Arsenal manager Unai Emery continues to try and account for the fallout from captain Granit Xhaka's exchange with fans during their Premier League tie with Cyrstal Palace last Saturday. It has now emerged that Arsenal chief Josh Kroenke entered the dressing room and spoke to Emery about the incident.
Xhaka was booed off the pitch by home supporters at the Emirates last weekend. He responded by gesturing to the crowd and cupping his ears in a move Emery described as "wrong" post-match.
Speaking during a press conference, Emery has explained that the club met and made a plan of action after the game.
After the match, Josh Kroenke was also in the dressing room speaking with me. We were speaking for 10 minutes about the situation but all the time helping each other.
He's supporting me, he's supporting the players, we were talking about the circumstance with Granit Xhaka, saying that he was wrong and we need to manage that with him.
And yesterday the same, it was the day off for us and the players but we were here also, I was here and also I was speaking with Raul, with Edu, and also speaking with Xhaka.
The Swiss international did return to training this week but has not yet apologised to the fans. Club legend Ian Wright was strongly critical when asked about the incident on BBC:
"Arsenal fans have shown a lot of patience with him and the performances he has put in. He owes them more than acting like that."
Should Granit Xhaka still be #AFC captain? #bbcfootball pic.twitter.com/2x2I54X3nj
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) October 28, 2019
As for his performance, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville outlined his own criticisms of midfielder who he described as "the least experienced experienced player I've ever watched."
"I struggle with Xhaka full stop, I'll be honest with you. I just think it's his ill-discipline in his performances generally over a period of the last two or three years," he said.
"I've never watched a player who seems to learn less from his experiences than Xhaka."
Arsenal are in action against Liverpool on Wednesday night in a League Cup clash. A win would go some way towards calming an increasingly unhappy fanbase.
