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- 115 charges still outstanding as Arsenal prepare for Man United
- Man U v Arsenal. I hope the Arsenal players have all been warned
By Tony Attwood
Here’s an interesting media statement ahead of the season’s start for Arsenal
If Man Utd reach Arsenal’s level in five years, Ruben Amorim will have performed a miracle
But of course, at the same time, the pressure is on Arteta. For make no mistake. Arsenal have a tough start to the campaign, and the media will not let up on what they have created: the alleged “disquiet” over the handling of Thomas Partey, and Arsenal’s insistence on acknowledging that in the UK people are innocent until proven guilty. Goodness, how the media have hated that.
But still anti-democratic outlets like the Telegraph do try to cover all angles, except the one that says, Arsenal got it right. But even they have agreed that “United and Arsenal have been heading in opposite directions for a while. Amorim has more to prove than Arteta – starting this Sunday.”
And indeed, it is hard to avoid the nervousness in the media that the club they have been bashing so hard over every issue they can find might actually come out as champions. It has happened before, but they know they (the media) can do it. But for the moment, the most common view is that Amorim and Mikel Arteta as “two coaches under pressure for vastly different reasons at varied stages of their managerial careers.”
And to make sure you get the point, they then say “You could be forgiven for thinking Amorim is under less pressure than Arteta on Sunday afternoon… Building a team to win the Premier League is considerably harder than spending £200m to take a side from 15th to European qualification, which is the first priority at Old Trafford over the next eight months.” So ManU are not under pressure at all!!!
But of course that’s not the point; it’s a cover-up. Arteta signed on 20 December 2019 when Arsenal were exactly halfway down the league. He kept the team in the top ten of the league while totally rebuilding the side and journalists mocked him. He delivered more points per game, more goals per game scored, and fewer goals per game conceded from the off.
But it was a slow process… at least for the first couple of seasons – although there was clear progress. More goals were scored, generally fewer goals were conceded (although not always) and more points were gained – until this last season when the physical assaults by the opposition took over. But certainly, there was an inexorable glide upwards overall.
| F | A | Pts | PPG | Pos | |
| 2019/20 (hybrid) | 56 | 48 | 56 | 1.52 | 8 |
| 2020–21 | 55 | 39 | 61 | 1.6 | 8 |
| 2021–22 | 61 | 48 | 69 | 1.82 | 5 |
| 2022–23 | 88 | 43 | 84 | 2.21 | 2 |
| 2023–24 | 91 | 29 | 89 | 2.34 | 2 |
| 2024–25 | 69 | 34 | 74 | 1.95 | 2 |
And there is a point there, because although last season was not at the level of the previous two, even with all those injuries, it was still way above 2021/22.
What Arsenal had and have, and Man U, despite everything, don’t have is the media on their back. Take this: “For Arsenal, it feels like any early setback has the potential to cause an implosion as the frustrations of the past few years spill over.” That’s a good summary of the media position. No evidence for that. But all the statement misses is the final clause, “…. because of the relentless attack on the club by journalists and the fans who follow their lead.”
Put another way, the immediate expectation upon Arteta, generated by the media and supported by some pack-following supporters, is to prove he can be a Premier League winner. The immediate expectation upon Amorim is to prove he is a Premier League-standard middle-of-the-table manager.
Yet the reality is that Arteta has already worked miracles. The three seasons before he arrived the final positions were fifth, sixth and fifth. And at least one paper recognises that “if United reach Arsenal’s current level in the next five years – absorbing three successive seasons competing for the title – Amorim will have performed brilliantly well.”
But the netativists are out to get Arteta, and there is always the danger he will eventually think, “what must it be like to work for a club where so-called fans and all the media are not out to get you all the time?”
From Arteta’s ‘ press conference yesterday:
On if there is more pressure on us to win the title this season:
“You keep digging, digging, digging. You have to keep digging because one day, the gold is going to be there. That’s all the time, what I’ve been taught, I’ve been educated and that’s it. For three seasons, we have more points than any other team in this league. It’s incredible, that’s why we have all the consistency. Now we have to do it in a season, to earn one more point or the same amount of points and more goals difference than any other team. That’s the objective.”
“FOR THREE SEASONS, WE HAVE MORE POINTS THAN ANY OTHER TEAM IN THE LEAGUE IT’SINCREDIBLE, THAT’S WHY WE HAVE ALL THE CONSISTANCY”
So, lets get this straight. Over the last 3 seasons as a whole we are THE BEST TEAM IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE, yet as you say Tony, Arteta is still portrayed as a failure by much of the media, and sadly, by far too many of our own fans.
But as Arteta himself says:
“Now we have to do it in a season, to earn one more point or the same amount of points and more goals difference than any other team. That’s the objective.
And that is indeed how close it can be. But rather than suggest the difference can be one goal or one point, I suggest the difference can be one RED CARD, or one PENALTY. Regarding both of those parameters we here on Untold have revealed many many times, most recently my Mike in his incredibly researched articles, just how badly we fair in both those parameters.
We get many more reds than our direct opponents. We get far less penalties, for and more against, than our contemporaries. Mike has revealed how bad it has been over the last 5 years. Stats have been produced on here, not least by me, showing it has been thus since Mike Riley took over as head of the PGMOL.
I have no doubt we have been unlucky with injuries,. but more than that we have been robbed by the officials.
Lets not be under any illusion, this season will be no different to the last 5, or even the last 15. The first obstacle we have to overcome is the officials.
Arsenal’s total points for the past three seasons are 247, which puts us second to City, who have 251.