Xhaka is Arsenal’s worst-ever captain… anyone who rates him knows nothing about football, including Emery – The Sun

Granit Xhaka is captain of Arsenal… just let that sink in for a minute.

One of the worst players to put on an Arsenal shirt in the last decade is the club captain.

A man with absolutely no discernible footballing attributes. A man who has given away more penalties than any other player during his time in the Premier League.

A man who consistently makes mistakes leading to opposition chances and goals.

A man who recently said his team were scared of Watford and was booed off the pitch at home to Villa, before the team staged a great comeback, because he was no longer playing.

He is captain of a club previously led by Frank McLintock, Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira.

I completely understand we aren’t blessed with the same calibre of players anymore. But surely we haven’t fallen that far?

Aubamayang would have been my choice, but quite frankly I would have had the kit man above Xhaka. He should be absolutely nowhere near the team, let alone be wearing the captain’s armband.

Being captain of Arsenal used to mean something. In Tony Adams we had one of the greatest leaders ever to play the game and a man who won the league as captain in THREE consecutive decades.

Arsene Wenger was initially responsible for cheapening the role, dishing it out to players in a desperate attempt to stop them leaving, before bestowing the honour on bang average journey men like Arteta and Mertesacker.

But Emery has reduced us to an all time low. Last week’s announcement was one of most embarrassing moments in our club’s history.

Apparently the captaincy was chosen by a player vote. Not even in Wenger’s last years of rank incompetence would he have done that.

Xhaka may well be popular within the squad. Maybe he tells a great joke or always gets the beers in.

Does that mean he should be given the armband and presumably a guaranteed start when fit?

We’re not a pub team. By opening up the decision to a public vote, Emery has shirked responsibility and by accepting the result and appointing Xhaka, he’s stuck two fingers up to all the fans who know how absolutely terribly bad he is.

For the first couple of years of his diabolical spell at Arsenal people were split on Xhaka.

The two camps were comprised of those who understand football and those who don’t. In the pro Xhaka camp were the nauseating, modern breed of football fan, who think our sport is like American Football and can be judged by endless stats.

‘He has a high pass completion rate’. Yes, that’s because he passes the ball two yards most of the time.

‘He has more touches than anyone else’. Yes, that’s because he’s not good enough to play a first time ball and takes three touches to bring it under control when he should take one.

‘He has a great long shot’. Yes, but… oh… no… wait a second, that’s a complete myth, he’s only scored 7 goals in 104 Arsenal appearances.

Anyone who knows anything about the ebb and flow of our national sport and doesn’t just judge the game by stats, knows Xhaka is an utterly dreadful footballer.

Anyone who thinks Xhaka is good knows nothing about football. It’s as simple as that.

Finally, in the last six months or so, The majority of Arsenal fans agree that he shouldn’t be in the team. Guendouzi, Ceballos and Torreira (who admittedly has had a terrible slump in form) are all infinitely better. On top of that, we now have Chambers as an option in defensive midfield.

Even the calamitously bad David Luiz could step up into that role.

He’d be a lot better use there than in central defence. But now all those options are out of the window and any Arsenal midfield will have to include the godawful Xhaka.

That makes me incredibly angry and depressed.

And despite being very patient with him so far, I don’t think I can forgive Emery for appointing the worst captain in Arsenal’s history.

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