Official: XHAKA named Arsenal captain

XHAKA will be supported by Aubameyang, Bellerin, Lacazette, and Ozil. No Englishman has made the 5, despite Emery previously stating that he would include one.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/emery-why-xhaka-has-been-named-club-captain

Did Emery make the right choices for his 5 captains?

Xhaka's next to leave, then.

In all seriousness, I'm a believer of the armband not having much significance. The real leaders will lead no matter what. It's purely a symbolic gesture.

In this case, it's pretty much just defaulting to the guy with captaincy experience.

The other picks are a mix of seniority and talent leaders. Auba and Laca are the best performers in the squad and inspire others that way, on top of being popular guys off the pitch. Bellerin has been at Arsenal forever. I see him as the long-term captain tbh. Ozil is whatever.

Meh it was an obvious choice. He is actually well respected as a leader and the players voted for him as far as the rumours go.

But like Jay said, real leaders prove themselves on the pitch. Auba and Bellerin will lead from example from the top and from the defence. Holding will too.

Hopefully this doesn't mean Xhaka will be a regular now

unreal

Emery the delusional made Xhaka captain after calling team out for being scared against Watford, real leadership qualities. You cant make this shit up.

RealGunner wrote:Meh it was an obvious choice. He is actually well respected as a leader and the players voted for him as far as the rumours go.

But like Jay said, real leaders prove themselves on the pitch. Auba and Bellerin will lead from example from the top and from the defence. Holding will too.

Hopefully this doesn't mean Xhaka will be a regular now

I mean, I think if I'm an Arsenal fan, that's the fear. Emery seems to like him, he's captain now...points to him probably holding a starting spot.

But maybe not, I guess we'll see

The good news is that we usually dump our captain every summer. I hope #captainscared follows the same path.

mani88 wrote:The good news is that we usually dump our captain every summer.

So this must be the four stages every Arsenal player goes through when the club lets them know they have just received the captaincy:

Stage 1 - Gratitude and Pride:

Stage 2 - Happiness:

And then when they remember what happened to their previous captains:

Stage 3 - Remembrance and Acceptance:

Then of course the meltdown:

Stage 4 - Meltdown:

Poor Xhaka.

For a while now captaincy means little in Arsenal and this time it's no different. I'm not bothered by it, for all we know he's chosen based on seniority alone or no one else dare to step up.

Reportedly, it was put to the players to vote for who they wanted as captain.

Meh reminds me Vermaelen situation in 12/13
Respectable character for sure but was dropped for footballing reasons for the good of the team in latter stages of the season

Amy Lawrence in the Athletic this morning:

Three teammates visited Xhaka's home as they were concerned about his morale.

Xhaka felt like he was the "last resort" as captain because Emery took so long to decide who should take the armband after Koscielny left.

Torreira was so upset/shocked at what was happening he was in tears on the sidelines, and had to be consoled by Bellerin and Emery. (Club photographer Stuart McFarlane confirmed this as well).

There was a large section of the crowd who were appalled by how Xhaka was being treated.

It was the North Bank who started getting annoyed when Xhaka walked off. The boos started when Xhaka responded.

Here's Ian Wright with a good point about Xhaka not even wanting the ball last night:

Wrighty put it perfectly. As ‘the captain of Arsenal’ Granit Xhaka did not act like a captain. Not just the walking off stuff, but his on pitch contributions as well. pic.twitter.com/0zuIpgQ8KD

— Bhavs (@bhavss14) October 28, 2019

And it was very telling in that clip how, even when the pass was on, the Arsenal players didn't want to pass to him.

Its all Emery's fault, we play worst football in the league.

This will be the last time Emery subs Xhaka out.

Felt terrible for Xhaka. Disgraceful from the fans

I don't how the Arsenal fans are split for this but I support Xhaka here. Professionalism aside, everyone has a breaking point and this is just downright mental harassment if we look at the longer picture and the story leading up to this.

Emery has stripped Xhaka of the captaincy

Emery told me Xhaka "accepted" the decision.

Bellerin says the squad “respect the decision of the coach and the club. For us it’s to give him our love and care.”

Aubameyang is now club captain

great stuff

Passing the captains armband around like its a brochure from Avon ffs

its a joke blud

Myesyats wrote:Passing the captains armband around like its a brochure from Avon ffs

its a joke blud

Agree fam, ya understand

Believe me, this is the only feasible decision. If Xhaka still keep his armband, things will turn bad really quick.

Who takes the armband when Aubameyang leaves in the summer? Özil?

urbaNRoots wrote:Who takes the armband when Aubameyang leaves in the summer? Özil?

Leno, is my guess.

Who cares at this point though? Arsenal has the same problem as Barca, they don't have any real leaders on the pitch (having an armband doesnt make you a leader) and the manager doesnt have balls.

In many ways, our situation is quite similar