Mark Clattenburg has urged Granit Xhaka to ‘look at his own behaviour’ after the Arsenal midfielder claimed that he is ‘targeted’ by referees, as he told ESPN.
The former Premier League official claimed that Xhaka tries to be the ‘hardman’ for Arsenal, therefore, ‘creating a problem’ out on the pitch.
The words yellow card and Xhaka go hand-to-hand because, since the 2016/17 Premier League season, he has been the most booked player.
The 29-year-old has picked up 52 yellow cards from his 188 league games, that’s 20 more than Manchester City’s recently-departed captain, Fernadinho, who played 165 matches during that period.
Of the active players still in England’s top-flight, Lewis Dunk is also on that list with 30 bookings from 172 matches and four red cards.
Nonetheless, Clattenburg would have come up against Xhaka on a number of occasions when officiating and this is what he had to say about the hard-hitting player.
“It’s interesting when you hear Xhaka saying that he is targeted by referees,” said Clattenburg. “The problem is Xhaka’s type of challenges, the way he plays in midfield, he breaks the play down, he is then always libel for a yellow card.
“But what I do see from his play usually is that once he is given a yellow card or he is committed a foul, he goes straight to the opponent and wants to be the hard man. Therefore, he creates a problem.
“This is what referees look at. They watch all the video footage and watch his types of challenges, week in and week out. He is reactive.
“What the players are doing is that they are actually targeting him because the opposition are trying to get him sent off. When he commits a foul, they are in his face, then he creates a reaction and this is why he probably tried to blame the referees. But he has to look at his own behaviour.”
MEDIA NARRATIVE AROUND XHAKA
There are certain players who perhaps have a reputation that is used against them, even if they aren’t in the wrong and Xhaka is certainly one of them.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if the opposition also try to get under his skin or try to get him sent off during games because they know the referees will probably be that extra harsh on him.
The issue is that certain other players might get away with it, like Harry Kane, whose character is branded in a different manner to Xhaka’s.
The Tottenham striker has had a habit of backing into players in an aggressive manner, and not getting penalised for it, yet if that was Xhaka, he probably would have been sent back to Switzerland.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
