COMMENTARY
As a defensive midfielder your job is to control the game in the centre of the park and make sure that the opposition cannot stay on the ball too long. Unfortunately for Arsenal fans watching on in their side’s clash versus Valencia, Granit Xhaka was lacking the desired quality, both on and off the ball. His radar was all over the place, struggling to carry out both simple and ambitious passes, while he could not keep up with the Spanish side’s own midfielders – which included former Gunner Francis Coquelin. The fury on Twitter showed just how frustrating his display was and if Arsenal want to truly compete at the very top then they need to expect a lot more from their Swiss international star. The thing that will annoy spectators the most is that they know what the 26-year-old is actually capable of, having put in some top drawer displays all season. This was definitely not one of them and questions have rightly been asked as to why that was the case.
This is Futbol has gathered some of the raging responses from the Arsenal faithful on Twitter:
Xhaka. Garbage. Liability. Never thought highly of him. Decent player but makes costly errors. #AFC #VALARS #Baku
— Zubair (@VirginianGunner) May 9, 2019
Xhaka's passing is shocking
— Stu Mac (@StuartyMac07) May 9, 2019
Xhaka horror show
— ™? (@KingsleyReb0rn) May 9, 2019
https://twitter.com/HaychArsenal/status/1126570661105807361
We are playing with 9 men by starting Xhaka and Ozil. Offering absolutely nothing
— Patricio (@MagicmanhnT) May 9, 2019
Xhaka’s defensive awareness is so bad, always invites pressure when there’s no need
— JT ???? (@JT_251) May 9, 2019
Can we please get rid of Xhaka. He’s just sooooo slow.
— MontrealGooner (@MontrealArsenal) May 9, 2019
https://twitter.com/KjellOTangen/status/1126574607505530880
https://twitter.com/ZeGooner4real/status/1126574393533112320