By Tony Attwood
We know that journalists and editors prefer knocking football clubs rather than praising them – and that knocking Arsenal, above all others, is a favoured pastime for much of the media. But suddenly it seems that the world of football has gone totally bonkers with negative stories, and only one of them is about Arsenal.
That one story you’ll know of course: “Kai Havertz set to miss rest of season with injury in major blow for Arsenal, and Arsenal’s transfer gamble has blown up spectacularly.”
Yes the clear implication is that no matter how much it cost Arsenal, and no matter how much his current club wanted to charge as a transfer fee, Arsenal should have bought another striker because a) they should have guessed Havertz would be injured and b) a striker of quality would have agreed to come to Arsenal even though he knew he might lose his place once any of Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, and Gabriel Martinelli return from injury.
Besides which, the media have spent a lot of this season telling us that previous Arsenal purchases and loans haven’t worked, so there is no guarantee that an overpriced buy at this time would actually have been a player to rescue Arsenal.
That of course, would normally be the dominant story, but suddenly the media has decided that football in the Premier League is totally in chaos and can’t be taken seriously.
So we have the surprising report that the Everton v Liverpool game ends in brawl – with four red cards which is odd since we are normally told how good and jolly these northern chaps are with their humorous (if unintelligible) banter.
And what’s this? Actual media criticism of a referee???? That is odd, but there it is: “Liverpool’s Van Dijk claims referee failed to control” a Merseyside derby, and normally of course, at least according to the media, everyone is so respectful of each other. Unlike those moronic southerners.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the north we suddenly find ManU are on the edge of bankruptcy and need a hundred job cuts to help the club avoid going bust
This is all pretty weird but even odder is the fact that the “Premier League has asked its clubs for expanded investigatory powers,” including free access into the clubs’ offices so they can check on what is not being told to them. That looks like a new assault on ManC and other oil-funded clubs. Certainly, it has to do with the proposed squad cost ratio controls which will replace the profitability and sustainability rules. Other rules (and court cases) may be along later.
In this regard the League wants its officials to have the right to enter buildings if a club is found not to have complied with an inquiry. That would suggest the right (which exists in law for the police in the UK) to seize documents. The chance of ManC agreeing to that one are somewhere around 500 points below zero.
And here’s a thing: even ManC supporters are coming in for criticism particularly over a Rodri banner – with the Guardian giving us a whole article on what the banner tells us about how ManC fans see themselves. Even the Guardian wouldn’t have run that sort of criticism a year ago.
Of course, Tottenham always like to join in a party no matter what sort of party it is and there is now talk of a Qatari takeover of the club but with Daniel Levy continuing as chair. That might be amusing as of late one of the main chants at the Hottentot stadium is “Levy Out”.
But here’s another thing: every one of those quotes comes from the Guardian, which now seems to be rampaging against everything in English football. And it is not alone, for the Telegraph is at it too. Although of course they have the expected anti-Arsenal bit with Arsenal’s transfer gamble has blown up spectacularly after Havertz injury
I’m not sure “spectacularly” is appropriate there sine a week before we were being told he was no good, but we move on to find Chelsea in striker shortage before we approach the tiny totts with Levy facing fresh revolt as Tottenham fans plan protest And even the normally protected and precious ManC fans get a bit of a drubbing from No surprise ridiculous stunt by City fans to mock Vinicius Jnr backfired so horrendously. They just don’t know how to do ridiculous stunts up north.
Of course there are other tales of chaos in football such as How Jermaine Jenas’ return caused a mutiny and indeed another tale of revolt and revolution with City and Real – two titans who want to burn football’s house down
Now we have known for some time that football journalism, like football, is in a chaotic state, but for two of the more serious newspapers both to leap on that view at once is heartening in the sense that they have woken up. Although it is a trifle worrying, in that it rather looks like we’ve been right all along.
Except for one little thing. They both forgot to mention PGMO.
Interesting.
Regarding last nights post match antics I still didn’t notice any words such as ‘Riot’ ‘Shameful’ or ‘Disgrace’ appearing anywhere in the Guardian article, (I may of missed it) let alone the headline. No suggestion that a president was set long ago that such post match antics end up with a points deduction.
Nope, it was just a ‘brawl’, that was later dumbed down to a ‘fracas’.
Can you imagine the headlines if Arsenal were involved?
Lets see how others assess this little post match ‘get together’.
SKY Sports
HEADLINE: ‘Everton 2-2 Liverpool: James Tarkowski’s 98th-minute goal earns draw in dramatic final derby at Goodison Park’
This is their sanitised version of events at the end:
“Abdoulaye Doucoure and Curtis Jones both saw red in the melee that followed the final whistle as raw emotion engulfed the stadium, supporters having spilled onto the pitch after the equaliser. When the dust settles, Liverpool still sit seven points clear at the top – although Arne Slot and assistant Sipke Hulshoff were also sent off for their complaints towards referee Michael Oliver.”
So it was just a ‘melee’. It was just ‘raw emotion’.
Nothing to see here then.
BBC ON LINE
HEADLINE: James Tarkowski’s dramatic last-gasp equaliser gave Everton a deserved point in a stormy conclusion to the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park.
This is their sanitised version of events at the end:
“The brawl after the final whistle was unsavoury, Doucoure needlessly goading Liverpool’s fans to the fury of Jones, but all the fire and fury of a remarkable evening encapsulated what Goodison Park is about.”
So just a bit ‘unsavoury’ .
Nothing to see here then.
The SUN
HEADLINE: Everton 2 Liverpool 2: James Tarkowski scores 97th minute volley to rescue point in last ever derby at Goodison Park
This, at the very end, is the only indication that anything actually happened after the final whistle:
“Despite a four minute VAR check for a possible foul on Konate in the build-up to Tarkowski’s 98th minute howitzer, the goal stood and it sparked a pitch invasion. It sent Moyes’ resurgent side a step closer to safety – and Slot, amongst others, wild.”
Lots of pictures (well it is The Sun) but not a single word of condemnation for the post match get together. It just got a few folk a little ‘wild’ apparently.
Now, I’m getting bored with all this, as I suspect you will be too. But my point is, can you just imagine the different reaction, headlines, outrage and calls for action had it been us?
We have a player do a playful micky take goal celebration and there’s calls for changes in the rules. We score a few goals from corners and get accused of ‘dark arts’. Our manager has the audacity to celebrate goals and he gets slaughtered.
Slot is now to serve his second touchline ban of the season, and openly admits he tries to influence referees. Lets see what ‘rule changes’ are suggested for him? Lets see what abuse he gets from the media and fans alike?
Two sets of rules. One for Arsenal. One for the rest.
Two sets of standards.one for Arsenal. One for the rest.
Been having a look around to see if the condemnation is starting to appear and as yet I have to say, not really:
The Sun now say things such as :
‘Mass brawl’ ‘Carnage’ ‘Chaos at the end’
But still no ‘shame’ or ‘disgrace’ or mention of any punishments they should get. And of course it’s none of it is Liverpools fault as “The carnage at the end of the game was started by one man – Abdoulaye Doucoure.”
So, no celebrating in front of those ‘we never do anything wrong’ Liverpool fans then!!!!
I also see the Sun have finally picked up on what I’ve been banging on about for ages. Liverpools remaining fixtures, especially away, are tough:
“They (Liverpool) will have viewed the result as two points dropped especially with the tough matches just around the corner.
Feb 16 – Wolves (h)
Feb 19 – Aston Villa (a)
Feb 23 – Man City (a)
Feb 26 – Newcastle (h)”
I did an analysis a few weeks ago that showed how tough they were, and that that gave us a slim hope of catching them if they dropped points here and there as I suggested they might. So far they dropped 2 against Nottingham Forest as I suggested they would, and now 2 against Everton, which I had them to win. So on the face of it all good. Liverpool are 2 points behind what I predicted.
The problem is at the time I did my prediction we couldn’t afford to drop any points at all at home, and only suffer the one draw away at Liverpool. Unforetuneately we dropped 2 points against Villa at home, which also puts us two points behind schedule.
Although last nights draw helps and puts us back on my schedule, we still cannot afford to drop any more points (aside from the draw at Anfield) from now until the end of the season.
Our injuries are not going to help with that at all.