Xhaka's going to cost us

comment by GHAGooner (U19228)
posted 38 minutes ago
Xhaka should as Scholes, Costa, Herrera, Ramires, Wanyama, and Gerrard for their invisibility cloaks, because all of those w@nkers consistently got/get away with dirty fouls without the ref doing anything. For facks sakes, Fellaini pushed Gibbs into another player last season right before a Man Utd goal.

I don't care if Xhaka adds some dirt/cynicism to the team. Same people here who regularly complained about Arsene bringing in soft players without fight and praising Mourinho teams for kicking Arsenal into the ground now want Xhaka to lower his aggression? No, he should continue, because as the season progresses and Arsenal stays near the top, teams will resort to the usual kick Arsenal into the ground play. And there needs to be someone to return some of that kicking and not let teams walk over the squad.
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Fully agree with you here.

He's clearly not a loose cannon, Bats has been vociferously against him since we were linked so is going OTT. One red card v Swansea which was harsh, was a cynical foul stopping a counter attack (which is the kind of foul we need to do more often) and this penalty which evidently was not some kind of deranged attack borne out of anger hardly indicates that he's some nutter with a short fuse.

I'm not going OTT. His red card vs Swansea was a joke but you can't defend what he did yesterday

You're so wrong here, Bats.

We won the game yesterday because we won the midfield battle against a good Stoke side. That is where we lost so many points against the lesser teams in the last season.

comment by Bats (U18355)
posted 37 seconds ago
I'm not going OTT. His red card vs Swansea was a joke but you can't defend what he did yesterday
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yes I can.

It wasnt even a foul. His elbow hit Allen because Allen ran into him.

Yea our performance was good, it doesn't take away that it was a stupid pen that could have cost us. He was lucky not to be sent off considering the ref spotted it and the game would have been totally different

People on this board quite clearly have never played a game of football in their lives. Xhaka high elbow was a change in direction, and Allen literally ran into him. Big conspiracy

https://postimg.org/image/s7kz7ak59/

Posted that on another thread - how is that indefensible? I'm not disputing it's a penalty but that has nothing to do with the elbow, he just blocked Allen off and was clumsy. The elbow isn't raised, Allen is tiny and was already diving, so the elbow being in a natural position for a sudden movement ends up catching him in the face.

He threw the elbow slightly in my opinion. I don't think the penalty is as clear-cut as Bats is making it out. Howard Webb himself said it wasn't a penalty. Xhaka would have needed to throw himself away like he was avoiding a grenade or landmine, to get out of Allen's way. Allen basically ran into him. What inched the decision towards that pen is the awkward throw of the elbow.

Sheriff, intended or not, a flying elbow to the head isn't something that ought to be swept under the carpet, imo. I agree it's probably half instinctive as you turn to shield the ball from your opponent, but so's opening your arms out for balance when you jump, and the general agreement is that's a pen. Flailing your elbows is far more dangerous than that and refs shouldn't just let it go. Then again, Howard Webb didn't think De Jong (or whoever it was) plunging his studs into Xabi Alonso's chest was a red. He's a prize plum.

Xhaka's challenge was reckless at the very least, imo. How he escaped without even a booking is a mystery to me.

That said, I like Xhaka. Think he ought to feature more often for Arsenal.