I was going to let this slide, but with the fanbase split once again I thought I would chirp up.
Granit has issued a statement.
After taking some time to reflect on what happened on Sunday afternoon, I would like to give you an explanation rather than just a quick response.
The scenes that took place around my substitution have moved me deeply. I love this club and always give 100% on and off the pitch.
My feeling of not being understood by fans, and repeated abusive comments at matches and in social media over the last weeks and months have hurt me deeply.
People have said things like “We will break your legs”, “Kill your wife” and “Wish that your daughter gets cancer”.
That has stirred me up and I reached boiling point when I felt the rejection in the stadium on Sunday.
In this situation, I let myself be carried away and reacted in a way that disrespected the group of fans that support our club, our team and myself with positive energy. That has not been my intention and I’m sorry if that’s what people thought.
My wish is that we get back to a place of mutual respect, remembering why we fell in love with this game in the first place.
Let’s move forward positively together.
Granit
First thing to say is that this is not an apology, it’s mitigation. It was released on his personal site for a reason. I suspect it’s because he has refused to make the type of groveling apology that the club would have wanted to release on their official site. Emery said he must apologise, he asked him to apologise and he simply hasn’t, and why the hell should he?
Emery is not, and has not helped matters one little bit, it’s almost a week on and he hasn’t given any indication as to whether Granit is still the club captain or not. Make a decision man! This would help to put it to bed, one way or another. It was bad enough that he dragged his appointment as captain out for months, and now this. Back him or sack him, but do something.
It’s quite clear that the players are fully square behind him continuing as captain. Just today Martinez and Chambers have publicly said it in no uncertain terms. Now let’s face it, he’s their captain first, they are the ones he leads, and it’s the team that matters most, not a bunch of prissy little abusive fans that think they deserve a personal apology.
The club had, and might still have, a great opportunity here, back him to continue as captain, no fine and perhaps a mild rebuke for his reaction. This would sent a message to the low life scum that boo and jeer, that it’s not acceptable. Maybe, just maybe, something good can come out of this whole mess if these fans are shown that they have massively overstepped the mark.
People are quick to proclaim that “this is no way for the Arsenal captain to behave”, but I say it’s exactly how he should behave.
Positively Arsenal 
Granit is not in the squad for the game against Wolves. So we have lost a player not through injury, not through suspension but through some arseole fans, what a ridiculous situation.
Something has to change otherwise players will leave, players won’t come and the name of ARSENAL will be like social lepers to the footballing elite.
I think we have reached a situation where cameras should be used to pick out people who are abusing players and they should be banned from the stadium, that might shut a few of the wankers up.
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Reading about Xhakas background, he sounds principled, strong, and with values.
Apparently his dad served time in a Yugoslav prison during a difficult time for that part of the world
Xhaka should not have to back down over a cowards who threaten his new born child, his wife, let alone give him grief. Would love to see some of these social inadequate trolls confront Xhaka in person.
Xkaka needs not apologise any further than this statement, I don’t think he needed to go as far as he did. The club must keep him as captain, and play him ASAP so the decent members of the crowd, the players can conspicuously back him, and a few others in the stadium can have a bit of a change of heart now we know what his family have been subjected to. Anyone who has made threats should end up subject to what’s left of British justice.
Emery has not shown leadership nor covered himself in glory here, at all. He should back his captain 100%, a captain it is said is deeply angry, not depressed, or traumatised as UE has suggested.
Amazing how Emery is finding so many different ways of losing the trust, and generally pissing off so many different people, I suspect the lack of trust in him is now permeating the squad, this will not help, and will eventually have only one outcome, despite the claimed backing of the clubs hierarchy
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When Emery goes, we will need a unity candidate who understands and can work with our players. Maybe an ex player, maybe the man who sits next to UE in the dugout, certainly not Jose who will make friends with them at the start, then drop them
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Great stuff man. Thank you.
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Man… I was genuinely upset last night when I saw Xhaka’s apology without even reading all the way through it, because for me it felt like a win to those “prissy little abusive” shits.
Some fool said “Xhaka should take a look in the mirror”. Like really, does that goes for his wife and his baby too?
Since the start of this season many genuinely got upset and would police opinions if you just mildy criticise Emery for Arsenal’s lack of identity, poor tactics. They would scold you as if you’re threatening the man’s life or something, but yet, and this is what always got my damn goat, to them the players were always fair game. I tweeted about it many times around the Liverpool and Spurs games, that we should stop making targets of players and give Emery a free pass.
What Xhaka went through, Mustafi, etc… is what happens when you allow player abuse to go on unchecked.
Its time for Emery to pull his finger out and turn things around because he can’t keep throwing players under the bus like this and leave them to the mercy of those socially inadequate trolls (ta Mandy for that one).
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He was signed to provide grit and steel to a midfield that was perceived to lack those attributes – and wasn’t it just amazing how quickly the referees and media began to target him.
His naturally combative style was effectively emasculated within his first season, his attempts to remodel himself rendered hopeless by sustained criticism. And where the likes of Talksport, the pundits and the press went, so too did the gullible and hateful fans (especially those of an islamophobic persuasion).
And so now every mistake is magnified, every positive ignorred. And then the manager (professing support) throws him to the wolves – or rather doesn’t in the case of this weekend.
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Some extra low points for me this week were a media article asking ‘how did it come to this?’ and a Gary Neville article talking about his incredible indiscipline, flaws, blah blah
Didn’t read either but saw enough in them, especially Neville’s to be pissed off.
Media have played a giant role in it all. Made a huge deal of disciplinary record before kicking a ball, then savage unbalanced criticism from soon after, with Phil Neville going after him as hard as I’ve ever seen from an ex pro to a current player. how can that be? What ‘sweet spot’ does Xhaka hit for so much criticism when there are obviously hundreds and hundreds of inferior players?
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I’ve no doubt this all played a massive role in our stupider fans believing he is, basically, a rotten, ill-disciplined, stupid player, with a suspect character.
The Neville’s in particular can fuck right off. And, of course, pgmol. Think of Rooney, the Neville’s, Scholes, Rojo. All dirtier. All having committed more red card offences (arguably Xhaka hasn’t committed any) and plenty of the rest. But, when not punished half as much as should be…you’re not ill disciplined in your fouling?
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Rich… Gary actually said, this an actual paid “football analyst”, that Xhaka commits 400 mistimed tackles per match. Think about it, that’s just under 4 mistimed tackles per minute. He also said Xhaka gets a yellow card each match. How the hell can those in the studio with him let such utter BS go unchallenged?
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Arsenal U23’s beat Spurs U23’s 3-1 away tonight, our goals were scored by Burton, Coyle and Tormey,
Team: Hein, Swanson, Mavropanos, Clarke, Bola, Burton, Smith, Smith-Rowe, Nelson, John-Jules, Coyle
subs: Hillson, Olowu, Cottrell, Medley, Tormey
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Labo. Think that 400 figure was what I saw in the intro of article before turning away.
Weirdly, he’s actually aping one of Merson’s little habits there. Got his book in charity shop a while back and flicked through it, and he was often doing that ‘we had 100 shots but couldn’t score’; ‘there were a thousand fouls’, ‘I drank a million pints’, that sort of thing, but more stupid. * If you’re using Merse methods, chances are you’re being a wanker about something.
Still not found a way to stop it really getting to me in moments here and there, that the Neville et al narrative holds sway; something along lines of that saying about winners writing history, but here it’s perhaps closer to partially writing reality, because plenty of people absorb that bogus shite, and it influences things in the present.
*Also he claimed to regularly shit in his roommate’s (Perry Groves I think) pillowcase, and other charming japes.
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And we know it’s just hyperbole but these guys are pundits, not your average twatter commenter. I can already Paul saying “Xhaka make 100 mistimed tackles”, than Gary chirp in “no, he’s actually fours times worse that that, he makes 400 bad tackles.”
It’s so unnecessary because what do they really want to achieve except cast aspersions on our captain?
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New post is up
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