By Tony Attwood
Just as the Mirror has told us that Arsenal are travelling without a backup keeper but with Ramsey, so other sources are telling us Ramsey has not travelled. It really is all very confusing. After all if we can’t trust our newspapers who can we trust? (That’s irony. The opposite of irony is of course wrinkly).
Meanwhile Tottenham have worries:
“The circumstances this season are so tough,” said Mr Pochettino. “Look what is going to happen in the Carabao Cup. We are going to play Monday in Wembley against Manchester City and then we must play on Wednesday or Thursday, and then we must play Saturday and Tuesday in the Champions League. That is completely unfair for a team that wants to win some titles.”
The newspapers have covered this, because when Mr P speaks it is clearly a matter of importance. But you know, given that the Mirror appears to have made a complete balls up of reporting the Arsenal team in far flung wherever it is, maybe they have got something wrong with the fixture congestion…
So let us have a look. Between now and 10 October, Totteham have three games: Barcelona, Cardiff and Gillingham
Between now and 10 October Arsenal have just two games, Qarabag, Fulham. Tottenham’s extra game is in the Football League Trophy. A tough one of course.
Moving on to the period after the interbore break, between 20 and 30 October Tottenham have three games (West Ham, Eindhoven and Manchester City). But Arsenal have five games: Leicester, Sporting, Palace, Cheltenham and Blackpool.
So Arsenal have a tougher time of it than Tottenham and yet the newspapers are running whole articles about the Tottenham problem with fixtures.
It really is very confusing. Meanwhile a Mr P Scholes has described a Mr Mourinho as an embarrassment. This always confuses me even more. When someone is an embarrassment who is embarrassed? Is Mr Scholes embarrassed? Is the TV station embarrassed? Is the club embarrassed? I can’t see any of them looking embarrassed at all. Obviously I am missing something.
Elsewhere it is being suggested that Barcelona don’t have any money to buy any players, so Pogba isn’t going there. It seems that although they have the biggest turnover of any sporting club in the world – €916 million – €639 million of that goes on wages. OK they sold Neymar to PSG for €222 million but they still seem to be a bit short of the readies.
Where has all the money gone?
Back with Manchester United’s problems, the Telegraph is now saying that the basic structure of the club is flawed. But with the profits they make, who worries?
Well, there are worries, and here is why. Barcelona are top of their league and yet not making enough money to bring in the extra that they want to buy more players and pay ever bigger salaries. They are already spending every penny they get from their sponsors, and from their crowds, and from the TV rights. So what now?
As we have seen, PSG answer the problem by getting vast amounts of money from their sponsor which is the non-existent Qatar tourist board. (Can’t you just see the millions of Barcelona supporters heading across the sand dunes?) Now even Fifa and Uefa have said that the whole thing is too fishy for words and has to stop.
So who is left to give more money to Barcelona? Sadly for them, no one quite knows. But Man U make huge profits and they are still not top of the league, because their structure is wrong. It is all very confusing.
Let’s finish off with a return to Arsenal. I suggested before that to finish in the top four, Arsenal need to get back to their average away form of the years up to 2015/16. But there is another route – having a club that was in the top five, collapse. Man U are obliging us at the moment.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 3 | 18 | 19 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 3 | 12 | 19 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 17 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 15 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 15 |
| 6 | Watford | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 13 |
| 7 | AFC Bournemouth | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 13 |
| 8 | Leicester City | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 12 |
| 9 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 12 |
| 10 | Manchester United | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 10 |
So if one more club from last season’s top six could also have a slip, we’d be helped on our way even without improving the away form. Could that obliging club be Tottenham? This morning we were reporting their terrible injury crisis. Earlier we have reported their stadium crisis. Today we are reporting their fixture crisis. With three crises at once, maybe it could just be the Nomads that help us on our way. How ironic that would be, and not crinkly at all.
- Qarabag v Arsenal: bizarre squad spotted by national newspaper. We can’t be that daft can we?
- 8 utterly extraordinary Arsenal stories circulating this morning
- Expected goals against like actual goals against do not tell anything like the whole story
Poch get over yourself please ! Arsenal have had this same fixture list year in year out with no complaints !!
We have it far worse but never moan even when the press use us as scapegoats week in week out and slag off our players fans stadium manager board week in week out !! but we just get on with it !!
No excuses Poch… Is comes with the territory of becoming a big club !!
Arsenal will just plough on being ripped apart from every corner of the media and ex players on the BBC !!
Poch is looking for a way out of the spuds to join Barcelona !!
I had a laugh with your article Sir, it’s always endearing to the media when it is Tottenham that is in crisis.
I guess they (media) are making huge chunk of money with the united crisis so let them not please have a whiff at Arsenal’s way. And there is also Ronaldo rape case to report.
“This morning we were reporting their terrible injury crisis.”
I wonder if the Mirror were reporting it in this fashion as they did Arsenals ‘injury crisis’ back in March 2014:
–Arsenal’s injury problems are down to incompetent training methods, and tantamount to ”self-destruction” claims Raymond Verheijen.
We asked the fitness and conditioning expert why Arsenal are facing yet another injury crisis, and he places the blame squarely at Arsene Wenger’s feet.
I wonder if they asked him what he makes of Tottenhams ‘injury crisis’, after all they do have history:
The Mirror April 2011:
Tottenham’s defensive injury crisis deepened this evening with the news that Alan Hutton is likely to be out for a month with a knee injury, Press Association Sport understands.
Footballl London April 2017:
Spurs facing possible injury crisis ahead of Watford game but there’s good news on Harry Kane.
ESPN July 2018:
Tottenham Hotspur face an injury crisis in central midfield after Moussa Sissoko suffered a hamstring injury against Barcelona and Victor Wanyama flew home with a knee problem.
—–
I have no doubt at all that somehow it’s still all Wengers fault.
Within 2 minutes not only Spurs 1 down already, but we are told by the BT commentator that apparently we ‘have to feel sorry for Spurs’ because of all their injuries.
Because of course they always felt sorry for us as opposed to taking the piss.
Sickening pro spud commentary. Spuds shocked that their dirty play is being penalised by the non pigmob ref.
Lol well they just g9t taught the important of technique. Fine goal from Ivan!
Liverpool find the wheels are actually falling off after yet another defeat, with a draw sandwiched between.
Juventus have the chance to heap the misery on Jose and his, sorry the Glaziers and Woodwoods United.
Meanwhile Reus continues his return t9 gloss the win for Dortmund with a goal in 90 to add to his earlier assist.
Antoine pops up to spare Athleticos blushes against Brugge and Voty scrape togerher dome points. Now is the time to catch up.
Midway through the second half, I quickly read the commentary at UEFA.con about the spuds. Not a single mention of a player down for treatment.
The spud diving coach, is calling his bunch of divers ‘heroes’. At the end of the day, the score was spuds 2, Messie 2 rest of Barcelona 2. The spuds tied Messie (for SAA the spuds drew with Messi), and lost the game. They aren’t heroes, they are divers who didn’t dive enough. Maybe.
The spud diving coach also presented the injury card. Why not, the medja had been pulling it out all day.
The commentator of the Spuds / Barca is at pains to point out that Arsenal too did lose by the very same 4-2 margin to Barca at Wembely in the CL , all those years ago !
“The opposite of irony is wrinkly”
Ha! That made me smile, Tony, on this grey Cornish morning
Thank you
😎
I’m sorry but Tony is wrong about Irony.
Irony is in fact like Goldy and Bronzy, only made of Iron.
I know that because Baldrick told me many years ago.