Granit Xhaka was appointed Arsenal’s club captain last week following a secret ballot by the players which was later signed-off by head coach Unai Emery.
While the Swiss probably wouldn’t win a popularity contest with supporters, the important thing is that a decision has been made and the midfielder has the respect of his peers within the squad.
Xhaka, who also holds the armband for his country and was captain of former club Borussia Moenchengladbach, the latest appointment is another reason to be proud.
Speaking about his newly confirmed role, the 27-year-old told Arsenal.com: “I’m very proud. It’s made me very happy because when I came here, I had a lot of experience before with the Switzerland national team and I was the captain in Germany as well.
“When I came here, there were a lot of great players, good personalities, and it was a big step for me to be the captain here as well. Now I’m the official captain here and it makes me very proud to be the captain of this great club.”
Asked how the election process played out, Xhaka continued: “The coach asked us to write five names, who we wanted to be the captains.
He added: “Everything was discreet, so there were no names. You only wrote the five captains. In the end, I think the team, the players and of course the boss, decided who would be the first captain out of the five.
“Of course it’s important that the other players believe in me and see how I work, how much I work. I’m a guy who wants to take all the players in one boat. We win together, we lose together, we win trophies together or we lose finals together, like in Baku.
“It’s important that all the players – not only the players who play but the other players as well – are invited into our group to be happy, to speak with us if there are any problems. This is the role of a captain, to be strong and to be in front of the team. I think I’m a guy like this who can be in front of the team during the good times and the bad times.”
Whatever your thoughts on Granit’s ability to hold down a role anchoring the Arsenal midfield, it’s probably time to give him our support. As we all know, holding the captaincy during the Emirates era has been something of a poisoned chalice. More often than not, the elasticated cloth has preceded a long injury or a desire to quit the club.
We wouldn’t want that.
it’s such a pity the situation he is. Xhaka can be a very good player if he is being used correctly, in a very limited role that is mainly focused on spraying balls from deep, sort of like Arteta used to play (note how he was criticized for similar things as Xhaka is), or that Matic has. the problem with this is that the tempo of PL makes it impossible to have an efficient team that would limit one of the positions to the role Xhaka requires, which both damages the team as a whole and Xhaka as a player… Read more »
Some great copying and pasting there CountLeaf?
Give the lad chance
Don’t taint Arteta’s name with Xhaka
It’s a perfectly valid comparison. Arsene played Arteta there & it killed us. (& cost us a title in 2013-14 imo)
Emery is playing Xhaka there & it’s killing us too.
Arteta served his role in the team well, he was the one of the top intercepters of the ball after he converted to a deeper midfielder and he was there to recycle possession. Fair ebough against the bigger teams he wasn’t as effective but thats down to tge manager at the time to realise that. he wasn’t the ‘policeman’ everyone wanted but he is miles better at football than xhaka both techbically and mentally. A very clever player eho is imo so underrated by many arsenal fans
Now lead us to the champions league and hopefully a throphy this season.
you good there tyson?
A manager with real authority would have just appointed the captain. It just shows how weak Emery’s position at the club is. Football clubs aren’t democracies: a clear leadership structure is essential.
Xhaka shouldn’t be captain because he doesn’t have a future at the club. He just isn’t good enough. And on his current form he can’t justify a starting spot every game.
Hopefully, Emery will be gone by the end of the season and the new boss will ditch Xhaka and sort out the captaincy – and make us winners again.
Look at that, Pep lacks “real authority”.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49025726
It’s justified when you’ve won 2 league titles in 3 years. But in our rudderless ship at the moment? I’m not so sure. It should have been done the day Koscielney left and nobody would have cared. Now it’s a huge issue, and despite the team crying out for a more athletic midfield. it makes Xhaka the hardest person to drop.
Maybe Emery thinks we can get an extra 5 mil for him if we put him on the market as “club captain Granit Xhaka”.
We could also think of other boasts such as “turns faster than nearly all oil tankers” and “has a surprisingly large amount of blood rushing round his head”.
Emery tends to like bigger players at the base of the midfield (Thiago Motta for instance at PSG, Steven Nzonzi at Sevilla, etc.) = prob explains why he prefers Xhaka to Torreira.
While I am of the opinion our midfield should consist of 3 of Willock/Gendouzi/Torreira/Ceballos as it’s a much more fluid, modern midfield when they play together, Xhaka appears here for better or worse for the rest of the year at least.
Couldn’t agree more, all the snow flake fans we have is a joke, Emery still doesn’t know his first eleven, weak formation and tactics, did the same at PSG and lost the league to Monaco and surrendered that 5 goal advantage against Barcelona in the CL tells you a lot about him. He is taking the team backwards.The game last season against Crystal Palace was the final straw, then the terrible tactics in the EL final.Emery is no tactician
What the fuck are “snow flake fans”?
he is a piers morgan fan
I love how people bang on about the 5 goal game against Barca forgetting that he gave them a 4 goal lead.
And Barca had so many fucked up refereeing decisions go for them at the Nou Camp.
I rather think that game was an example of Unai’s inability to read the match sometimes; after Cavani scores it should be game over, and it is up to the manager to give the right instructions, if not right away then after Barca scores again. Referee or no referee.
Not sure you can even hold the Monaco season against him. Yes psg are budget-free but that AS team was a perfect storm – well coached and absolutely stacked full of generational talent.
Maybe stop following Yankee gunner on twitter and try and think for yourself
Junkie Gunner?
you must be joking, he is an absolute clown, one of the worse players ever to don an Arsenal top, he brings nothing to the team, can’t tackle, gives away needless free kicks and penalties and for Emery to give that fool the captaincy was an insult to a lot of Arsenal players, he simply isn’t good enough and never will be. He will cost us points this season and games just lie last season.
Calling him a fool is over the board
you must be joking, you’re an absolute clown, one of the worst supporters to ever don an Arsenal top, you bring nothing to the team, can’t cheer, give away needless insults and for Arseblog to be rendering your comments is an insult to a lot of Arsenal fans, you are simply not good enough and never will be. you and other supporters like you will cost us points this season and games just like last season.
go taste your own medicine.
100 % agree, he is not good enough to be on the bench, start or be our leader.
We need to be “aggressive” in January window and bring in a quality DLP/Box-to-Box.
And offload whomever we may in the process.
We need a DM. Emery obviously doesn’t believe Torreira is the answer at the position (I know, I know, we love him from the stands). I’m not sure he can handle the physical nature of the premiership either. I say go and get Ndidi to fill that role.
This comment could have been from 10 years ago…
This is all fair and good but when are we going to hear the news of the confirmation of the date of our Carabao Cup trip to Anfield?
Hopefully once our first choice FBs have returned, our midfielders will spent less time covering and more time supporting the midfield which will benefit our captain!
Players genuinely respect him, and its for a reason, I can’t see it but there is something there.
Does anyone else see it? Am I missing something?
His parents gave him the house keys
Then he is not a captain but a landlord.
Well in my family, everybody can have our own copy of house key..
Don’t know, but too maybe “I”s and not enough “we”s from this guy.
Maybe the players see what he has been through in his life and how he stands up for them.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/xhaka-my-mental-strength-comes-home
You don’t need to be the best player in the team to be the captain – ask Jordan Henderson who ended up lifting the CL despite his limited abilities.
Give our man some respect and let’s back the team this season.
That makes one of us.
How many games we won this season when Xhaka played completely 90 miniutes?
I am happy for him, and happy for him to be captain. Almost blind with anger, disappointment, and/or shame at some of UE’s team selections though, in which Xhaka features prominently.
Maybe two speedy natural FBs will allow Xhaka to shine. Personally, while I think that will help the team, so does playing Willock, Torreira and sometimes using a more attacking set up — to support the style Arsenal is known and beloved for.
Honesty is a virtue. Yes, our captain is a strong and honest personality, but because of the good of the team most of us wants him out or at least to take a strong position on the bench.
I am sure that Granit is a good guy and other players can come to him with problems. He has deficiencies though on the field in matches and has cost Arsenal points and probably will again. Unpleasant situation this is.
If he is the best possible leader that we currently have, then be it. But it shouldn’t warrant him a place in the starting line up because of that previlege. He needs to make way if there is a better option. Just like with Mertersecker situation.
Mert was 30+ Xhaka is not. Therein lies the difference.
‘We wouldn’t want that’
Feels a little bit like arseblog wishing a long term injury on our captain ?
I agree… Did not enjoy reading that sentence. Arseblog is usually better than stooping to lows like that.
Was written by Andrew Allen, and I honestly don’t think he meant it in a sarcastic way having read a fair few of the guys articles and listened to him speak on the arsecast from time to time in the past. Hope I’m right.
Wish I could share his enthusiasm
“When I came here, there were a lot of great players, good personalities, and it was a big step for me to be the captain here as well. Now I’m the official captain here and it makes me very proud to be the captain of this great club.” Our standards dropped. It seems like Raul is starting to change things, so Xhaka won’t be here very much longer anyhow. I have no problem supporting him until that happens. I think most of us just want him to play better, and not make the foolish errors. We all know he isn’t… Read more »
He can improve on a few things like his positioning and releasing the ball a second faster – I always see him first finding his man then spraying it over to them He can manage just find but I think everyone wants to see him talk less and show more on the pitch. His performances are very concerning and not particularly inspiring for the team, Xhaka is the most important person that needs to realise that otherwise this will not end well for him. He seems to be in a protective bubble of complacency courtesy of Emery. There are players… Read more »
He’s simply not good enough to start for a top 4 team in this league, and Torreira looks a more obvious shout at the base of our midfield, but it looks like he’s here to stay so let’s hope for the best I guess?