By Tony Attwood
- 52 clubs have changed manager since summer 2024. But what of Arsenal?
- Now is the moment we can predict who will win the league this season
I suppose if the football journalists who work for our media, and those bloggers who like to follow the mainstream, really were interested in news rather than fantasies, they would either leave their columns empty or else discuss tactics. Except that, as I have been told occasionally by pals in the media, tactics are considered as readership losers in many publications, so that’s not really on.
Although of course, we do get some tactical news such as “Arsenal‘s dominance from corners and free kicks is now globally revered,” which is the view expressed in ESPN. And indeed, they make the point that many other clubs are watching how each other play. But there was a spot of fun to be had even with that rather obvious notion, recently with pieces such as “How Premier League teams are borrowing NFL plays for set piece success.”
But certainly, when one club is doing particularly well in the Premier League by having made a few changes to their team and to their tactical approach, everyone else wants to know why. And that’s what is happening with Arsenal – those clubs in the Premier League who have a genuine interest in reaching the European places do look and take note of what others are doing.
This, of course, can be worrying for Arsenal (and indeed any other club that has found itself in that position in the past), and clubs do change their approaches as the process proceeds, although the resultant headlines should not always be taken one hundred per cent seriously. Take, for example, “Mikel Arteta lifts lid on Stoke City comparisons – and says ‘that’s the aim’.” Really?
Each tale like this lasts for only one game – mostly the stories are too silly to maintain for longer, and of course, the longer Arsenal stay at the top, the harder it is to find more stories that fit into this mould.
Certainly, most publications are not quite ready to say that Arsenal truly are going to win the league, having said nothing of the sort pre-season. But journalists and their editors do treat their readers with contempt by and large, which is why they are happy to publish transfer stories, of which 97% turn out to be untrue.
However, in terms of journalistic comment, Tottenham remain somewhat lower league, with stories continuing along the lines that the “Tottenham supporters’ trust blames ‘unaffordable’ tickets for poor atmosphere.”. In fact, that story really has become something that is running and running, as even the FSA has joined in with, “Exploiting our loyalty” – Spurs under fire over matchday pricing. The club’s return to the Champions League has resulted in crowds of 54,755 and 49,565 for home fixtures against Villarreal and Copenhagen.”
The talk at Tottenham is apparently that the high prices not only reduce the number in attendance but also mean that those who do turn up are not those who make the most noise and create the most atmosphere.
The issue about prices apparently stems from the fact that, quite reasonably, Tottenham Hots reduced the prices for Europa League games last season, but now, being in the Champions League, they have put the prices up to a higher level, and people don’t like that.
Of course, one of the big problems with this is that once people have got the idea of not going to every game, and turn instead to watching matches at home or in the pub, then that becomes an acceptable thing to do. Indeed, most people who have tried it do agree, you can have more fun watching the game with a lot of mates in the pub, than being in the ground with no beer in your hand and a steward launching an assault every time you leap up and down..
But knocking Arsenal remains a key issue as we are told that “Riccardo Calafiori out of Italy’s World Cup qualifier with Moldova due to hip injury.” Which could actually be good news, given that the more Arsenal players play for their countries the more chances they have of missing the next game when returning to England. To be injured BEFORE one leaves could mean recovery in time for the next league game.
Sometimes, however, the story just seems to be stretched a bit too much, as with ‘Some distance away’ — Norway boss provides injury update on Martin Odegaard Football Talk. Maybe that’s right, but maybe not. We shall await developments.
