Martin Keown and Chris Sutton have both pointed the finger of blame at Unai Emery over the situation at Arsenal regarding Granit Xhaka.
The 27-year-old was jeered by the Arsenal fans as he made his way off the pitch against Crystal Palace at the weekend, and clearly upset and frustrated with the reaction, he reacted himself and has now caused an even bigger backlash.
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Time will tell what decisions are made at Arsenal with regards to Xhaka’s place in the starting line-up and the captaincy, but both Keown and Sutton believe that Emery is just as much to blame as anyone in the entire incident for the way in which he has decided on a captain this year.
“Emery is as much to blame as anyone. If you let the players pick their skipper, then it becomes a popularity contest and that is not what leadership is about,” Keown wrote in his Daily Mail column.
“I’ve never had a manager who decided the captaincy that way and, for me, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is still the safer bet.”
Meanwhile, Sutton echoed that point on BBC 5 Live as per the video below, as he slammed the decision to allow the players to choose their captain, when ultimately it should just be the manager who makes such a crucial call.
Now Emery faces a serious turning point in his own tenure in terms of how he deals with Xhaka, and more importantly how he gets the team back on track and the fans back on side to ensure that everyone is puling in the same direction to achieve their objectives this season.
After more dropped points at the weekend, they are now four points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea after 10 games, and having lost to Sheff Utd last week too, it has been a hugely disappointing few days for the Gunners with Emery coming under fire for being partly to blame for it all.
"You should never let the players choose the captain – just do it yourself!"@chris_sutton73 thinks #AFC manager Unai Emery made a poor choice by not picking his own captain.
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— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) October 28, 2019
