Conte made a good point

 

 

 

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By Tony Attwood

Antonio Conte made an interesting point commenting of the Tottenham red card, as reported by the BBC.

“In England it is very difficult…. Sometimes you see a situation that could be a red card, instead it is a yellow card or no yellow card, sometimes you see a situation that is a yellow card and you see a red card.

“In Italy, they go on Thursday and stay together for three days to work together, to look at the videos and try and improve. I don’t know if they do that in this country but it would be a good idea because the level is so high and we need the level of the referee and VAR the same. The Premier League is a really high level and every part of this situation has to be top.”

But of course the PGMO won’t agree to this because….   well of course we don’t know why, because unlike many referees’ associations elsewhere in Europe, they are an ultra-secret organisation that never explains anything.  This is what passes for their website.

The Guardian however found a different issue to be of interest, saying, “There are many differences between Arsenal and Tottenham right now, but perhaps this feels the most basic of them: do Tottenham genuinely look as though they’re having fun? Results have been good. There is a system, a method, a plan, a collective buy-in, five shouting Italians on the bench to enforce order. But with the possible exception of 20 lawless minutes against Leicester, there has been precious little joy to them.”

So why is there little joy in the Tottenham camp?  Well, the most obvious reason is that the club know that they have had the easiest of starts to the season with matches against…

Date	Match	Score	Pos of opposition
06 Aug 2022	Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton	4-1	16th
14 Aug 2022	Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur	2-2	5th
20 Aug 2022	Tottenham Hotspur v Wolverhampton Wanderers	1-0	18th
28 Aug 2022	Nottingham Forest v Tottenham Hotspur	0-2	19th
31 Aug 2022	West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur	1-1	15th
03 Sep 2022	Tottenham Hotspur v Fulham	2-1	8th
17 Sep 2022	Tottenham Hotspur v Leicester City	6-2	20th

 

But this story remains hidden and instead the media bought into an alternative reality.   But as everyone who has ever been a success in business knows, there’s no harm in building up a story for the media and your customers.   But the moment you start believing your own propaganda you are sunk.

If Arsenal had even once listened to the media, or some of the so-called fans who go to matches, and the pundits who write their stuff each day, Granit Xhaka would have long since been gone and some of the developments of the last two seasons would never have happened.

That brilliant run of results in the last two-thirds of the season, two years back, and that amazing run which made us the third most successful team in the league after the first three games last season, were all ignored.  And yes I know I have said this over and over again, but this is the only place you’ll read about it, whereas the contrary message is published 100 times a day.

The Guardian says, “Pragmatism means you sack Arteta after last season’s start.”   But no, pragmatism would have said, “three games is not enough to make a judgement after the stunning success of the last two-thirds of 2020/21.”  And besides what happened was a ten-game unbeaten run – and isn’t it funny how no one mentions that either, but instead goes on and on and on and on and on about the first three matches.

Now we know Arsenal have 21 points from eight games.   So let us try a little comparison here… looking back at the three seasons in which Wenger won the league.

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal 1997/8	8	5	3	0	20	8	12	18
2	Arsenal 2001/2	8	5	2	1	18	5	13	17
1	Arsenal 2003/4	8	7	1	0	26	7	19	22
1	Arsenal 2022/3	8	7	0	1	20	8	12	21

 

In only one season of the three Wengerian seasons in which the league was won, did we do better than in the opening games than this season – and that was the unbeaten season.  We could do with scoring a few more goals to get up to the 2003/4 level, but still, it’s not too bad.

And one final thought.  What of the “Big Six” or maybe the “Big Seven” if we include Newcastle United?  How are they doing this season?  This final table gives us an insight.

Manchester City are the only club outscoring Arsenal and the only big seven club with fewer goals conceded.

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	8	7	0	1	20	8	12	21
2	Manchester City	7	5	2	0	23	6	17	17
3	Tottenham Hotspur	8	5	2	1	19	10	9	17
5	Chelsea	7	4	1	2	10	10	0	13
6	Manchester United	6	4	0	2	8	8	0	12
7	Newcastle United	8	2	5	1	12	8	4	11
9	Liverpool	7	2	4	1	18	9	9	10

We predicted Arsenal to come third this season.  We are still on course for at least that.

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