By Tony Attwood
The media knocking of Arsenal continues unabated, and it is now getting all rather amusing as we find the Mirror, which has been at the heart of the proclamations that Arsenal are on a downward slope to nowhere, spent much of its commentary before the Villa game defending ex-Arsenal keeper Martinez by saying,
“Meanwhile, Martinez has gone on to be one of the consistent keepers in the Premier League and was instrumental in helping Argentina secure a historic Copa America in the summer.”
Of course one of the very big problems with the media today is that they will have their journalists write anything to prove a point, whether they use evidence or no, and then just move on to the next untruth.
But we do like to keep track of these things, so here is the current league table in the order of goals conceded.
| Pts pos | Defence pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Chelsea | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 3 | 18 | 22 |
| 3 | 2 | Manchester City | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 3 | 13 | 17 |
| 4 | 3 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 15 |
| 2 | 4 | Liverpool | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 22 | 6 | 16 | 18 |
| 10 | 5 | Brentford | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 12 |
| 11 | 6 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 12 |
| 8 | 7 | Everton | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 14 |
| 6 | 8 | Manchester United | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 10 | 6 | 14 |
| 7 | 9 | West Ham United | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 14 |
| 15 | 10 | Southampton | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 7 |
| 5 | 11 | Tottenham Hotspur | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 15 |
| 9 | 12 | Arsenal | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 13 | -3 | 14 |
| 14 | 13 | Crystal Palace | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 13 | -3 | 8 |
| 18 | 14 | Burnley | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 13 | -8 | 3 |
| 12 | 15 | Leicester City | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 14 | -1 | 11 |
| 13 | 16 | Aston Villa | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 15 | -2 | 10 |
| 16 | 17 | Watford | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 15 | -8 | 7 |
| 17 | 18 | Leeds United | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 15 | -8 | 6 |
| 19 | 19 | Newcastle United | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 19 | -9 | 3 |
| 20 | 20 | Norwich City | 9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 21 | -19 | 2 |
As we can see Arsenal, who reshaped their entire defence this summer, are 12th in a league table based on goals conceded – and of course, we would all like them to higher – but as we have oft noted, a totally new defence and a totally new tactical approach has caused problems.
Villa however didn’t spend a penny on defenders last summer, although they brought in Ashley Young from Inter on a free and Axel Tuanzebe from Manchester United on loan in the summer. Of those only Tuanzebe played.
So one new defender for Villa playing in this match and four for Arsenal who changed everyone from the keeper outward.
With Villa having had this seemingly world-class keeper for over a year, and a very settled defence we might have expected this to show dividends against a team that has changed the keeper and three out of the backline. But it wasn’t like that at all. Our defence is not perfect yet, but it is certainly getting that way.
Indeed if we look at the last six games, as we did in the last post, the situation for Villa is even more dire. In the last six games up to last night Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Wolverhampton, Manchester United, Everton, Brighton, Leicester, Brentford, West Ham, Southampton, Leeds, Burnley and Norwich have all let in fewer goals than the Villa defence with Martinez behind them.
Put another way only Newcastle and Watford have let in more goals in their last six games than Aston Villa have with Martinez in goal.
Of course conceding goals is not just down to the keeper, but the fact is that ever since Arsenal sold Martinez, (who you might recall, said he would not sign a new contract unless he was first choice keeper) he has been letting in goals like there is no tomorrow.
And as the “last six games” table shows he is getting worse and worse.
We also know that he cannot be trusted to obey international regulations relating to covid – and having someone in the squad like that can be very dodgy, given that he could vanish off anywhere at any time.
For the reasons we have noted Arsenal’s defence has not been perfect, but it is improving what with being the third best defence in the league over the last six games.
But what puzzles me is why? Why is the Daily Mirror so fixated on publicising the abiilty of an Argentine covid rule breaking goalkeeper who is not particularly good? Perhaps he’s related to one of the journalists. Or maybe there is a different reason.
Where in your article did you give us a reason to boo Martinez ? Was it because he concedes goals ? Ramsdale conceded 63 last season, should we boo him as well ? Is it because the Mirror does not like Arsenal? That is hardly his fault.
There were three ways we could have reacted to his return, clap, do nothing or boo and by booing we showed no class.
Jeez you sound such a bitter man. Did a newspaper not offer you the job many years ago.
One of the things to learn Ed itor is not to write rhetorical questions with no question mark at the end and a lack of knowledge as to what the answer is.
I would have thought his flagrant breach of international coronavirus regulations was enough by way of a starter. But his demand to be first choice keeper when, as it turns out, he’s not that good, is another.
Maybe it was this?
From the Metro:
After a decade in north London, Martinez had no intention of continuing to play second fiddle to anyone.
“‘When I was on a high, I still felt like they didn’t deserve me because of the way they were treating me” Emi Martinez takes fresh dig at former club Arsenal
And “Fresh dig” suggests it wasn’t his first.
So how were we treating you Emil? Not paying you?
Read the article. We (Arsenal) don’t have a bad word to say about him, but Martinez alas, like so meany of our ex players, simply cant wait to have a dig.
I did read the article, all of it, including the part when he said “I love everything about Arsenal. I still love them and I’m still watching the games, but I just felt like they didn’t trust me like they should have.” Nothing he said in the article was incorrect.
And Tony your article mainly suggests that the reason we should boo him is because he is not that good a keeper. That is not a reason to boo someone and it is clearly not true just like Ramsdale is not a bad keeper based on his stats from the last two seasons. And as for his flagrant breach of international Covid regulations, I didn’t notice any boos directed at Buendia, did his breaches not warrant similar boos and do you think we should be booing all players who have broken Covid rules ?
An article supporting the booing of a former player that clearly bled red and white while he was here (witness crying when we (he) won the FA Cup). Come on. We Arsenal supporters are better than that.
I feel like Tony wanted to bash that fella but out of kindness he opted out in the end. He is getting soft in his old age. No sweat. I’ll do it for you, sir.
Emi Martinez is a spoilt brat. Had he stayed, he wouldn’t get the games and we would have had disharmony in the squad. He might be very good now but those days he was a nervous wreck and disappointed Wenger a few times. Arsenal took a decision to suit all parties especially him when they sold him off. Instead of humility and gratitude, he took the highway to madness approach and now turned into an average GK this season. He had his moments last season and now because of his mouth, he will have to salvage whatever good performance he still got in his 29 years old body to last at the highest level. All actions got consequences and he is learning it the hard way right now. Aaron Ramsdale is younger, more athletic and definitely with a bigger potential. No regrets at all.
In short i am dissapointed in you Tony and in the booing. Martinez dont deserve it.
“we have one of the best goalkeepers in the world” Lionel Messi. Do you think he might know a thing or two about football or does everyone think they have the prettiest wife at home?
The is the biggest piece of trash you’ve ever published. Absolute garbage. Not only does this not answer the question asked in the title at all, it’s just pointlessly attacking a former player that was nothing but a team player while he was here. Just terrible.