Granit Xhaka

Not when he dosent have to be… The foul resulted from a few bad decisions by variuos players which ended with us having very little space… Result, poor pass… Reckless challenge…

This strikes me as heavily rose-tinted glasses. Both penalties were penalties imo, and yesterday was definitely a red card. You would be able to pull up numerous other similar fouls that haven’t resulted in red cards, but referees failing to be consistent and making mistakes in other instances doesn’t make what happened yesterday any less of a red card. The only one I agree with you on was the first red card against Hull, which should have been punished jus tlike every other foul that is done cynically to prevent a counter attack.

Even if you are right about the aforementioned discussions, in almost every example Xhaka has done something stupid and left himself exposed to the possibility of punishment.

Out of interest, how are justifying the more recent penalty as being “dodgy as fuck”? He clearly pushed the attacker in the back, which was an astoundingly stupid thing to do.

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The first red is a kick from behind without a chance to the ball and the second is a two footed challenge. You can maybe argue over the first one, as a tactical foul, but the second is just poor in every regard and should be shown as a red more than it is actually done. It’s really not a matter of him being unlucky, but a matter of referees being more consistent with these calls with red cards being the norm and not the exception.

Same goes with the penalties pretty much. The first one is debatable and the second is just a poor challenge that clips the other player’s feet somehow for both to go down. Definitely his own doing and stupidity on his behalf as he didn’t need to get this close and even more so not right inside of the penalty area.

Let me dissect the incidents so that I am clearer.

vs. Stoke - It’s more of a coming together, where Xhaka gains control of the ball, but Allen runs into him due to his momentum. Gotta ask yourself how many time body blocks like these are given, especially in the penalty area?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uCSIbvE1sI

vs. Bournemouth - Again, it’s a little more stupid, but it’s a coming together. And the referee ignores an almost identical incident on Bellerin from which Bournemouth score their third. If one is a foul and a penalty, then I can’t understand the referee’s thinking behind not awarding a foul on Bellerin. Hence I said unlucky.

The red card vs. Swansea was a joke, it was a tactical foul trying to break a counter, we see numerous attempts at these every game and there is hardly ever a sending off unless it’s the last man making the tackle. The only difference is he does in with his feet rather that trying to rip the opponent’s shirt off. According to the letter of the law, he was sent off for endangering an opponent, for which there is no case here.

The red yesterday also could have gone either ways with a different referee. Yes, he was airborne for a moment but when he makes contact (barely any) with Defour, his feet are on the floor. Rojo got away with a couple last month, Feghouli got his red rescinded for a similar challenge and if it wasn’t for the trigger happy Jon Moss (who get’s all his player background from the dailies I think), the result would have been different.

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He’s been deservedly sent off twice now and given away foolish penalties.

He’s pretty much deserved every major decision that’s gone against him this season.

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But let me guess, Zlatan doesn’t deserve to get sent off ever, even if he nearly decapitates an opponent or holds one by the throat cause of his extra stratospheric stardom?

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That penalty he gave away against Swansea for me was harsh to say the least

Yesterdays red was deserved though. Made a shocking attempt at a pass and then dived in stupidly

Crazy decision to make and he needs to cut that out of his game or he will just become even more of a liability and be spending time in the stands or on the bench

Just pathetic that mate.

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If you look at the penalty against bornmouth the Bournemouth player suddenly looses all strength in his legs and falls to the ground as if tripped over from a shoulder charge from Xhaka,

Compair that to the foul on bellerin that wasn’t given where he is pushed i the back and he falls as if he has been pushed in the back and you can understand why some people think it was a harsh pen

I’m not too sure what Zlatan has to do with Xhaka deservedly being sent off but then if you were trying to be funny I guess it’s safe to say you failed pretty miserably.

I definitely think one or two decisions might have gone differently with another referee but there are also plenty of referees who would have given them the same way and I think if they were tackles that went against us people would be up in arms calling the referee all sorts for not giving a foul or a suitable card.

Xhaka needs to rein in on his discipline issues.

Technically the bounmouth player dived but I guess taking tru sterling non Leon yesterday players can’t really be blamed for going down to easily if that’s the only way they can get the ref to give a foul

Like you said, if you don’t go down you don’t get the foul so there’s nothing to encourage players to stay on their feet if they feel contact.

I though it was amusing :relaxed:.

It was just another boring attempt at trolling which seems to be the way on this forum these days.

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“we”

Good man Johan!

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We certainly do love a Swissman that can’t time a tackle.

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Djourou had a few spells when he was more than decent for us, If he could have been used more sparingly and not been exposed to playing with players like squliachi then it could have been a lot difrent

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I was a fan of Dojo and I agree. Although I’ll add some anti-Wenger rhetoric in there and say had he been brought up in the development stage of his career under a better defensive coach with a better set of defenders he’d have been a good defender. Ideal third choice.

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