Granit Xhaka says he’s fed up of bullsh*t opinions after former-Manchester United full-back Patrice Evra labelled Arsenal ‘weak’ and like ‘babies’ for their poor performance in the 1-0 defeat to Sheffield United.
The one-time France international didn’t hold back in his criticism of Unai Emery’s team during Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football coverage, claiming the Gunners have not changed much from the team his United team so regularly dominated.
We can’t be bothered to relay everything Evra said – he’s still a prick, even if he’s right – but you can imagine the general gist and it clearly irked our captain.
“A lot of people speak too much,” said Xhaka when Evra’s comments were put to him at Bramall Lane.
“I have a lot of respect for him because he was a great player, but you have to be careful what you say.
“He knows what these situations well, but it’s not only him. A lot of people speak a lot of bullshit and it’s always the same.”
Asked whether he was fed up with ex-pros taking cheap shots, he went on: “For me it’s strange because they have been in the same situation as us – maybe it was sometimes good, sometimes not so good, but like I said, if you speak bullshit like this every weekend, then what they say doesn’t get respected.”
Xhaka was also asked if Arsenal have a mental problem on the road given the club have kept just two clean sheets in 24 Premier League away games.
“We have to stop talking about [the mental side of the game] and bullshit like this,” he said.
“I’m sorry to say that, but for me it’s the same whether you play at home or away – you have to win and show big character and not look for the same excuse.”
We don’t have long to dwell on last night’s result. Portuguese side Vitoria and Crystal Palace both visit the Emirates this week as we look to put another forgettable night to one side.
There’s clearly a problem with mental fortitude in the club. His comments re the team being “scared” are a pointer to this. Bigger issue, in my opinion, is the lack of tactics from the manager. For the talent we have we are clearly underperforming
Out club captain is focussed on what some sky sports pundits says about him and the team…says it all really. And before people start rattling off he was asked about it…there is an easy response – “next question”, or “it’s simple, that wasn’t good enough and we have to improve”. The only bullshit I see here Granny Xhaka is another bullshit performance from the Arsenal.
#BenchXhaka
#EmeryOut
He’s not focussed (sic) on it. He was asked a question. So he answered.
Agree with the latter part though ie his performance was bullshit.
He did answer, he answered like he is scared… “he should know better, I’m telling mummy”… Seriously, you’re the captain of the club. Start acting like it instead of a spoiled little child that has his toy taken from him. Use it to inspire your team, use it to call out the team and say we need better… This is simply more of the same comfort zone rubbish of arsenal of recent years where its all too buddy buddy… This team needs someone to rip them a new one just like they needed at the end under wenger… Its not… Read more »
Xhaka can – and should – go fuck himself
The sad thing is I actually think he really cares and is trying his best. Emery is highlighting his weaknesses and quite simply ruining his career with his appalling formation and squad management. Stick him in Conte’s 352 over in Milan and I can guarantee he’d run the show.
I agree he’s much better suited to the continent and slower pace, but don’t get ahead of yourself it’s not like he’d be some world class god there either. He can’t tackle too save his life and he doesn’t have the mobility or quick feet and turns to get past his player with the ball. He’s a limited player who is an appalling for a team in the Premier League that is built to play fast one touch football and needs a regimented, disciplined, and defensively very strong DM.
Tbf Monday was not his fault in any way shape or form
I think the saying goes..
‘The truth hurts.’
‘lack of tactics’ makes no sense. It’s clear he has a very strict tactical plan.. it’s just not very good
Pathetic that pundits now have to out sensationalise one another to get air time. Some of the crap you hear is just armchair punditry of the highest calibre. You’d be better off turning to the guy next to you in the pub and asking his opinion.
Thankfully with sites like blogs I don’t have to bother with any of that nonsens. I turned on at 8 last night and off at 9.50. And during halftime I had a massive wank.
I stopped watching sky sports a year ago. They rank alongside the sun and express for their diversity of opinions these days. That souness, mourine, keane axis of evil is just another weak attempt to shit stur the pot and get viewers, it’s not fooling me i’m afraid. NBC is far better, with good ol’ lee dixon, balanced puditry and highlights of all games at half time.
I’m going to get so voted to hell for this. But I’ve been watching the odd clip of Mourinho on sky and I actually quite like his style. He’s blunt and dry and you’re never sure if he’s slyly having a dig. He’s also got first hand knowledge of being a top manager unlike the rest of them. I’m not saying all is forgiven but I do find him less nauseating than I thought I would.
Totally agree, it’s really quite annoying, was looking forward to hating him. What’s even worse is that I actually quite enjoyed the little segment Roy Keane did after the game with Utd; he seems to have let a few grudges go and doesn’t come across quite as bitter and twisted.
As for the pundits sensationalizing- it actually didn’t bother me what Evra was saying at all. At what point does it stop being sensationalist and just be accepted as truth when you’ve got every pundit, Deeney and a whole host of other players saying that same thing?!
We all are viewing how the Men’s club of Manchester is faring these days.
So, win and loss happens to all the teams.
And not because of lack of Cojones, or being babies, but because of mistakes, bad team selection, tactics etc.
Why can it not be because of both? They’re not mutually exclusive; bad management can be exacerbated by bad decisions/ mindsets of players surely?
Well, he’s less nauseating because he’s trying to get even with Manchester United and it’s clear as day for all to see. And it’s always fun watching someone piss on Manchester, making him bearable at times.
But he reminds me of a GRINCH nevertheless.
Emery is so bad that Jose seems acceptable now..lol. understandable but a no go for me personally.. he is a poisonous creature who would be gone within a year or two but his BS will be associated with us forever.. can’t let him pollute the seat that was decorated by Arsene with class.
I would be ashamed to have Mourinho as Arsenal manager. He’s volatile, after one successful season, he always implodes in a self-created embarrassing shitstorm.
I want Mourinho as our manager for his usual two successful years.
I didn’t have a W*nk at halftime but everything else I did, although a bit earlier than 8 as I was watching the game with my son. I cannot believe that we could not beat Sheff Utd last night with the players we had available. I was convinced that Tierney was playing. I was so disappointed to the clown Kolasinac was playing. Where is Ozil? If not Ozil why Saka not Ceballos?? When he got booked why wasn’t he the one to be subbed and leave Willock on? AND the big one for me is why are keep on insisting… Read more »
I think maybe the team should have taken up this halftime tactic of yours, probably better than any of Emery’s tactical knee jerks
Kudos for taking up all of the 15 minutes of half-time.
The idea is if you played at one of the big clubs where you had success then you must know football and thus make a good pundit. Anyone gets a gig based on their name it seems.
I only had a shower. Not a golden one.
Whatever the case maybe.
Evra can Fuck off.
Why doesnt he say the same shite about United?
At last a comment that commands respect!!!
Evra was a Cnut, is a Cnut and always be a massive Cnut!!!
I can see tne truth hurts Xhaka. Sorry mate but y’all did play like kids.
Is that any surprise, when our astute manager starts 3 under 21s and at least 2 players out of position away to a newly-promoted team on a Monday night. What the fuck was he expecting. Every man and his dog knew Sheffield would be up for this game, and he literally handed it to them on a golden plater.
He can’t commit himself to standard formation, he can’t decide on tactics or what kind of footbal we’re suposed to play and after a year and half still hasn’t found a single player whom he fully trust. He is as selfconfident and assured as a virgin in a brothel.
As far as I’m concerned the real measure of Raul and Edu will be shown in getting rid of him before next January.
No bro, he trusted Xhaka ain’t he?
Maybe it ll get him going together with his mates?
What Evra said is true but annoying! However so is what Emery and Xhaka, all true and equally annoying (just that I can’t follow what Emery says).
I am sorry but the pundits are right. Should they say it, is it professional to say It on tv? No, they should have more class. BUT THEY ARE 100% RIGHT!!!!!
And this mental issue is not new. It has been going on for years, since we got smashed 8-2 by man Utd. The managers are to blame, but the players are just not good enough. We got outsmarted by Sheffield United and dominated by Watford. Serious problems to solve. Getting fancy hair cuts and new cars wont solve it.
As long as you keep leading the team out to play like babies, you’ll keep getting lots of stick, and rightly so.
Go out there and play like men, win games, and the talks dry up. Simple.
Ozil recognized Emerey´s lack in every department last season and Arsenal timid, hopeless conservative and gutless approach in the EL final was the last straw. Ozil called him out for what Emery is; “you´re no coach”
Ozil has since that time been frozen out and the team is not performing. And as many point out – we´re actually getting worse. Yet many have been really busy pointing fingers at our best player.
Alright the exclusion of Özil is stifling us in the creative dept and we felt it last night with the idiotic sideways passing and zero vision.. but how do you know about Özil saying thy at about our manager?
https://www.msn.com/en-za/sport/football/mesut-ozil-told-arsenal-boss-unai-emery-i-swear-youre-not-a-coach-after-being-taken-off-in-europa-league-final-defeat-say-turkish-translators/ar-AAClTcz
Did he really say bullshit several times in a proper interview? A great role model for my 8 year old son.
Am I getting downvotes because people have missed the sarcasm and think that I actually think IT IS a good example?
Or do all you guys ACTUALLY think this is how the Arsenal captain should conduct himself?
I down-voted you because today is Tuesday. If it had been Wednesday you I would have given you an one-vote.
Use it as a teaching moment. If he’s an Arsenal fan, I assume he already knows what shit is, so introduce him to shit’s cousin from up north, bullshit.
I can’t believe people are agreeing with Evra here.
His punditry was nothing but a joke. They asked him about Pepe but he kept talking about himself instead.
At the end he made a bunch of comments which he knew would make headlines. He said we played nice attractive football but act like babies and that’s why we lose.
We played the most boring football there is yesterday
It’s nothing to do with evra as a pundit. Fucking hell Evra as a man is barely worth listening to as is. But he’s not wrong with the sentiment, there’s a lack of credibility to Arsenal under Emery. You can say that’s been a feature of the club for some time in terms of our reputation as a club that can compete with the very best so it’s not exactly an Emery effect. But the general sentiment isn’t getting better, that’s what people are acknowledging.
Yep. Saying we played nice attractive football was the dead giveaway that what he said wasn’t even related to the match. It’s just what he had planned to say when he walked in the door. FFS attractive football doesn’t even apply to our last 3 seasons. Evra’s washed up. I’m not quite sure who thinks it’s a good idea to give airtime to some prat that threw his toys out of the pram and started a coup with his national team, but that’s the last kind of character I give half a fucks about what they have to say. Xhaka… Read more »
90% of anyone that ever played against Arsenal is going to bad mouth us whenever they get the opportunity, or especially when we give them the chance by playing as poorly as last night. Xhaka, however, needs to think a bit more before opening his mouth. Using an adjective like “scared” about the team, and not expecting some type of blow back like this is pretty naive. No need to get rankled however when, “well everyone can have their opinion” would be just fine. “Bullshit this and bullshit that” pretty much implies Evra hit a nerve.
Emery and Xhaka both need to fuck of to some Swiss midtable team. Where they can feel safe and their timid ideas can flourish. Just fuck off! #EmeryOut
I think the manager needs time, patience and some money to get back us into the top four and CL. Emery knows his players and he is a great tactician, so judge him at the end of the season please.
If this post is sarcastic like I think it is, then it made me laugh out loud.
Thanks for the upvote Jack!
Unai in disguise
I thought it was Raul!.
Evra forgets to mention that the “babies” Fabregas and Nasri both roughed him to the floor on separate occasions and he just lay there and cried. The latter actually slapped him on one occasion and no retaliation. We might have played babies but Evra is a mf’n bitch. He should stick to sucking off raw chickens on youtube. Or maybe shitting in your teammates shoes while in man united at the order of Rooney to prank other players makes you a big mature man? Or getting in fights with your own fans which leads to you getting kicked out of… Read more »
Did he really say bullshit so many times? 😀
Someone should remind him though that yesterday’s performance was bullshit, and this whole season has been bullshit so far.
We were awful list night, largely due to awful tactics. Evra was just spouting the same banal rubbish they’ve been saying about Arsenal since Wenger took over (those who were around during the 03/04 season will remember us being called ‘soft’ back then too).
It’s lazy, much like the rest of his self centred punditry. If Evra wants to talk about problems year on year how about highlighting the fact his beloved United (‘biggest club in the world’) have finished above Arsenal in the league only once since 2013.
Only WHO can prevent an away loss to Sheffield United?
You pressed you, referring to me. That is incorrect. The correct answer is you.
I found nothing wrong with what Evra said and agreed with him, he came across as a decent guy and doesn’t hold back imo. He even got RVP to agree with him.
That’s is very decent of you for just agreeing with a c*nt like Evra. If that’s okay with you and a few “Arsenal Fans” on here that agreed with him… I feel quite the opposite! In fact, that far opposite that I had my blood boil and the urge to get inside the telly and gauge his eyes out and …….. Just as I felt a few years back when he came out with that insulting comment!!!! First of all it’s not nice (as a person) to speak publicly about entire rival team in that manner (especially when half of… Read more »
“XHAKA IRKED BY EVRA AND TALK OF MENTAL PROBLEMS”
I’m irked by Xhaka’s footballing problems
Oh Xhaka just fuck off and take the halfwit manager with you.
“… you have to win and show big character…”
Brilliant. Why don’t you try, you know, actually fucking doing that?
Sadly what evra said is true
Interesting to have our menatlity questioned by a player who kicked a fan in the face while at Marseille. Given that the Sunday panel consisted of a leg breaker, an eye poker and a flag planter perhaps it is team Sky’s mentality that should be questioned.
Are you a politician? Sky sports panel doesn’t play our football on the park do they? Divert all you want, but under Emery and now Xhaka as our captain we’d rather complain about these nasty pundits than actually doing something about the way we play.
Where exactly in my post did I defend the team or Emery? My point was about the poor state of punditry at sky. You also give me far too much credit if you think my post could “divert” from the poor performances.
We all know sky is a pathetic excuse for punditry (mute button is great), but that isn’t the issue here… The issue is that Evra is right on this. We aren’t mentally tough enough to compete and we might not even be up to it for a top 4 again. Not under this manager and not with this captain. All we here from emery or xhaka is complaining about fans reactions, complaining about pundits, making excuses for each other or some other double speak and all we see is one piss poor preformance after another in the league. So like… Read more »
Allegri in
Shut it Xhaka let the football do the talking no need to get wound up here, in all honesty he spoke the truth!
I’m not trying to defend our lack of mental fortitude but the way Evra put it is just stupid and disrespectful. His former club is even worse. Anyway I can’t take a guy who posted a video of himself eating raw chicken on instagram seriously. He is a joke
Sometimes, when everyone’s saying the same things, sometimes there’s something to it…
“… strange because they have been in the same situation as us – maybe it was sometimes good, sometimes not so good, but like I said, if you PLAY LIKE bullshit like this every weekend, then HOW WE PLAY doesn’t get respected.”
Fixed it for you Granit.
I hate to say it, but Evra wasn’t wrong…
I thought Granit did OK. BUT as usual he will be target for some. For the goal, he was marking their number 12 (whoever that was) 1) We should have won the aerial duel but Luiz and several others were rooted to the ground Go figure. 2) Kolasinac should have been closer to the scorer. 3) Even so, Leno could have done better. Granit put in some good tackles, got stuck in. Instead the media pundnits as per usual would have it he was making unnecessary fouls…go figure bc Guendouzi and Sokratis gave up free kicks too and got yellows… Read more »
leno could have done better? the ball had just been whipped in and hit across his goal, he was off his line and the player was unmarked 5 yards away.
if leno does better its a world class save that goes on highlight reels.
btw, the reason he was unmarked is because his marker was ball watching, his marker granit xhaka.
As for Evra, again hysterical pundity players who have never managed. I don’t think we have ever lacked gumption. What we lack if anything is the right organization. And the tactical approach (this predictable build from the back) is another persistant issue not resolved. Leno i feel is poor at release of ball. Several times, he sent the ball to Guendouzi short and we were almost caught out. In that sense, Martinez is the better at ball release and finding players from deep. BUT the combination of our build from the back flawed dogma and the inability to adjust to… Read more »
Xhaxa instantly proving then prick right.
I can only repeat myself. Giving Xhaka the captains armband will cost Emery his head. The decision to guarantee Xhaka a starting place unless injured will have a deeper impact than we can imagine. Horrible decision.
Xhaka shouldn’t be in the team, he shouldn’t be captain and he shouldn’t be at the club. His bleating about what what mean ex-mancs says is irrelevant.
I love Xhaka’s words, his play, not so much. At this stage, however, it’s Emery I want gone, not players.
And Evra is and always will be a massive a-grade.
Every fan has such a short memory. Xhaka and Ramsey pairing was a well balanced midfield pairing for a while under both Wenger and Emery. The issue is the tactics, leaving Xhaka exposed which we all know he’s a very limited player with very little mobility.
I’m disappointed Emery is not playing to each player’s strengths.
Fans booing their own players at the Emirates — That’s absolutely bullsh!t and disrespectful. We need to back out team, shit players and all, at the Emirates.
Not a short enough memory to know he’s made individual errors since he’s joined. System or not he isn’t gpod enough.
I’m Irked by Xhaka being a dead-cert for the first team and the fact that the board haven’t sacked Emery yet!! I was expecting that news first thing this morning, I’d be fuming if I was edu and co
He’s irked. We’re firked.
The truth hurts.Arsenal maybe a premium club but the quality on the pitch doesn’t reflect the exalted status of the club.I blame the decline on the former manager. He had overstayed his welcome by at least 10 years and shd have been fired after the 8-2 loss. As for the present,the attack is too slow and predictable.If you see the quality in the cl,Arsenal are slightly better than Club Brugge torn apart by the PSG team. Emery may have a Europa winner but the epl is a different animal. If Sheff Utd can beat the gunners,what hope is ther for… Read more »
I dont agree with this at all. How can you blame the former manager for how the team plays right now. the current manager has got one of the best squads we have had in years (IMO), of which the players were brought in using the money we now can afford to spend if not for the the years the former had to restrict himself of spending on players yet the current manager plays the most boring and unattractive football ive seen arsenal play. Premium club? what do you think made this club PREMIUM in the first place? Arsenal was… Read more »
Are all Malaysians dumb fucks, or is it just you?
That’s at Malaysian Gunner btw.
I think I speak for the majority of fans saying we are “irked” in general.
Flashback to the time when rf and Wenger were battling for supremacy.After 2006 rf used to get the better off the fm on a regular basis.Why?He knew the fm liked to play galloping attacking soccer and he would hit on the counter.THats why for all the FM’s stats to show the gunners had more possession and shots,its goals that win matches. Same for SU game.Emery is in self-denial . I have said many a time the gunners attacking game is too ponderous and predictable. All a team has to do is cede possession and let the gunners pass all day.… Read more »
Am i supposed to know Exactly what these abbreviations mean?
Haha, was thinking the same thing!
“He’s still a prick, even if he’s right” describes how I feel watching mourinho’s commentary on sky perfectly
Xhaka is probably unsuited to the Premier League because he is just to slow. However, we have a good squad otherwise and the problems could be fixed by a change of manager.
I wanted to support Emery, but he keeps making it impossible to see a way forward.