By Daily Sports on October 29, 2019

It is toxic again at Arsenal. In the past few years until the announcement of his resignation from managing the club, erstwhile manager Arsene Wenger had been the subject of unsavoury disunity which led to violence in the stands as well as plane flying in support and against the manager. Many fans were tired of Arsenal playing so-called beautiful football without really being able to challenge the top sides of English and European football for top honours.

It was so toxic at Arsenal fandom that Wenger was forced (literally) to step down from the throne after about two decades in charge.

In came Spaniard Unai Emery as Head Coach. Last year was a relative period of honeymoon for him as he narrowly missed top four Champions League qualification and took to the club to the Europa League final where they were hammered 4-1 by a departing Eden Hazard-inspired Chelsea.

Going into this season, there was excitement in the air for Arsenal fans as the club invested heavily on a number of big name players. However, with a few matches into the season the familiar ambience of gloom and doom has returned to the Gunners.

Emery has badly struggled to transform his side into the solid defensive unit and irresistible offensive force that those connected with Arsenal have hoped he would, with Arsenal dropping points in matches they were expected to win.

As well, some players of the club have dipped in form and a perfect example is club captain Granite Xakha. His appointment as captain has been divisive as many fans believe he lacks the tactical acumen to become a regular Arsenal player, not to talk of being the captain.

And so it has been that every unconvincing performance from the Switzerland international has been met with sharp criticism in the stands. 

Some weeks ago when he was subbed against Aston Villa at the Emirates with the Gunners trailing 0-1, the fans booed him out. And on Sunday they did the same, first cheering him sarcastically as he was substituted following a dithering display, and when he refused to hurry away from the pitch, loud boos rained down.

It was an ugly sight to behold, seeing the captain, the leader of the club on the pitch, being massively turned upon and then seeing him go on a public war with the fans by mouthing ‘fuck off’ to them and cupping his ears to their boos before storming off the pitch.

Professional football’s uglier side involves watching frot-filled mouths of angry people swearing at performers in the pitch. The argument goes in official quarters, as Emery put it in addressing the debacle, that fans have a right to praise and criticise and players should simply accept that fact. The Arsenal coach judged Xakha to be wrong 

In his reaction to the fans booing Gunners legend Ian Wright also feels Arsenal fans are owed an apology from their skipper after his strop against Palace.

Wright, speaking on Match Of The Day 2, said: “I don’t like any players getting booed.

“But this is the captain. Now I think that they’re frustrated with the fact that he’s not run off.

“He’s now goading them.

“We’re talking about fans that have watched him in the four years he’s been there have a handful of good games and he’s treating the fans like that.

“He should apologise – that’s the captain.

“He should be apologising. He should have apologised already. That’s the guy they chose as the captain. That’s not captain’s behaviour.

“Arsenal fans have showed a lot of patience to him and the performances he’s put in. He owes them a lot more and he’s acted like that.

“He’s the captain and he’s got the responsibility to take that on board. He can’t go and do that. I can understand the Ozil situation but he’s the captain – the manager’s got faith in him!”

Emery and Wright make a lot of sense but a thought must be spared for a player, who first of all is human after all and not immune to the hurt of such loud and pointed public embarrassment. 

Xakha may likely be stripped off his captaincy and a larger question surrounds whether he would be a Gunner for long. It could get even uglier if the fans refuse to forgive him and continue to boo him. 

Hector Bellerin, Arsenal’s midfielder, spoke wise words which should be directed to both Xakha and the booing fans. “We are all humans, we all have emotions, and sometimes it’s not easy dealing with them,” Bellerín wrote. “It’s time to lift each other up, not to push each other away. We only win when we are together.”

As for Emery, he is under intense pressure to turn things around and the anger toward Xakha is partly because he is Emery’s representative on the pitch as leader and a vote of no confidence on the captain is a reflection of the fans thinking about the coach himself.

•Photo: Xakha

Source Daily Sports

Posted October 29, 2019

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