Unai Emery says that Granit Xhaka is “sad” and “devastated” after he was booed off the pitch by Arsenal supporters in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace but refused to confirm if he will continue as the club’s captain.
Emery said that, after speaking to the player over the last couple of days, Xhaka is overwhelmed by the incident that happened.
“Really, he knows he was wrong. He feels inside, very deep. But he normal like a human, every player needs the supporters’ support.
“I spoke a lot with him that he needs to learn that when we are having good matches, they applaud us and we are happy.
“But when we are in a difficult moment and receiving criticism, we need to be strong and to know and to learn to play under that pressure.
“It’s our work. The supporters are the most important thing in our life because they are a supporter, they are a fan, they are the people behind us. It’s a reason to play professional football, we can’t play with our friends.
“After that wrong situation on Sunday, it’s a challenge for me and every player. When the supporters aren’t happy with us because maybe we need to play better and improve things to be strong, we needed them then. But first it’s for us.”
Emery confirmed that Xhaka would not be part of the team that travels to Anfield for their Carabao Cup fourth-round tie against Liverpool, but confirmed that it was not down to Sunday’s events.
“I think we make individual mistakes and we need to make apologies for one circumstance. We suggest him to do that (apolgies),” Emery said.
“We are looking and we are seeing that he is devastated and very down. First is to look after him. We need our family, our friends, our supporters to support us, like us, love us. He is not feeling that with the supporters at the moment.”
Asked after Sunday’s match if Xhaka would remain Arsenal captain, Emery said that it was “not the time to talk about that.”
He said: “At the moment, I don’t want to think about that. I explained why I decided [Xhaka should be captain]. He has the values, the respect in the dressing room, the experience.
“He is captain of his national team. He has the condition to be the captain and I decided that because the players respect that. He was wrong on Sunday and it wasn’t the response of a captain.
“First, we need to recover him as a human and as a player. Then we will look how we can improve and how we can continue in that way with him, the team, with everybody.”
