Arsenal fans have taken to Twitter to react after some seven-second footage emerged of Granit Xhaka against Benfica last night.
The clip in question shows Arsenal’s No.34 receiving the ball from Kieran Tierney in the 71st minute, with a bit of space ahead of him.
Dani Ceballos can be seen pointing forwards, gesturing for Xhaka to roam into that space and get Arsenal on the attack.
However, within a second, the 85-cap Switzerland international has turned around and played the ball backwards to David Luiz.
If Arsenal were winning, then there’s nothing wrong with this.
However, it was 1-1 at the time, and it would’ve been nice to see Xhaka be a bit more positive in possession and roam forwards with the ball.
We’re aware that, as a deep-lying midfielder, it isn’t necessarily the 28-year-old’s job to play incisive, defence-splitting through balls.
However, when there’s literally a big chunk of space in front of Xhaka, but he decides to turn around and pass backwards, questions will be asked.
Arsenal are still in a good position to qualify as they have an away goal to their name thanks to Bukayo Saka.
However, maybe they could’ve left Rome with more than just one goal under their belt if the passing had been a bit braver.
Let’s see what the Arsenal fans have been saying about what Xhaka did in the 71st minute…
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