"Petulant reaction is putting him in a problematic position" - Craig Burley slams experienced Arsenal player and urges him to make 'better decisions'

Former Chelsea player Craig Burley is far from pleased with Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka and his rash style of play which puts himself and the team in jeopardy.

Granit Xhaka has always been surrounded by yellow and red cards during his time at Arsenal. During the 2021-22 season, the Swiss footballer picked up as many as 10 yellow cards and two red cards across all competitions.

The 29-year-old has also accumulated 52 yellow cards since his Premier League debut back in 2016.

Craig Burley does not mind a hard-tackling player. However, there is a difference between them and Granit Xhaka. The midfielder has been petulant on the pitch, which Burley does not appreciate.

Speaking to US TV on ESPN (via HITC), Craig Burley was quoted as saying the following:

"Let me tell you about Granit Xhaka. I saw quite a bit of the games. I have no problem with sometimes people being overzealous in challenges and that's the kind of player he is. A lot of his yellow cards are also for petulant little flick-outs and kicks-outs. That gives him a problem later on in games."

Burley believes that Xhaka's own cynical challenges are pulling him back during the latter stages of the game. The former Chelsea midfielder expects Xhaka to learn from his mistakes and make better decisions in the future.

Craig Burley said:

"I have seen him last year being booked in games and then unable to make a challenge at 85-90 minutes on the edge of the box, for fear of being red-carded or a second yellow and the other team have scored."

He added:

"Himself as an experienced player, through his petulance, not only with petulant challenges, but a petulant reaction is putting himself in a problematic position. You have to make better decisions because it has an impact on your game going forward and he doesn’t (learn)."

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Arsenal have bolstered their midfield this summer

Arsenal have been busy in the summer transfer window and have added a new midfielder to their ranks. The Gunners have signed Fabio Vieira from Portuguese outfit FC Porto for a fee of around £34 million.

According to Sky Sports, Arsenal have also agreed a fee to sign Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City this summer.

Zinchenko was used as a left-back by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City but the Ukrainian international is very much capable of playing in midfield.