Captain’s Armband Does Not Guarantee Starting Spot: Unai Emery

Unai Emery has challenged his new captain, Granit Xhaka to win over his critics and the club’s fans.

The Swiss international has come under fire recently due to his poor performances for Arsenal.

Fans and pundits have criticised him and have also deemed him to be not good enough for the Gunners. Despite, his obvious mistakes, Emery has continued to pick him in his starting XI regularly and made him the club captain ever since 2019/20 season began.

Now, the Arsenal players have also selected Xhaka as their leader after being allowed to vote on the matter

“I gave them some values, some qualities that would decide the captain and I used the vote because I want to know the opinion on that, after that when I checked I decided,” Emery said.

“First he’s mature. He has experience. We are living every time under pressure, under criticism, as a coach, as a player, as a club. But really the most important thing is to stand up each moment, go ahead with his qualities, with his behaviour, with his commitment.

“In the dressing room, the players voted him as the first leadership. I know, I spoke with him, we want to change that opinion outside. That respect he has inside is very, very important. Also, show [the] outside, keep moving ahead, playing, improving, behaviour, commitment. Each match is for him, for me, for us, a very good opportunity to show our capacity.

“But really I trust and believe in him. He is a good man. A good professional. A good player. Sometimes he makes mistakes. But the most important thing is to analyse, to learn and correct those mistakes.

“Our challenge and his challenge is to change that opinion, above all with a personality and improving each match, improving and giving us his help every time. The first chance is [Monday] in Manchester.”

“One month ago they [the captains] were Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, they were the captains,” he added. “I decided in that to keep time for the side and also to use every player for that vote.

“The last player [who] left from here is [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan. We waited for the moment we closed the team, closed the squad, and decided. In pre-season, we were speaking, we had three captains in that group – Xhaka, Monreal, Ozil, I wanted it to be five.”

Just when all hope might have been lost, Emery did warn Xhaka that a starting berth is not guaranteed just because he has been named captain. The Spaniard continued, “The performance is giving me the first eleven, the next players to play, not the armbands, not the captains.”

See Also: Arsenal Notable Captains