By Tony Attwood
Here’s one to give you a laugh…
“Arsenal sensationally in the running to re-sign Manchester United star Alexis Sanchez.”
Oh these journalists! What wags they are! Always there with their jolly japes. Although I can’t believe that anyone programmed a bot to write that. That looks like a spanner in the works.
Anyway, back with Arsenal, thus far this year we have had
Phase 1: Attack Wenger because anything and anyone would be better than Wenger.
Phase 2: Remember that “He’s won more than you” is actually true for many clubs through the entirety of their existence (Tottenham Hotspur formed 1882 for example, 2 league championships); or in the years during Wenger’s reign (Liverpool with no league titles, two FA Cups) etc.
Phase 3: Attack the players, one by one, as they were all tainted with Wengerism and so had to go. Every single one of them. That was the approach during the summer.
Phase 4: Attack Emery. He’s had a transfer window, and he didn’t buy the right players. That kicked in as the window closed.
Phase 5: We need to buy these players if we are to have any chance of success. (That’s now)
Meanwhile since those opening two defeats it has been six games in three competitions, all won, with 17 goals scored, and slowly the new signings like Torreira are finding their feet.
So what next? Phase 6 – a general belief that we could make fourth place. Followed by Phase 7: Fourth is not a trophy. And then maybe we could go round and round all over again.
But there are distractions. For example, Uefa says it is going to have another look at Paris Saint-Germain’s finances, which is interesting since it said in June there was nothing to see at the club that caused them any concern whatsoever. Strange loan deals? Not at all. Far more money paid for sponsorship than the sponsorship was worth? A dirty lie.
Here’s what was said by the Uefa man…
“Following the decision of the chief investigator of the CFCB to close the investigation into Paris Saint-Germain, and the subsequent decision of the CFCB chairman to send it for review by the CFCB Adjudicatory Chamber, the latter decided on 19 September to refer the case back to the CFCB Investigatory Chamber for further investigation.”
Further investigation? Wow, I bet Qatar Sports Investments are shaking as they throw stones at their criminal classes. Not least because of just how far Qatar has got itself into French Football. beIN Sport is a Qatari company, and it is run by the PSG president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi. And in case you missed it, it owns the rights to broadcast Ligue 1.
Last June, Uefa said PSG has acted “within acceptable deviation” in all its finances in recent years. Meaning they have broken even while buying Neymar for €222m from Barcelona, and getting Kylian Mbappé from Monaco allegedly on a loan deal. And that was… well perfectly normal. It meant that any player wanted whose cost would make the budget sheet look bad could be loaned and transferred a year later. Which is what happened. Mbappé was signed for €180m.
Now most organisations have a rule that says that any action, the prime purpose of which is to get around a rule of the organisation, is itself a breach of the rules. Does Uefa really not have such a rule in its rule book? Oh they probably thought that all these clubs are truly honest and run by fine upstanding businessmen so there’s no need for a rule like that.
And thus Uefa doesn’t see anything wrong with the Mbappé loan.
Meanwhile the Daily Mirror’s bot has been doing its stuff. Here’s one from this morning…
“Unai Emery is set to ring the changes for Arsenal’s third-round Carabao Cup clash with Brentford on Wednesday night.”
I bet that made you sit down in a hurry (if you weren’t already). And you’ll want more. Bot 2 clicked in with
“The Spaniard recently switched things about for the Gunners’ Europa League win over Ukrainian minnows Vorskla, with Bernd Leno making his first start between the sticks.”
Between the sticks!!! They don’t write them like that any more. I think the bots have been reading Charlie Buchan’s Football Monthly.
More on the Brentford game later…
Here’s Paul Mersons explanation as to why Sanchez isn’t doing good at United; “At United, there’s a structure and they say ‘let’s not get beat first and then go from there’. That’s why I think he’s finding it difficult. At Arsenal, it was free-flowing but it wasn’t successful, they didn’t win anything.”
I’m sorry, but why have our 3 FA cups in 4 years suddenly become as if they literally never even happened? What exactly did Man U win in that time that makes them such a successful club? It really does make me annoyed reading this sort of thing, because you know full well that it is from dickheads like Paul Merson where all of these myths about us never winning anything or not being able to defend set-piece comes from. Our own fans regurgitate these myths as if the are gospel.
Why are these “expert” pundits allowed to outright lie and make things up when it comes to Arsenal? When does it become liable or slander? I don’t even read articles about Arsenal anymore, but even in articles about other players or teams they always manage to slip in an underhanded insult directed at Arsenal, much like when Spurs lost and it was reported as being an Arsenal-esque performance.
Why are these people not held accountable for their never ending stream of negative bullshit directed at Arsenal?
Could not agree more G
Jammy
Honestly mate, it’s beyond belief what these people say, and worse, get away with saying. It’s lies, plain and simple.
I’ve e.mailed SKY Sports to complain about it.
I’ll be very surprised if I hear anything, and if I do it will only be your bog standard fob off.
We where talking the other day regarding the lies Garth Crooks had been spouting about Wenger not playing Lacazette and Aubameyang. I believe one of the guys on here wrote pointing out the inaccuracies and suggesting a correction or an apology was due.
What are chances that happened?
Jammy
In my complaint one thing I was at pains to point out was that this cannot be dismissed as just Mersons ‘opinion’.
This isn’t about his opinion,(unless of course SKY Sports are happy with Merson having the opinion that the FA Cup is no longer a trophy) these are comments made with either complete ignorance of the facts or worse, malicious intent.
The same with Crooks. It wasn’t that I/we don’t agree with his opinion, it was that again, his comments where either made through ignorance or malicious intent.
Either way, as a supposed professional pundits, this sort of thing should be completely unacceptable.
Unfortunately it seems it’s the complete opposite.
That’s 3 complete and utter lies been touted as facts about us already this season:
1) We are poor at defending set pieces.
Factually completely incorrect or a lie however you want to look at it.
2) Wenger was afraid to play Lacazette and Aumangeyang together.
Factually completely inaccurate or a lie however you want to look at it.
3) Arsenal don’t win any trophies.
Factually completely inaccurate or a lie however you want to look at it.
Media. Bunch of c***s.
Good on you for sending in an official complaint, that’s certainly more than most people can say (myself included). Unfortunately after seeing one of the Neville sisters completely get away with outright promoting vicious tackles on players more skilled than you my faith in them being held accountable for their actions/words/lies is next to none.
But it does make me wonder whether these “expert” pundits truly believe these myths that they are perpetuating or if there is something even more insidious at play beyond their own ignorant biases. We all know they are told to be negative towards Arsenal, but I do wonder how specific exactly these instructions are; whether they are given free reign to constantly insult our club or whether they are told to specifically make out that we “don’t like it up ’em”, that we never win anything or that we are spineless, cowardly team that buckles under the slightest bit of pressure. If you say a lie enough times it soon becomes “FACT!”.
It’s abundantly clear that Merson (a self-proclaimed Chelsea fan, yet still referred to as an “Arsenal legend”) is extremely bitter towards Arsenal ever since Wenger saw him for the fat drunk that he was, so I’m guessing that he absolutely revels in this constant barrage of abuse directed at Arsenal, and is more than willing to oblige his pay-masters.
Jammy
Thanks for your support my friend.
“But it does make me wonder whether these “expert” pundits truly believe these myths that they are perpetuating or if there is something even more insidious at play beyond their own ignorant biases.”
Whether they believe what they are saying or not is irrelevant really, as their editors and sub editors must read everything they write, and must know that what is being said is factually incorrect,
-the stats showed we had let one goal in from a set piece at the time.
-the records clearly showed Wenger had played both strikers at almost every opportunity.
-the records clearly show we have won 3 FA Cups in the last 5 years.
and yet they let it pass, obviously with their blessing.
These are glaring inaccuracies, not subtle nuances anyone could miss.
Therefore, is it really possible that the author, the editor, and anyone else for that matter that reads these lies, doesn’t know they are lies?
Of course they do.
So you are quiet right to ask the question ‘is something even more insidious at play beyond their own ignorant biases’ because the answer has to be a resounded yes, and it’s a f***ing disgrace.
And by the way, surprise surprise I’ve not heard back from SKY Sports.
I notice Talkspite has mainly Chelsea and Spurs supporting resenters.
One reason they and other media outlets are anti Arsenal is that it gets more listeners or comments so we Arsenal supporters trying to set matters straight have helped to perpetuate their lies and deceptions.
Personally if I want to know what’s going on without the constant drivel dished out as fact I go to Untold or Arsenal dedicated websites for commentary and news .
If I find comments such as the Merson bilge spouted recently I comment about his words on platforms such as this one.