Arsenal mired in leadership crisis

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/11/2019 (2488 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last May, in the moments after Arsenal’s second-half capitulation that saw them lose the Europa League final to London rivals Chelsea, Gunners midfielder Granit Xhaka gave a frank assessment of the loss in a post-match interview.

“I think today was a big chance for us. We didn’t take it,” he said. “We opened the game too fast in the second half… Of course, we are hungry. Maybe we don’t show each other we are hungry, but inside, we have a lot of players who are hungry if we lose.”

The point here isn’t what Xhaka said. It’s that he said anything at all. Captain Laurent Koscielny didn’t speak to reporters following the 4-1 defeat in Baku, nor did any other Arsenal player. The Switzerland international was the only one willing to go in front of the cameras. It was an act of leadership that shouldn’t have been required of him, but one he took on nevertheless.

Nine weeks later, Koscielny — a defender at the club for nine years — posted a video of himself removing his Arsenal shirt and revealing that of Bordeaux, the club for which he signed after sitting out the Gunners’ pre-season tour of the United States.

Another seven weeks followed before manager Unai Emery announced Xhaka had succeeded the Frenchman as captain following a players’ vote. There wasn’t really another candidate. And not because Xhaka was the obvious choice, but because no one else wanted the armband.

Needless to say, “Arsenal” and “leadership” are not words that have gone kindly together in recent times.

On Sunday, with his side having conceded twice to squander a 2-0 lead at home to Crystal Palace, Xhaka was booed off the pitch by Arsenal supporters. He reacted by cupping his hand to his ear and returning the jeers that only got louder as he jogged straight down the tunnel.

Emery is now under pressure to strip the 27-year-old of the captaincy and has confirmed the midfielder won’t feature in today’s Premier League match against Wolves (10 a.m., DAZN).

In other words, Emery is putting off making a decision and exposing his own lack of leadership. This is a manager, don’t forget, who stood grounded to his spot for nearly 10 minutes after the Europa League debacle.

“We need to be focused only 100 per cent on the match,” he said in his pre-match press conference. “Now we are going to train, but at the moment, he is not on my mind.”

It’s a delay tactic that will only make matters worse. Xhaka remains the sort-of captain because Emery can’t make up his mind; he won’t play this weekend because Emery doesn’t know what to do with him. The manager’s own lack of leadership is embarrassing for the club and supporters would do themselves a better turn by fixing their frustrations on him.

But it’s Xhaka who has drawn the ire. He doesn’t deserve it.

Granted, he commits the occasional head-scratching giveaway and he gets booked rather too often. He plays on the edge and his temper runs hot. But he also suffers from an on-pitch setup that doesn’t support him, doesn’t allow him to dictate play the way he can. And he certainly can. He has the ability to set the tempo from the centre of the park. He moves the ball efficiently and shines when launching a counter-attack. Few Premier League midfielders play as deadly a through ball. He’s good in the air and delivers a good set piece.

For Switzerland — where Borussia Monchengladbach’s Denis Zakaria provides defensive cover — Xhaka averages 10 more passes per match than he does for his club. He is the engine that drove his national team to the UEFA Nations League Finals and a big reason why it’s ranked 13th in the world. That he’s so woefully underrated at Arsenal is a shame. That he’s a scapegoat for a bad period at the club is ridiculous.

Is Xhaka the ideal, model captain? Of course not. But how many Premier League clubs could honestly claim to have one of those? He is Arsenal captain because he wanted to be when no one else did. And his club would be far worse off without him on the pitch.

This isn’t a team that improves by benching or moving him. Although you could hardly blame him if he’d want out. There’s a long list of teams that could do with a gritty, committed midfielder who spreads the ball with ease. Arsenal is one of them. He is exactly the type of player the team needs.

When asked to comment on Xhaka during his Friday press conference, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola offered support for the player, saying, “It’s not easy for the players sometimes, for all of us… But maybe I’m not the right guy to say that, because sometimes, I lose my emotions and I cannot control myself, but you have to try.” He added: “He’s the captain because he has something special in the locker room.”

That’s what leadership looks like, what it sounds like. Emery should try it sometime.

At the moment, however, the only figure at Arsenal who cares enough to carry the team through a rough patch, however imperfectly, is preparing for a Saturday on the bench.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

Twitter: @JerradPeters