Unai Emery Full Of Praise For Granit Xhaka Despite Disaster Return

Unai Emery applauded Granit Xhaka’s performance after the Swiss international was welcomed for the Europa League game.

It wasn’t really a popular choice as boos rang out when the German opponents scored twice to collect all three points at the Emirates. It was a historic win for the visitors but a disaster for Unai Emery and the Gunners.

“It’s very good news with Granit. We played well and the supporters helped him and I think it’s good news,” Emery said.

The Spaniard added, “Xhaka wanted to continue playing. His match today was good and he helped the team. I am being positive but I’m also realistic and we lost against a good opponent. We have improved from our last match and we are still first and have the opportunity to qualify, but we missed the opportunity tonight.”

Martin Keown told BT Sport after the 1-2 defeat at home, “I think he may well have taken the team as far as he can.

“We just witnessed an absolute shambles of a performance, the team motivation, the team selection, the performance, the subs, it was dreadful. The fans turned many years ago on Terry Neil, things got toxic, we’re getting close to that again. Is he able to motivate the team? He seems to have lost the players.

“The desire has ebbed away. The subs he made – you’ve got Nicolas Pepe and Alexandre Lacazette sitting on the bench when you’re trying to get back into the game. He might even feel he needs to step aside now. Change was needed under Wenger but now it looks like the club need to go in another direction again. This is relegation form.

“Do the club really realise how tricky this is going to be? Decisions have to be made otherwise they are going to plunge even further down the table. It’s a sad day because we still love the club. It’s sad watching it.”