’s not really a good example.
But Xhaka is a regular starter, whether we the supporters like it or not.
Do keep up.
That is one thing you can’t level at him. He never hides and makes himself available for a pass more consistently than all our other midfielders – though Guendouzi comes close
Xhaka hides a fair bit to be honest, especially when we’re building from the back.
Has Xhaka got dirt on you too?
But our style of play has been fucking horrible and this is the first time in as long as I can remember where i don’t want to watch us because I know with the right tactics, we could be better.
This captaincy clearly means it’s going to be Xhaka starting every game he is available. That means good bye to Torreira, a player who is more defensively sound than Xhaka.
You have to feel for the defence. They get not enough protection because a fig leaf is “screening” them. And you have to feel for Torreira too. His body language lately has been worrying. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him jumping ship soon.
Carabao cup midweek aside we’ve been awful to watch for some time.
We might be winning but we’re not playing well.
Xhaka looks off the pace in too many games and is too much of a defensive liability.
I wonder if people have vapour memory. The exact same thing happened last season too. We were grinding wins and were sitting comfortably at the top quarter of the table but we were playing bad football. We were playing like a timid mid-table squad. And then, somewhere down the line, individual performances stopped saving our ass. And then it was handed to us repeatedly by teams both above and below us in the table. Where did we end? Exactly where we deserved to be. There’s nothing wrong in not wanting a repeat of the same. Emery is just as biased… Read more »
I don’t disagree we should get behind them, but we’re only 4th because we’re not as bad as united, spurs and Chelsea. Currently at least. That isn’t a compliment. Tactics are awful, players don’t know what they are doing seemingly and team selection has been suspect.
To be in 4th, despite our lacklustre start, I will take so far. The season is long, we never thought we would be above Liverpool and Citeh anyway.
This was just the sort of reaction I was hoping not to see. Yes some of Emery’s decisions have been puzzling, yes we lack identity as a team, yes Xhaka should be transitioned out of the first team. However, he is clearly respected by the squad and always puts in 100% to the course.
Just support the team and leave the moaning to the dickheads on Arsenal Fan tv. And if Emery doesn’t improve things soon then let’s trust that Edu and co have the wherewithal to do something about it.
*cause
When Wenger left we all saw some affirmative action on the clubs behalf. Letting go of an iconic manager that took us to new heights, and new lows, was a milestone in a new way of thinking which coincided with internal appointments to remove sole autarky. What we had with Wenger was deemed too personalised, too individual. But this thing that has replaced him – dropping players and then making them captain, shuffling formations, refusing to play a DM that is… an actual DM – it just doesn’t make any sense. I don’t ever want to be privy to boos… Read more »
Spot on! Couldn’t agree more!
“We can’t move forward with Xhaka”.
Really? Xhaka would be the cornerstone and main block in our new rise to the top?
I doubt it.
Or rather: Xhaka is the new Mustafi? The new scapegoat of our new super – itchy, super hype everydays.
How much have we evolved defensively since Mustafi is not in the first 11?
Still, the internet-led fanbase almost equally labelled him as the sole and unquestionable player responsible for our defensive failings.
He wasn’t.
… and the same is true for Xhaka. He is far from being our one and only (or the biggest) problem.
The new scapegoat stuff, new Mustafi, that’s what thought. Not that either of them is great but at the same time neither of them is the reason for our failures.
Nothing to do with scapegoating culture, the abuse is due to footballing reasons.
Both of them were seen as obvious weaknesses in the team by people who understand football.
One of them has rightfully been dropped, the other has somehow been made captain.
Infuriating and makes it impossible to trust Emery’s judgment going forward.
Well Said Helder. “We can’t move forward with Xhaka”…says it all.
Well said mate
Wenger “took us to new heights, and new lows.” I don’t think even finishing fifth actually qualifies as anything like “a new low” for the club, even in the post-War era.
Exactly my thoughts
To be fair it was thw dickheads on Arsenal fan TV and people like them whose protesting led to change and the eventual installing of Raul and Edu who you now trust to do the right thing.
Passivity in the face of something going wrong makes sure nothing will change
Let’s hear the boos on our captain on Monday night. Joke. #Emeryout
I bet you are fun at parties.
Our fans consistently disappoint. Just like our team. Embarrassing.
I want to say home fans, but I believe the booing may have started away this time..
So you’re blaming Emery for the squad choosing Xhaka?
Please.
At this point you only sit back and laugh at what is written.
The squad chose the Xhaka.
Yes he’s not convincing player, yes we need to buy a better DLP.
But at the end of the day Xhaka has been chosen as a captain in Monchengladbach, the Swiss NT and now the Arsenal Players. So those who actually work with and see the player everyday see some merit in him. Like him or not.
The manager should choose the captain. The manager chooses the team.
The captain should be on the pitch as often as possible for important matches.
I am skeptical that the vote definitely revealed Xhaka as the top choice and even if it did, the fact that the players like him is not reason for him to be named captain.
He is a total liability.
If he keeps getting picked this could end in tears with us missing out on the top 4 and several of our stars leaving us.
Weak weak management from Emery.
Of course you can. It’s normally down the manager to decide who to pick – that he left it to the squad was his decision.
Not that it matters, captaincy means next to nothing. So long as it doesn’t mean he will continue to crowbarred into the starting xi each game
More like Joe the Monkey
Well that’s a fucking disappointment…
The first Arsenal captain I would rather see on the bench.
Or possibly the stands (too harsh?)..
Knowing Xhaka, he’ll celebrate with a shocker on Monday night and/or a sending off.
But he’ll say sorry
Apparently the players and manager disagree. But what do they know, right?…
Emery team talk before ManU game:
‘Well lads, you had a good fun playing your way in last 120 minutes but now it’s time to play my way’
Just sack him now #EmeryOut
Embarrassing.
Wow, you guys are way too harsh. Do I agree with every one of Emory’s moves? No. But he had definitely has this team moving in the right direction. As someone pointed out above, our only loss is to Liverpool. I realize we are in the age of the internet and fast food where instant gratification is assumed, but let’s give the manager a bit more of a chance here. The team is obviously evolving and Emery deserves the chance to get this team moving. Come on now, let’s not become Chelsea who gets rid of a manager when he… Read more »
Kinda figured this was coming. The players vote all a bit of public posturing to deflect blame from the manager when an unpopular choice was made.
Perhaps we’ll follow recent tradition and have a captain who hardly plays any games… but I doubt that somehow.
If tradition goes any way, we’ve sold all of our captains in the last 10 years or so (Vieira, Henry, Fabregas, van Persie, Kos, etc.) . Not too bad of an appointment if you consider that 😉
That’s the silver lining.
Cannot wait until this spineless manager and this moron of a player are both fucked off man A manager who needs the players to decide who should be captain is clearly a manager who himself doesn’t know the qualities a good leader should have because he’s not a good leader himself. Make no mistake, if Arsenal achieve anything this season it will be due to the level of the players, not Emery. People love to compare us to Liverpool and Emery to Klopp? Let me tell you that this is the Dalglish/Rodgers phase of their transformation, not the Klopp phase… Read more »
The clown is indecisive, makes things up as they go on, remember that if you have 5 captains, nobody is a fucking captain. A captain is meant to be sole, the one people turn to for inspiration? Xhaka? Get the fuck out, this moronic manager knows pretty much every dislikes Xhaka in the fanbase (evident by the boos which speaks volumes from the Emirates crowd) and he still appoints him, he always wanted to but did this little sham ballot because he’s too much of a coward otherwise to just name Xhaka captain. Remember that when you have someone like… Read more »
Think about what it says that a player who makes costly mistakes in pretty much every match I’ve seen, a player that has actually blamed other players for his own fuck-ups which destroy Arsenal games, is made captain. What kind of a message does that send to the rest of the squad?
Asking the players, not many of whom show any leadership qualities themselves, to decide the captain tells you that the manager himself doesn’t have a fucking clue.
Xhaka is highly unlikeable and doesn’t have a good rapport with the fans, so on that basis alone Auba would have been perfect.
Xhaka leads by example by costing goals, whilst Auba leads by bailing out a failing manager
Surely Auba was the logical choice? Nobody has seen Xhaka ever lead anything successfully
That’s not what the players and staff say though is it?
Have I been in a very deep hole, when did most of this fan base expect Emery to turn us into Liverpool? Certainly not on this here fine website
I think you have been, because literally EVERYONE I see says the same thing?
“Oh because Klopp took a while to get his squad and get his players, Emery needs the same time.”
Everywhere, you see it everywhere lol. They ignore what Klopp was before he came to Liverpool, and what Emery was before he came to Arsenal. They ignore that Klopp had an immediate effect at Liverpool, as all good managers show within their first year, whilst Emery… We’re worse than Wenger’s last season with far better players, which tells you everything.
Spineless manager? He doesn’t always pick the team some fans like, and he’s made mistakes but I don’t think it’s fair to call him spineless. He’s taken risks with the team, and he’s blooded youngsters. Not the work of a spineless man in my experience.
Wow. That was like being promised a pet puppy as a child, but instead receiving a snail from the garden.
Emery doesn’t deserve to manage our great club but I have a feeling he’s here to stay for the foreseeable future.
God help us.
The snail couldn’t have been a more apt analogy for Granny Xhaka
To be honest I don’t really care it this point. My only concern is Xhaka will now play every game.
I share your concern
That’s killed the mood
Emery put himself in an impossible position by leaning to Xhaka for too long as captain. Not making him captain now will make him seem weak and all but also making him one will bring the wrath of the fans. I’m sure the whole player consultation thingy was to smooth it out in house. They must have assessed the situation and probably agreed that it’s not a given for Xhaka to always start but let’s give him the dignity of being captain. I suspect it’s all damage control and out de facto captain is going to be our vice captain.
*our de facto captain.
You are quite the optimist mate. I really hope you are right.
Embarrassing, we knew this was coming all long – absolute joke of a manager. If the manager has to consult players to see who is “fit” to be a captain, clearly that manager cannot identify which players have the qualities of a solid leader. Xhaka has been at the club since 2016 – we are yet to identify what he adds to the squad, how he fits into the system. he lacks judgement, doesn’t read the game and makes irresponsible rash decisions. Does this mean he will start in front of Torreira, Guendouzi, Ceballos, Willock week in week out, you… Read more »
Emery can piss off to a club more his level, like Osasuna.
i’m sure he’s a nice guy buy he’s not the first choice in midfield team for me
Having said that I hope he somehow improves his game and maybe ( a long shot) this could bring his game to the next level
You guys might not like him, but his teammates obviously do and that’s what matters. We don’t see them in training, we aren’t privy to team meetings etc. He was captain at his two previous clubs and he captains his national side. Can we all grow up a bit?
Surely a captain should be someone that can be relied upon both on and off the pitch? I get that he might be a leader in training and in team meetings – when we, the supporters don’t see him – but when he’s in the spotlight, he’s an absolute liability.
yeah it’s nice when our captain tells the media that the players were scared. Quality captain material there.
Keane, Henry & Gerrard have all used the exact same expression after a weak performance. Honesty is better than baffling bullshit, in my view.
I guess people would rather hear the usual “we’ll bounce back” talk repeated after every loss… I actually thought we DID look scared that second half, so it made sense…
I was also scared because Xhaka played 90 minutes against Watford.
Kudo’s to him for speaking out. It was obvious that he wasn’t happy, and he let everyone know that. That’s EXACTLY what I would want in a leader, instead of some knobhead just going “come on lads, we’ll get ’em next time”. Spaek out if you think something’s not up to scratch. On another note, maybe he’s making Granit captain, knowing that he won’t play the important games, so this way he pleases the player, but in reality we’ll see a “shadow captain” (for lack of a better word) for most of the games. Probably just dreaming, but it would… Read more »
we dont see what happens in training. but we all see what happens on the pitch. and it aint pretty
We don’t see him in training, but we do see all his fuck-ups virtually every match day.
“His parents also gave him a set of house keys before his older brother” – absolutely brilliant ? Took me a couple of seconds to get it, bit slow today!!
What a disaster his would be back then!
Torreira is clearly better at DM. What is he seeing in Xhaka that we’re not?
(1) Xhaka is the greatest sweet talker in the history of our club
(2) Xhaka has some dirt on Emery
(3) Granny and Emery are “closer” than we think
(4) Emery is a bad a manager as many claim
(5) We are all completely wrong and Xhaka is actually the greatest midfielder in the EPL
A friend of mine who watches German football says we are playing Xhaka in the wrong position and a switch to a no.10 role, just behind a striker, would bring out the best in him. I don’t see it, but it’s an interesting opinion.
I don’t think Xhaka played the number 10 role once in his entire career at Borussia Monchengladbach.
Did your friend who ‘watches German football’ press that channel once while channel surfing?
he does play there to some extent for switzerland tho
That’s the last straw. I don’t know what I’m going to do about it…but that’s the last straw. I think I’m on the EmeryOut bandwagon now. F’ing absurd!
This makes my blood boil actually. This great club has had captains such as Pat Rice, David O’Leary, Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira to name but a few, and we’re supposed to accept this bloke is of that same breed? Fuck off. He’s not even good. He has zero rapport with the fans cos we all want him on the bench, he adds nothing to our game and with his persistent, stupid mistakes costing us points he does the exact opposite of lead by example. What were the squad thinking when they voted him in? As someone has already mentioned, this… Read more »
I have doubts that players voted him in. Suspects Emery needed a cover
This process is a joke: I’m fine with a player vote, and I’m fine with Emery naming a captain on his own, but I’m not a fan of a player vote that is merely “input” for Emery to make a decision. It creates unnecessary tension between players and manager and seems a stunt that potentially 1) insulates Emery from the fallout of an unpopular decision and 2) sows seeds of discord among the players especially if Xhaka was not an overwhelming favorite (or a favorite at all). From the outside, it really seems like Emery is poor at managing people.
“COS WE ALL WANT HIM ON THE BENCH”!!!!!
NO, COS WE ALL WANT HIM OUT OF OUR CLUB.
The reaction to this on Twitter is exactly what you’d expect it to be.
Everyone’s got an opinion but ultimately it doesn’t matter what we think does it. If the manager, the staff, and the players think Xhaka is the best man for the job, then we need to get behind that too.
UTA!
What concerns me most is that Emery is either oblivious to or unconerned with the respone from fans that this appointment will almost certainly elicit. Will anyone really benefit from Emery’s decision?
Just Xhaka, if he sorts his dogshit performances out.
FFS
Fucking clueless and error prone player to be Captain? Someone else at this club is clueless!
How can Xhaka tear into players not performing on the pitch and inspire them when hes an absolutely liability? its impossible.
This is so incredibly disheartening. Does this mean we have to watch Xhaka start every game? How painful.
Blogs what has the decision to make him captain got anything to do with his mum giving the keys ?♂️
Is that the usual Arseblog sarcasm or am I not getting it?
Xhaka becoming the captain is infuriating already.
Fuck this shit.
Cheer up pal it’s Friday
It will boil down to the point where he will be booed by the fans every time he touches the ball!
Blogs is actually quoting Xhaka himself. Says he was such a “leader” even as a kid that their mum would hand him the keys ahead of his elder brother. Maybe we should be blaming his mum for all the points he’s cost us.
I guess we should be glad Taulant Xhaka is not our captain then.
cant wait for him to get him and emery sacked
Defintely gonna happen, only question is when
Fuck….
Comment of the day award!
Jordan Henderson wears the arm band at Liverpool, and Ashley young at Man U. Everyone just relax. Hate on xhaka all you want, but he’s a real team player. He slots in at lb cb and rb due to injuries and red cards for the good of the team. He doesnt bend the club over backwards during contract negotiations. Just put him in a midfield beside torreira and in front of a cb pairing that includes holding and he’ll be just fine
Captain…of all carabao cup matches
So the weakest player on our team is our capitan?? What the fk??? Is this a prank a joke? Why? Why? He admitted he was scared of Watford, is that a leadrer? This feels worse than the nayim lobbing seaman in the final. In makes no sense. He shouldn’t be in the first 11.
” His parents also gave him a set of house keys before his older brother.”
In that case this is a no-brainer. literally
#WengerIn
Gallas for captain.
He may make mistakes. But have to say that he seems to be vocal, calm and sporting.
I often half-wonder why this matters and then I remember Patrick Vieira’s on-field influence on players.
While I intuitively wonder whether Xhaka is the right choice the ONLY voices that matter are the players themselves. If they think Xhaka is the captain they want then he’s the captain they’ll get, ought to get, have to get.
Quite rightly, I don’t get to choose.
Not if they were fed lies. Another voting need to take place and the players should be better informed this time. Maybe they should take a test to qualify for voting! Why do you need a license to drive, but not to decide the future of the club?
You mean like a second referendum?
I’m in no way certain, but you don’t live in Britain right now, do you?
Maybe this is a hint that xhaka will be sold next summer. I can at least support that
This whole saga of selecting a team captain smacks of a weak coach with very poor people management skills and skipping out of responsibilities. Secret ballot.will undermine trust levels within the team. And that is not even touching on the quality and contribution of Xhaka as probably the weakest, most divisive, and high risk player in our midfield. Obviously we don’t know the inner workings of the team dynamics but we can see how he plays, and increasingly that Emery biases dictates team choices, tactics, and now captaincy. Other teams must be laughing at us
Interesting article by Amy Lawrence in The Athletic about Granit. Clearly a popular choice with players and management alike, so couch potatoes ought to consider chilling out a bit.
So because he’s popular, and a lad, that makes him a captain? Moronic comment
Who said anything about “being a lad”?
The article highlights the players’ opinions, which are that he is a leader “in every sense of the word”. They know a good leader better than you, period.
Go read the article if you’re old enough to pay a subscription. . .
Players who shit the bed against Watford and feel scared about a team getting dicked 8-0 by City a week later know fuck all about what a good leader is. But sure, you can think otherwise lmao, the recent history of this club speaks for itself
Sick “I’m an adult who subscribes to sports websites” burn, ?
We can’t say nowt really if Xhaka was who the players voted in. Emery should have had a fans secret ballot.
After spending more than £200m since he’s arrived, Emery (who many of our fans liken to Klopp’s first few years when he did NOT spend this much money but improved Liverpool exponentially by reaching a CL final in his second full season) has literally improved nothing in any aspect.
We are even poorer defensively than under Wenger’s late years
We are shocking offensively, relying on individual magic
And now he’s appointed a player, one that will NEVER take Arsenal forward and who belongs in another league, as captain.
What a horrific mistake Emery was.
https://twitter.com/_hfafc/status/1177526257296314368/photo/1
I’m neither here nor there with Emery, could definitely do better. At the same time, I’m glad he’s giving youth a chance. The reason the CLUB has spent £200m is because players wanted to leave the CLUB, certainly not because the HEAD COACH demanded them. Wasn’t it Mislintat getting credit for the January and summer ‘18 incomings? Nacho (25m), Kos (27m + 8m), Welbeck (8m)….Players needed replacing. Those are the like for like I am be bothered to list. Apportion blame where it’s due. Anyway, #NotMyCaptain On another note, wonder how anyone else would fare with our recent injuries, ie… Read more »
Good luck Xhaka, not my first preference but let’s get behind him!
Lacazette is the obvious choice
The club doesn’t just need a Captain that the players and manager can get behind, but one the fans in the terraces can too. Not a good choice IMO
One that fit’s in the EPL would be handy over one that is making our whole team play worse and a completely different way when he is on the pitch. That is the problem for me. He seems like a decent guy and is popular, cool, but he should be a squad player, coming off the bench in the EPL…this just cements his role in the team and that brings down our ceiling. We have 2+ years of data that he doesn’t fit in the EPL (only exemplified by this season) and yet here we are.
Shambles. Can’t believe it’s not Gunnersaurus.
At least we could smile when Gunnersaurus goes in with both feet …… oh those dino claws.
Nice to see Emery clearly listened to us fans !
This is a pretty transparent attempt at placating the fans while giving them the exact stuff that we hate. Xhaka is not a good captain for our club, and everyone and their mum can see that. Maybe the players too. So they so an “anonymous vote” for the captain. Now Emery can pick anyone he likes, because the players don’t know if others had voted for him. Mean while they are looking at each other, like “we’ll I didn’t vote for him, did you?” Fans can’t question the choice, because it’s unfashionable to disagree with democracy (though for the record… Read more »
Well said. Remember when fans were saying they don’t want Arsenal to make the same mistake United did when Fergie left?
Of course, we made the exact same mistake. Of course.
Not completely. When we change managers, and it turns out he has gained the same amount of points in a similar number of games, we would have made a mistake.
Re Xhaka,I’m sure the club are reluctant to lose face and money on a 35m signing. Can think of no obvious reason to keep him.
Blimey, are we really getting this worked up over the appointment of a club captain? Making Xhaka club captain does not necessarily mean he’ll play. Just look at club captains in the last few years, Arteta, Per, Kos actually played very few games as captain. Xhaka seems to be a good ambassador for the club, handles the press reasonably well and is well-respected by team mates and club staff so there is some logic to the appointment. Like many of you I’m not convinced that he’s a good fit in the current team but I’m not sure that this news… Read more »
come on everyone, who cares really who Club captain is, the announcement took too long yeah, but he is probably the best choice for Club Captain. That being the person who collects fines and meets sponsors, it was the same job mertesacker had when he was injured. Doesnt guarantee him a starting place in the team. i dont think its been handled well but i really couldn’t care less tbh.
Came for the poison.
Wasn’t disappointed.
https://twitter.com/_hfafc/status/1177526257296314368/photo/1
Holy shit. Over 44 league games, Arsenal under Emery are actually conceding more shots than we take.
This is a joke. What the hell man get him out
the team has only lost once this season, only once at home in 21 games, and are two points behind Manchester City who are second in the league.
Could try cheering the fuck up?
Sold our last couple of captains, hopefully the same trend continues.
Well I’m done with Emery because the season so far has felt about as coordinated as a baby goat taking its first steps and I just think he’s over complicating it
You won’t be missed collect your coat on the way out!
Not a fan of Xhaka the player, but no problem with his being captain. That’s a team and manager decision. Just hope he doesn’t start often in league play and, that when he does, the shockers end.
Fans should not pick team captains.
Both Emery and Xhaka will be judged on this decision. I don’t expect either of them to be at the club this time next year