The ‘big baby’, Xhaka and the ‘delightful turmoil’ of football

There’s plenty of stuff on the ‘big baby’, a bit on Xhaka poking the bear and plenty on what a brilliant game of football that was.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

Xhaka’s ‘bear poke’
The rush to somehow cast Xhaka as the villain and the reason Arsenal didn’t win the game by so many outlets is just bizarre.  You hinted at it in your 16 conclusions but still went there anyway.  The Xhaka/Trent incident in no way enlivened the crowd or ‘poked the bear’.  The crowd were quiet all first half and livened up after Liverpool scored which was a minute or so after the incident.  I think that goal had a lot more to do with bringing the crowd in to the game than any little set-to.  I think if it was 99% of other players in the league very little would have been made about the incident and zero conclusions drawn from it, but because it is Xhaka people have preconceived bias that they can’t shift from and are waiting for anything to cling on to to try to weave the narrative to their agenda.  I’m sure mediawatch can dissect Garth Crooks remarkable team of the week article yet again but reading that only goes to prove the agenda some have with Xhaka.  If Casemiro is not under any scrutiny for his 2 reds and 5 yellows this year (leading to 8 games banned) because he’s been a very good player then surely Xhaka deserves to actually be recognised for how good he’s been this year rather than jumping back to create something about nothing.
Rich, AFC

The good and bad
There a well-known bit where Homer buys a monkey-paw with a curse and a free yogurt. The ancient mystic salesman this through the pros and cons with Homer proclaiming,  “That’s good” and “That’s bad” before finally just asking if he can go home.

That is how I feel like going over Arsenal’s performance at Anfield yesterday.  We scored two lovely goals.  That’s good. We let Liverpool score before halftime.  That’s bad. We were still up 2-1 for much of the game.  That’s good.  We were outplayed in the second half.  That’s bad. Ramsdale was  immense.  That’s good.  Liverpool scored the equalizer.  That’s bad. We went into Anfield and got a point.  That’s good. We dropped two from a two- goal advantage.  That’s bad.  We still control our own destiny.  That’s good. We have no room for dropping points.  That’s bad.

Can I go home now?
David,  California.

Delightful turmoil
I’m still mindblown, suffering with…