Media launches all-out attack on Arsenal based on the flimiest of suppositions

 

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By Tony Attwood

The Telegraph are now launching an all-out attack on Arsenal, utilising headlines such as “Unlike Arsenal, Chelsea’s striker problem is bad luck rather than bad planning” and in a separate piece also headlined on their main football page “Arsenal’s transfer gamble has blown up spectacularly after Kai Havertz injury”

But let’s imagine what would have happened if Arsenal had bought a player who didn’t really fit the approach the club is developing (since obviously there wasn’t one available who did meet the club’s perceived needs, otherwise they would have bought him), and will continue to develop when its injured men return. 

Or if Arsenal bought a player who turned out not to be up to the mark.   Or a player who was for sale at 50% over the price he would be available at in the summer.  What then?

If any of those gambles paid off, then I guess there might be some praise for the club and its manager, but if as would be more likely, the result was a failure of a make-do player to make an impact, then the criticism would inevitably continue to reign down on the club.

And for what?  Quite possibly if we had had one injury less the club might have jogged along and finished in second place.  Perhaps Arsenal might, with the extra striker, have won the league.  Except that part of that process would not be in Arsenal’s hands, because it would also require Liverpool to slip up.

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool	24	17	6	1	58	23	35	57
2	Arsenal	24	14	8	2	49	22	27	50
3	Nottingham Forest	24	14	5	5	40	27	13	47
4	Chelsea	24	12	7	5	47	31	16	43
5	Manchester City	24	12	5	7	48	35	13	41

 

So here is a scenario.  Imagine Arsenal had gone out and bought a player who is available now.  Not the player they are actually aiming to buy in July, but a player costing just as much, and who maybe could pop in a few more goals.   Such a player isn’t that easy because what these newspaper johnnies readily ignore is the fact that for Arsenal to get a player it is not just enough that Arsenal want the player and have the money.  The player also has to want to move, the club has to want to sell him, and the terms have to be ok.  And given the constant anti-Arsenal rhetoric in the paper, it is quite likely such a player might not want such a move.

But let’s imagine that Arsenal did know of such a player and were willing to pay whatever was asked for, to get him in January.   And let’s say that in the 14 games left in the League Arsenal win 11, draw one and lose two.  And Liverpool do the same.  Arsenal are still second, with all that money spent on a player that they didn’t really want to buy.  And now the money that could have gone on the player they really did want has been spent.

We can also look at the worst-case scenario.   Arsenal slip down the league as there is no key goalscorer.  But hang on a minute, Arsenal have been accused of not having a key goalscorer all the way through.  But all right, let’s let that pass and instead imagine things get worse.  Worse enough that in the remaining 14 games Chelseea gain eight more points that Arsenal and Manchester City gain ten more points than Arsenal.

Yes that would be a big upset because it would see Arsenal out of the Champions League next season, unless by chance the club win it this season.   That would be a bad outcome, and suggest that the gamble was not worth it.

But let’s imagine that Arsenal do manage to scrape into at least fourth place and so get the Champs League again next season.   And then in the summer Arteta is able to buy the forward he wants, or alternatively is able to boost the wingers and midfielders in the squad so that Arsenal can match the other big teams and put in a really solid fight for the title.  Would this season then be remembered?

No probably not, not unless Arsenal win the League.

However, we live in a world where journalists criticise.  And some bloggers with nothing else to do just copy the criticism.  So the knocking goes on.

One thing is certain – the current level of injuries that Arsnal is suffering is way out of line with what they normally get.   No club can seriously cope with this level of injury by buying more players, because if they did, then when the club has a normal season without so many injuries, the players not being picked will be in uproar, and would demand to leave.

Simply criticising one point, such as not buying a player now, while not considering all the other points is pretty dumb.  It is also called journalism.