Arsenal captain Granit Xhaka is livid that the Gunners are seen as immature in light of the club's latest 1-0 defeat against Sheffield United. The loss meant the North London has yet to win in the season when playing outside of Emirates, and they are being labeled as babies.
The Blades getting the best of the Gunners no doubt created frustrations, but the midfielder insisted there should be no question on the players' collective character. He added there is no psychological question for Arsenal whether the team is playing at home or on the road.
"I'm sorry to say that, but for me it's the same whether you play at home or away - you have to win and show big character and not look for the same excuse," the Independent reported the Swiss captain as saying.
To begin with, Xhaka said discussing the mental side of football is to him a surefire non-starter.
However, Manchester United legend Patrice Evra could not stop himself from calling the Gunners "my babies," which alluded to the battles that the two clubs have waged in the past, Metro reported. According to the Frenchman, for him, Arsenal players are babies because he expected to win facing the team, and he was never disappointed.
"I used to call them my babies ten years ago, and they are still when I look at them and think they are "my babies" and that's the truth - I'm not being disrespectful when I say that," Evra said in a recent interview.
Xhaka called the insult from Evra as unnecessary, noting that disrespect will only get the same reaction. He reminded too that it's always best to keep quiet when one has nothing good to say. It's just unfortunate that some people do talk too much, the Arsenal captain lamented.
"For me it's strange because they [ex-footballers] have been in the same situation as us - maybe it was sometimes good, sometimes not so good," the Swiss added.
However, the team captain has admitted that there were lapses on Arsenal's part during the game with Sheffield. Xhaka conceded the Gunners were defeated no thanks to the corner goal sent in by Lys Mousset, the Mirror reported.
"Of course it's frustrating because it's so easy. It's too easy if you lose the game because of a corner or free-kick. We have to improve things," Xhaka said.
It was interesting to note that the goal by the Blades counted as number 22 that the Gunners have allowed under Unai Emery, indicating that the club's defense tactics need to be tightened further.
