Emi Martinez says Granit Xhaka is a ‘great leader’ and made clear that the club captain has the support of everyone in the Arsenal dressing room despite his public spat with fans.
The Swiss midfielder is said to be devastated at the way he was jeered off the pitch against Crystal Palace on Sunday but is yet to apologise for stoking the flames by cupping his ear to the crowd and swearing.
Concerned for the player’s welfare, the club has refused to comment on whether Xhaka will be disciplined and if he’ll retain the armband.
Facing the media after the 5-4 penalty defeat to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, Martinez gave an update on how the squad is feeling.
“He’s a great leader for us and we support him all the way,” said the Argentine.
“We couldn’t think about that tonight because of the game at Anfield. We wanted to win this game for him and for Arsenal.
“He loves the club. When someone goes through that we have to support him. We are together on this question.
“It was a shock [on Sunday]. We know how much he cares about the club. Everyone got emotional. Probably at the time he wasn’t thinking too much about that.
“We were 2-2 and the fans wanted to win the game, it was a bit nervous in the stadium. If he does it [gets substituted] again he won’t think about that, he’ll come off quick. We support him all the way and we’ll get through this.
“The manager decides if he’s captain or not but for us as a group we support him all the way.”
The players who featured against Liverpool enjoyed raucous support from the travelling Gooners despite the evening ultimately ending in defeat.
The noise from the away end pleased Martinez, who said: “They showed us that they love us and they support us. I was devastated not going through for the fans that came to watch the game. We are sorry to let them down but on Saturday we are going to put things right.”
Man just let in 4 goals and 6 penalties in one game. If I was him I’d start talking about Xhaka in my interview too!
Seriously with fans like you I’m surprised the players bother at all. No matter what they do it’s not good enough for some people.
At least he fronted up for the interview right? He could have just sloped off. I’m sure he’s aware he let in all those goals.
He just told the the truth – six shots on target and to let in five is not very good at all.
But that just sums up Arsenal anyway…
But if you think its acceptable then thats OK…
Next time you miss a spot while scrubbing the toilets, people won’t snipe at you every time you speak. But alas Emi is a footballer so let’s be assholes
While I don’t support the comment by Jack, and I agree it is harsh, but equally for some people, too little is good enough.
So Martinez gave an interview. What do you want to do? Give him the Ballon D’or for that?
He did let in 5 goals and if fans are unhappy with that, they have a right to be.
5 goals!
Keep up!
Is it the own goal or Milner’s penalty in the first half. Chamberlain’s goal was one of those goals that you just can’t do anything about, and good luck keeping out that equalizer from such a close range. As regards the shoot out, we all know the onus is on the players to miss, not the keepers to save. Ceballos not so great penalty aside, the only reason why we are out is because our defense was shit on the day due to the simple fact that our coach has zero ideas on how to coach the team to keep… Read more »
The way the club has gone about this is pathetic. Xhaka is not a victim here, he fucked up, just say sorry and move on. The fact that we’ve not heard an apology yet, he’s changed his profile pic on his social media accounts for a picture of him in an arsenal top with the captains armband to a picture of him in a Swiss top with the captains armband.
Pathetic from a pathetic manager. This is 100% his fault, he needs to go.
That appology, if it comes will be picked apart for all its possible faults then interpreted in hundred different narratives and finally, will be rejected and thrown back in his face. This power, this privilege and entitlement – we love it.
If nothing else footballers will agree that if It’s Xhaka today, tomorrow it could be them. Can’t fault them for standing up for each other.
Think Xhaka is the first person who’s wanted to tell the fans to fuck off? He’s the furthest thing I can think of from a leader. Maybe he’s always on time and good at collecting fines, but he’s a selfish hot head who throws his toys out the pram when it doesn’t go his way.
You messed up, normal human reaction or not, come out, apologize and move on. Unless you plan to leave in January in which case I’m sure everyone will be happy. It’s simple.
If anything he should start by apologising to the club that pays him to act professionally. He disrespected the club by tossing the armband and he disrespected the club when he chucked his shirt on the floor, a captain should know this. He doesn’t strike me as the smartest guy as all of this could have been buried with an apology acknowledging how his actions escalated things while explaining the pressure of himself in that situation. As it is now we’re still talking about it and the longer it goes on the worse it will get for him maybe to… Read more »
This whole thing now is getting like politics where the old saying is “the cover up is worse than the crime.” Too much time, too much angst. Let’s try playing without him, hey Emery?
No more Xhaka please, I mean none of his talks at least.
I just don’t want him as an automatic starter, which his status as captain seems to imply. If the end result of this shit means he doesn’t start any more games, and subsequently leaves in January, I for one will not be complaining.
What really worries me in all of this is given how absolutely vital it is for us to make the top 4 this year (Abau & Lacazaette both likely gone if we don’t) it increasingly seems like the unwillingness of anyone to make hard decisions right now (Emery on Xhaka – this should never be the players call especially when he hasn’t even apologized; Raul & Edu as Emery clearly isn’t going to cut it) is going to put us in a position where if we finally do move on from Emery it’s going to be when we’re in a… Read more »
Ridiculous comment. Merdinho – results oriented? You’re surely high! Maybe he wins things after a club spunked many tens of millions on players, or he inherits a group of superstars. Save porto – neigh on 20 years ago – he’s managed elite teams where cost is no object. There is no youth presence. That’s not AFC, not by a mile – nor do many of us want it to be. And Merdinho is a total prick. The long-running feud and all the insults he heaped on Wenger and the club for all those years? Literally for years, nonstop. And someone… Read more »
Do you actually think that Auba & Lacazette are going to sign up for more of the Europa League? Auba will only have 1 year left on his contract at the end of the year = we either get him to sign a new one or he leaves this summer & Lacazette will only have 2 years. Another season spent in the Europe league is going to cause real issues in terms of us retaining let alone attracting Champions League level players. Per Mourihno – I don’t like the guy but he performs pretty well for a couple of years… Read more »
Regardless of the results I think we will (and possibly should) let one of Auba & Lacazette go next summer and cash in. Both great players, but we can agree that it’s not a very balance way to spend the salary budget on two strikers when you play one at the top. Both Martineli and Enketiah are doing well and they will be 2nd and 3rd choice.
That’s plausible
@Homer – as an side take the time to actually read a comment before just spouting off. My entire comment was about not wanting Mourihno but worrying that the hierarchy could view him as an attractive proposition.
This is supporting for the sake of supporting.. he needs to be supported but not this way.. coz he doesn’t deserve to be the captain.. and who is Martinez anyway..
Who is he? Just the longest serving Arsenal player.
A player in the club I support. Who are you?
It’s like there were 2 arsenal team yesterday, the defensive unit that look nervous & still shook up about the incident (or maybe it’s because they were set up badly/too deep & passive), and the attacking players that already moved on & just wanna cause havoc. Man those were great goals!
Amount of times Martinez and Xhaka have played in the same side for Arsenal…?
Tbh these words would carry far more weight coming from Leno.
Martinez should concentrate on learning how to save penalties rather than wasting his time with pointless interviews. Maybe if he was more positive in that regard his words would carry more weight.
I am really tired of hearing about keepers not saving penalties. Any professional player has the technical ability to score every penalty he takes–a hard shot into any of the four corners cannot be saved by any keeper in the world, even if he guesses right. Penalties are saved when the taker loses his nerve, is afraid of missing wide or blasting it high into the mocking supporters, and so shoots without enough power or too close to the keeper. (And even then, the keeper has to guess correctly.) In other words, saving penalties depends on the taker, not the… Read more »
Sack Emery. Sell Xhaka. Promote our best players like Ozil back to first team.
Hi Mesut!
And get Mourinho.
The Special One is the only one that has a chance at Pep and Klopp.
I can’t believe how entitled some Arsenal fans are. We’ve got a bad reputation around the league as being spoiled. Get behind your team, support your team. What does booing a player like that accomplish – is that really going to help your team win? Why so serious, lighten up a bit.
We got Ozil back in team, we moved Xhaka out of team. We will get rid of Emery. We rule this club. We do it for greater good. We are ARSENAL.
#EmeryOut
So it’s your fault that we are shit then Joe? 🙂
Well, charging the highest tickets prices in the world doesn’t seem to help our team win either, so maybe they should lighten that up a bit first.
Every supporter accuses supporters of every other club of being “spoilt” and “entitled”. It’s what football fans do.
What else should they say about their teammate?! Of course they won’t say that “Xhaka was a prick and should lose the armband”. It must be a coach decisoion, but we don’t have a real one.
Xhaka was throwing the armband and his shirt to the ground, tell the fans to f*ck off and still not a word from him. After that how does it even an option that he can remain the captian?
QuoteHis quote “The manager decides if he’s captain or not but for us as a group we support him all the way.” is interesting.
I thought players decided on their Captain, okay may be he was referring to the manager approving it.
For the 2nd part, you can easily add two words here to make it read completely different.
i.e. …”but for us as a group we >have to< support him all the way"
I am just speculating here, apologies if this is not to your liking.
If they initially put him forward as their choice what would it say to change their minds on him now? Neither the players or the manager are going to come out now and say he shouldn’t be the captain. Their concern isnt the fans, it’s getting an experienced player back in the right frame of mind to help the team.
Agreed, it’s a valid hypothetical situation.
We are both dealing in hypothetical situation here.
“It’s 2 2 and it’s nervous in the stadium”…….. “the next time he will leave the pitch quickly”
Oh yeah, duh, Granit, that mite have been it…… the saunter and the chucking the armband on the pitch somewhere near to Auba probably exacerbated things
Thank you
People are being unfair. That was Granit sprinting…
Xhaks is captain and Emery should stick by him now more than ever. Xhaka told us fans to fuck off and I applaude him for that! He’s getting jeered, threatend, booed of the pitch, his wife gets death threats, people wishing his kid gets sick! From his own so called fans! What the fuck is wrong with people!? Fuck off all of you who does that. Fuck off! The club and players should tell us fans, as a unit, that they stand by Xhaka, he’s the captain and the fans needs to get behind him and actually support him and… Read more »
Just what the Dr ordered well said!
Football fans are so pathetic and fickle. They’ll give it out all match, call there players this and that but when they get some back they have a absolute meltdown. Captain or not, he was getting booed off my so called supporters. I’d have flicked them the V myself.
I agree with the double standard bit but there are a lot of real life jobs (doctor, police just to name 2) where you suffer a lot of abuse and are expected to remain calm and ignore it. Xhaka is captain & represents Arsenal as a club. It still would have been a mistake IMO to do what he did if he were just one of the players (Mustafi for instance) but as captain he needs to be held to a higher standard. If he apologizes I hope the fans welcome him back to the fold – but it shouldn’t… Read more »
There are very few real life jobs where your own side sticks the knife in. That’s why it’s so nasty, it wasn’t the opposition, it was our own turning on our own.
I promise you the abuse police & doctors take is far worse than boos & often a lot more scary. We can go back & forth on whether or not fans should boo athletes but the guy simply can’t react like that.
Are you even employed mate?
Might be in a minority here, but I dont think he has to say sorry to the fans.
I wouldn’t have said anything about Xhaka
Quite like Martinez as a keeper but he’s the only penalty stopper who dives before the ball has even been placed on the spot!
The club needs to put this issue to bed now, it’s not as if we don’t have enough problems as it is. If Xhaka is really the most beloved and popular teammate in the squad, then he should apologize. Not because he loves the fans or anything like that because we know it’s not true (otherwise he would have apologized already and I understand him to a certain degree), but because his teammates who chose him captain can only succeed if there is a good atmosphere in the stadium. If he truly loves his teammates and the staff at the… Read more »
Constantly makes the same mistakes over and over again.
Last game of the season gives away a pen in the dying moments of the game against Brighton, ultimately costing us a place in the Champions League and millions of pounds. I’m not saying no one else is at fault for us not qualifying, but when we had our last chance, up steps Xhaka. Like Mustafi he never learns. Time to move him on.
“He loves the club”. I always find this a curious statement, not just for Xhaka. I’m sure he likes his team mates, the staff, the working environment at Colney, life in Herfordshire, and the status involved in being a captain at a big club. But how much does he (or his management team) do to engage with the fanbase outside of club media duties and carefully worded instagram posts written by his social media team of official club images? How can you love the club when you don’t really get involved with the people that make it a well supported… Read more »
Again, it looks like things will continue for a long time, just as it did with the appointment of the captain. Again, it seems that responsibility is shifted away from the one who should take responsibility to the players who will play not decide who should be the captain. And again, it doesn’t seem that those in charge of Emery will oblige him to take responsibility. Very bad for the club’s reputation. I fear that Emery will continue to be in charge for the rest of the season in the worst case, and at least (which also seems like many… Read more »
Wow! … you can see the future. That is AMAZING.
(sarcasm alert.)
You write, “I think it is too late if we are to have any chance of be in top four.”
Lessee: not even 1/3 of the way through the season, and you know the outcome already – and its doom and gloom! Again, AMAZING!
If you have to write ‘sarcasm alert’, you’re not doing it right. Alright?
Don’t need a crystal ball to predict we’re getting nowhere with this clueless head coach.
I didnt say That it IS to late, i said I THINK it is. What do YOU think after the matches so far? We have a stronger team than last year, Emery have had the team one more season now. Those two things should have made us a better team. Is there anything that show that? We have just one injury (and it is not a long one either) i cant remember last time that was the situation in Arsenal. What position do you think we will get with the play we have made so far if Emery continue to… Read more »
Find out in the next episode of soap…
We ask/demand managers develop teams that will die fighting for each other. We want them to be loyal and committed to support and demand the best from each other. Xhaka has been able to do that, he has likely rallied them, supported them, been there for them encouraging and demanding they fight for each other and the team. Now, when a bunch of fans who are some of the weakest, nastiest and most negative in world football…when those fans turn on their captain…you expect them to just abandon him? I can bet that None of those fans would be captain… Read more »
How come I upvote a comment with no votes yet…upvote count goes from 0 to 2 and with my one vote at the very same time downvote goes from 0 to 4. Have the Russians determined Xhaka is the new Hillary?
Its because the copy of the webpage on your browse does not auto-refresh.
Therefore, once you click (e.g. click on up vote), the page is forced to refresh and in the process adds your vote to all the other votes which might have been cast during the time.
e.g. Even if you dont vote, just manually refreshing the page will show you the updated votes.
Makes sense
The way the club have handled this situation has been nothing short of shambolic and it smacks of a regime with no leadership or respect… If Xhaka doesn’t want to apologise himself then make an example of him and still release a statement on behalf of the club – and tell all staff to avoid answering any further questions on the matter. It doesn’t sit well with me that Martinez has publicly stated that the players support Xhaka “all the way”. Does this mean they condone him chucking the armband to the floor, telling fans to fuck off, pulling his… Read more »
“It doesn’t sit well with me that Martinez has publicly stated that the players support Xhaka “all the way”.
Nobody cares what you think. Get over it.
Free speech people. It’s not forbidden to be a dumbass in public. As Xhaka, Martinez and Homer have proven.
We got Ozil back in team, we moved Xhaka out of team. We will get rid of Emery. We rule this club. We do it for greater good. We are ARSENAL.
#EmeryOut
Cant belive some of the comments here. I am getting bored with the toxity towards our players. It seems some of you need someone to hate all the time. Continue this way, and i guarantee it will only get worse. We can blame the manager all we like, but stop with this shit towards our players. Some of you acts like morons, just waiting for the next player to harass.
So sad that our club should come to this. A blind man in a cave can see that Xhaka had to apologise to the fans ASAP after the match on Sunday. If he’s still refusing to do so then he has to be dropped and then sold in January. It’s as simple as that.
This situation just demonstrates how pathetic and weak the management and leadership is at the club right now. Emery is clearly out of his depth and the people above him are obviously pretty useless too.
I’m a fan and I need no apologies. I just want to see good football.
“I just want to see good football.” Then, I’m sorry, you’re not really part of this conversation.
All this holier than thou crap from people — I totally understand why he did it and I don’t blame him for doing so either. I think the behaviour of the Emirates crowd is embarrassing — I know there are bloggers who defend the crowd completely but for me, they’re a sad indictment of what this club has become. The nonsense jeering of Wenger at the end of his reign; moaning about not spending money; the constant booing and bitching about Mustafi; and now this with Xhaka? An absolute embarrassment — support the team and if it gets to the… Read more »
Couldn’t agree more. #WorstFansInTheWorld
I forget the commentator. He has a radio show, he said that Arsenal “fans” are significantly more negative than others. Commented how when Arsenal looses he is flooded with complaining Arsenal fans compared to other teams. Maybe he is biased or maybe what we think we are seeing is what we are really seeing.
Well, if he really love the club etc… at least he should apologise already. I reckon its too late anyway. Maybe he has too much ego and still sulking like a child or just doesn’t give a f… this situation it’s been badly mismanaged by the club too.
The trouble with Arsenal fans is this.
They actually believe that Arsenal are an elite club and should be challenging for the champions league and the premiership.
The TRUTH is we are not a big club anymore and cannot challenge for the big prizes – period.
Fifth place is an excellent achievement for Arsenal.
Allegro, Mourinho, Enrique etc al will require hundreds of millions to rebuild Arsenal and even then the odds are stacked against them…
And can you see Kroenke stomping up?
I cannot…
No. Totally disagree. 5th is not an excellent achievement for Arsenal.
We finished 5th last year and that was despite a total meltdown in the last weeks of the season.
We have top class players but our manager has not created a good team.
Ditch Xhaka bring back Ozil and get someone to organise the defense. Either that,or give Benitez (for example) these players and we will be back in the Champions League next year.
Nonsense. Arsenal has been one of the big six (more often than not big three) clubs in England for over 100 years, and has not been out of Forbes or Delotte’s top ten ‘most valuable clubs in the world’ since those lists began. Sp*rs & Liverpool didn’t need direct cash injection to compete, just clever financial management, a good commercial team and intelligent people managing the football side of thing.
The problem English football fans have is the hyperbole of the Premier League.
Bollocks!
We’re a massive club. We’ve won 13 league titles and have the 3rd largest fan base in British football.
The problem is our useless owner and small-minded fans
We have good enough players to finish top 3. But fans like you will be happy with a top half finish. Then blame the fans for their over expectations. Are you Emery in disguise?
I like Martinez but who is our goalkeeping coach. Obviously not someone who can tell a keeper what to do when the opposition get a penalty, as most teams do against us. I don’t remember a goalie going the right way let alone touching the ball. When Cech saved that one against Watford it was a genuine shock.
I think Arsenal goal and defends need more improvement or need to rebuild if they want any titles.
Emery should make replace defending or defending midle when the macth result was 2-4
If I was the manager I would tell Xhaka to tell the fans to fuck off again! 🙂
People get so offended…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHMoDt3nSHs
Saw someone else say this and I had fam at the palace game so wanna reinforce that the fans started to boo because xhaka wouldn’t run off the field as he was substituted and we were chasing the game. That is unforgivable and to compound it with his antics was truly stupid. But he has never been an intelligent player and Emery has no clue how to put the players, including xhaka, in the best position to succeed. Re the Liverpool game, it is clear that Emery’s nervousness has infected the players. Just contrast Klopp smiling enjoying the game even… Read more »
One mediocracy supports the other
Players aren’t stupid. They know the stupid fans will turn on them next. They need to show solidarity. In any other club this would be a positive. But since we have a looney element embolden by what they believe a voice in social media, they have decided they know better and agitate things from the stand rather than support the team. Again it wasn’t as if Xhaka has been playing poorly. 1) They try to make out from a freeze frame that Xhaka ducked out of a McTommney goal where he was merely stooping to meet the (very hard) shot… Read more »
This really makes Emery look bad in how he handled the captaincy
Just out of interest, and given the clear polarised stance of fans: I say anyone who infested Xhaka’s family with this: “People have said things like, ‘We will break your legs’, ‘Kill your wife’ and ‘Wish that your daughter gets cancer’ … are not simply not Arsenal fans, they are not human beings I would want to be associated with on this forum or anywhere. I’m concerned that many of the comments here suggest a lot of subscribers here support personal attacks of this nature. So… vote up if you think this sort of behavour is unacceptable, and vote down… Read more »
@arseblog, I found this paragraph interesting that you wrote: He ‘reached boiling point’, as he said himself, but regardless of that, to do what he did coming off the pitch wasn’t the right behavior for any player, let alone the captain. He goaded the fans, he egged them on, swore at them, threw the armband down, and made it worse than it should have been. It’s an interesting interpretation from you, one that could easily have been written like this: The fan’s ‘reached boiling point’, but regardless of that, to do what they did, when Xhaka was coming off the… Read more »