Arsene Wenger says Granit Xhaka will learn from his red card against Swansea even though he maintains the foul that resulted in the midfielder’s dismissal was not malicious.
The Swiss international was given his marching orders by Jon Moss on 70 minutes after tripping Mouda Barrow on the halfway line.
Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League game with Bulgarian outfit Ludogorets, the boss played down the fact the red card was Xhaka’s eighth in the last two and a half years.
“It is one [red card for Arsenal]. We are not responsible for the red cards he got somewhere else.
“He made a foul that could have got him a yellow card, that could have got him a red card. It was not meant to hurt anybody. It was just a late tackle to stop a counter attack that has been punished.
“I feel that he is intelligent enough to analyse that.”
Xhaka will be available for selection tomorrow night but will then miss the league fixtures with Middlesbrough and Sunderland and the EFL Cup showdown with Reading.
In Xhaka’s absence, Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny will stake a claim for a run in the first team.
Today it was revealed the Egypt international has made the 30-man shortlist for the African Footballer of the Year award. The winner will be announced in January. Good luck to him.
I don’t like the way this red card has blown up. The emphasize is on the foul and how Xhaka should learn from this. The fact that he got a red card for the incident is absurd. Wenger should defend him in my opinion.
Completely with you on that one. I’m still confused as to why we’re not appealing, and I don’t buy the fact that it’s because of a wealth of options in the middle. Every single pundit/ex-referee on the planet (even the sh1t ones) has said it was a yellow. Really odd. Maybe it’s the “nature” of the challenge? Don’t kick out and give the ref a chance to be a tw*t, just pull him by the arm, or something *shrugs shoulders*
We don’t have to fight every shit that people throw to us. As long as we have our internal solution that’s fine. No point arguing with those rubbish referees which might ended up another extra fine for “commenting” referee decision.
We moved on from there focusing on winning our 3rd CL games, strengthen the top spot which is more important than arguing the red card. The game was won already. 🙂 enjoy next game
I like Wenger’s response.
In years gone by Wenger may have defended him more, and even appealed the decision, but what with the squad depth, especially in midfield, AW can afford to make the players take a step back and analyse their performances and decisions – everyone’s going to have to work extra hard to get into this starting 11 this season.
Saying that, I thought the red card was ridiculous….
Wenger is wise enough not to dispute the dismissal. There’s no use risking further punishment, we won anyway. Let’s toughen up and get on with it.
Moss is kind of prick but the red card is not really unfair this time around. In fact, if Alexis being tackled that way when running towards on counter, I’d be the first to scream red.
The problem is whether refs decided consistently.
I wonder whether it has to do with Wenger’s preference for Coqzorla?
Or for a plan to bring Ramsey back.
Whatever the reason for Wenger not appealing, Xhaka will be hungry to win his place back after his ban, and he will learn that cynical fouls have to be done in less obvious way.
Xhaka should play box to box role against the big teams. Against the small teams we can afford to play him as CDM. So he’s directly in competition with Cazorla and Ramsey. Coq might not be as gifted as Xhaka but it’s obvious that hes our best CDM
Yeah I think Wenger is playing the long game trying to stay onside with refs. If we had drawn or lost or if we didn’t have alternative options I think he would have lambasted the stupidity of the decision (and it was an idiotic call by Moss – a cynical foul certainly, but not a dangerous one). A case of “moving swiftly along….”
if everyone who committed a similar foul on an Arsenal player when we were breaking 4 against 2 was given a red, I’d have no problem with Xhaka’s sending off at all
i think that’s probably not going to happen, however
I think the “lesson” here is that even when you’re in the right, life conspires against you and you need to take it on the chin.
Suspect wenger may have appealed had the next three games been against more challenging opposition.
Here goes Arsene with intelligent players again.
Its as though there’s a Sudoku game printed out above the dotted line. The prerequisite to signing is successfully completing those Sudoku squares, and if you can’t, I guess you don’t sign for Arsenal.
If you have a vacuous, Ross Barkley-esque look in your eyes, it’ll probably be difficult to impress Arsene.
Why would you want to be stupid?
Or have stupid around you?
😀
Viera had plenty of red cards too.
How soon some forget.
Its a tricky balance to maintain discipline but also retain the bite.
I think Arsene a bit happy with this red cards as he can rotate player without creating friction among the team players.
*red card
Let Xhaka learn from the experience, ref could have heard a bias opinion about him so he decided upon this behavior and not the act. Xhaka will be a better player after the come back.