{"id":66535,"date":"2025-08-14T14:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T14:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/66535\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T14:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T14:01:11","slug":"sunderland-may-live-to-regret-granit-xhaka-decision-following-hometown-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/66535\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunderland may live to regret Granit Xhaka decision following hometown snub"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Regis-Le-Bris-Granit-Xhaka-1140x641.jpg\" class=\"attachment-single-feature size-single-feature wp-post-image\" alt=\"Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris alongside Granit Xhaka,\" layout=\"fill\"  style=\"object-position: 50% 50%\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" \/><\/p>\n<p>(Credit: Imago)<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20210903_163509-150x150.jpg\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" alt=\"Ciaran Morrison\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>   <\/p>\n<p> Thu 14 August 2025 13:05, UK <\/p>\n<p>Regis Le Bris may face the pressure of Sunderland supporters if his captaincy call does not pay dividends.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/no-better-choice-sunderland-fans-stunned-by-major-granit-xhaka-decision\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sunderland announced Granit Xhaka as their new captain<\/a>, and whilst most fans were supportive of the announcement a couple questioned the decision. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/xherdan-shaqiri-sends-heartfelt-message-to-granit-xhaka-as-sunderland-switch-confirmed\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Xhaka only joined Sunderland this summer from Bayern Leverkusen<\/a>, and he has a history as captain at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/tag\/arsenal\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arsenal<\/a> and it did not end well for the Swiss international as he was stripped of the honour following an angry reaction to fans after he was substituted in a match against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/tag\/crystal-palace\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Crystal Palace<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Le Bris is leading <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/sunderland-fans-told-truth-over-200m-promotion-windfall\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sunderland into the top flight for the first time in eight seasons<\/a> and cannot afford the atmosphere at the Stadium of Light to turn toxic at any time throughout the season. <\/p>\n<p>Xhaka discipline concerns<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/grant-xhaka-sunderland-1024x576.png\" alt=\"Grant Xhaka in Sunderland's home kit\" class=\"wp-image-725951\" \/>Xhaka is new Sunderland captain. (Credit: Manh Tung, Breaking Media)<\/p>\n<p>The 32-year-old did return to become vice-captain following a remarkable turn of fortunes in North London, though his tendency to make rash decisions and cost his team matches by being sent off remained throughout his time at Arsenal.<\/p>\n<p>Xhaka needs to keep his frustrations in check as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.footballinsider247.com\/tag\/sunderland\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sunderland<\/a> will be the underdogs in many of their Premier League encounters this season. <\/p>\n<p>Apperances225Yellow Cards55Red Cards4Xhaka\u2019s card count in the Premier League with Arsenal as per Transfermarkt<\/p>\n<p>Le Bris will face the wrath of the Sunderland crowd if Xhaka does not perform in the role, especially given he has stripped Dan Neil and Luke O\u2019Nien of the responsibility. <\/p>\n<p>MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES<\/p>\n<p>Neil came through the academy at the club, whilst O\u2019Nien has been on Wearside for seven seasons through their rise from League One.<\/p>\n<p>Loyal duo may force Xhaka u-turn<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/dan-neil-sunderland-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Dan Neil in action for Sunderland\" class=\"wp-image-657704\" \/>Former Sunderland captain Dan Neil. (Credit: Imago)<\/p>\n<p>Neil and O\u2019Nien remain at Sunderland, with the former expected to drop to the bench amid their summer arrivals in midfield, which includes Xhaka. <\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Nien looks set to remain in the team at centre-back and Sunderland supporters may want the armband returned to the 30-year-old on the pitch if the Black Cats and Xhaka begin to struggle. <\/p>\n<p>The defender, who can also play in midfield, has proven to be a warrior for Sunderland and a huge fan favourite amongst a passionate support base.<\/p>\n<p>Xhaka is therefore under pressure to make a good first impression in the role, otherwise Le Bris will have a tough decision to make which could be an uncomfortable u-turn for the manager.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Related Posts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credit: Imago) Thu 14 August 2025 13:05, UK Regis Le Bris may face the pressure of Sunderland supporters&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,9735,101,2873,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-66535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-granit-xhaka","tag-sports","tag-sunderland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}