If the nutters are not stopped, Arsenal will lose their chance of trophies

 

By Tony Attwood

Last night will, I imagine, be remembered as the game when we finished with four left backs on the pitch, but it was also the game when Sterling came back to life, creating goals for  Zinchenko and Rice. and when PSV changed into a reliable solid and useful player. 

Sadly he will be suspended for the first leg of Arsenal’s quarter-final against Real Madrid but he might be able to help out more in the league as we await the return of the rest of the injured.   Martinelli and Sterling: it is a start on the road to attacking recovery as the Telegraph said this morning.

Mind you he is not the only player to pick up interfering yellows.   Real Madrid have lost Aurelien Tchouameni to the quarter-final first leg, after a challenge on Antoine Griezmann. So one man down on each side.    But Sterling’s two assists means 46 assists and goals for him in the Champions League. 

So on 8 April it is Arsenal vs Real Madrid and then they play it again on 16th.  The only other Premier League club left are Aston Villa.

And although we’ll come back to have a look at the game nearer the time, it is perhaps worth noting the comparative achievements of the clubs in the group round, suggesting maybe Real Mad are not as all conquering as some might suggest.

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Liverpool	8	7	0	1	17	5	+12	21
2	Barcelona	8	6	1	1	28	13	+15	19
3	Arsenal	8	6	1	1	16	3	+13	19
4	Inter Milan	8	6	1	1	11	1	+10	19
5	Atletico Madrid	8	6	0	2	20	12	+8	18
6	Bayer Leverkusen	8	5	1	2	15	7	+8	16
7	Lille	8	5	1	2	17	10	+7	16
8	Aston Villa	8	5	1	2	13	6	+7	16
9	Atalanta	8	4	3	1	20	6	+14	15
10	Borssia Dortmund	8	5	0	3	22	12	+10	15
11	Real Madrid	8	5	0	3	20	12	+8	15

 

However we should also note the national league position of the two clubs – and indeed they are not too far apart this season thus far.   True Real Madrid do have the edge but it is not that much of an edge and in terms of depth the Spanish league is a lot weaker than the PL.

 

 

But it is also being pointed out that with Ben White back in the squad he could also be picked again for England and so be injured again there  – but hopefully will turn the option down.

So now there is a slight break to the small matter of Chelsea on Sunday.   Arsenal against one of the clubs that thought that money could buy the title.  But as Bob Dylan said, “money doesn’t talk it swears”.   However, more of that elsewhere, and indeed daily on Untold Dylan.

Meanwhile back with Arsenal there is one other point to mention.  This current Arsenal team could well be considered the third greatest Arsenal team of all time although you wouldn’t realise that from the media.

The only time Arsenal have done better than getting second place three seasons running was in the 1930s, winning the title three seasons running, first under Chapman (who tragically passed away part way through the second season) then under Whittaker, and eight years in the top two under Wenger.

Yet, of course, we don’t hear any of this (well, no that’s not right, the Guardian and the Times have picked up on this of late, but the rest of the media still seem way behind reality).

Third-best Arsenal ever, then, on league finishes at least, and built out of the fourth-highest net transfer spend in the league across Arteta’s time at the club. 

In fact in years to come I suspect students of social media and journalism will be invited to attend courses on how it could be that the leading discussion about Arsenal during this current period is that of the need to ditch the manager and find someone else – without any regard as to how that someone else might be able to do any better particularly when finances will be the same, and the secretive refereeing institution overseeing matches will also be the same.

Besides, across the past five years the top spenders have been Chelsea (-£783 spent on transfers), Manchester Untited (-£505m), Tottenham Hots (-£472.3m) and then Arsenal on -£460m), which means spending more and more doesn’t actually give the spending club the title.

So yes, this is the third best period in Arsenal’s history.  Second, spending lots of money on players doesn’t seem to be the route to success.  And third – given that we have only ever had three of these managers who can take the club from the doldrums and up to the top, why then would we ever assume we can just go out and find a manager of the ability of Chapman or Wenger?

Chapman joined Arsenal in 1925.  It took him five years to win his first trophy (the FA Cup) and six to win the League.  And during his opening seasons, Arsenal were 9th, 10th, 11th, and 14th.  Today’s commentators would have had him out of the club after one season.

Those who daily call for Arteta to be replaced are utter nutters, who do not have the interests of Arsenal at heart, yet they control much of the football media wherein they are known as journalists.  We really do need to find a way to stop them.