By Tony Attwood
- Why are so few players changing clubs this summer?
- Football’s darker side. How the offenders can attack the complainant
A piece in the Telegraph heralds the “Football clubs’ blueprint to a successful summer” which sounds rather exciting but ultimately tell us the answer is “Spending smart and getting the timing right” Which perhaps isn’t that revelatory after all.
And I mention that because the transfer of Eddie out of the club which the media has been so excited about, apparently isn’t happening. Football,London and a few other sources told us that “Last week it had seemed as though Eddie Nketiah’s future was set. Arsenal had agreed a deal worth around £30million with Nottingham Forest for the England international and it felt like a matter of time before things would be confirmed.” (Notice “felt like”. No evidence then, just journalistic feeling!)
Of course a non-transfer is still good news for the media who report the failure of a club to make a signing that they (the media) invented, with as much relish as actual signings. Thus FoLo also comment that “and so the story roles on into the final week of the window.” Or to be more precise “we can keep writing about this through the rest of the window, and then if he doesn’t move do a big negative story about Arsenal, and none of it is costing us a penny in research fees or work time.”
Eddie’s story has occupied a lot of space this summer with talk of him going to Marseille or Bournemouth, although Goal now says, “Arsenal are reportedly set to accept Crystal Palace’s bid for Eddie Nketiah…”
Now the point about these stories is that generally they include the use of the word “reportedly” That word actually means “according to what people say about something.” So if you choose to say that Eddie is going to Plymouth Argyle, then someone else could say “Eddie Nketiah reportedly going to Plymouth Argyle.” That’s it. No investigation, no evidence. Someone just said it.
So if I now write that Eddie is going to Wolverhampton Wanderers then it could be written that Eddie is “reportedly going to Wolves”.
Another word that is handy to use is “targeted” as in The Telegraph which tells us that “Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah targeted by Crystal Palace after …” Targeting in his context means “the act of attempting to appeal to a person or group or to influence them in some way.”
In fact, “targeting” and “reportedly” are just words dropped into articles about transfers that allow journalists to copy each other, and if nothing new is around, to make something up. As we know in most seasons 97% of transfer rumours fall into this category.
Actually having mentioned Wolverhampton earlier we might also note now that the Mail says, “Wolves pursuing deal to sign Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale -“
Meanwhile there is an alternative for Arsenal to buying more players and that is to rotate more, giving the back up players more runs out during the season. Last season, the top five of the league for players used were
- Sheffield United 35 players
- Nottingham Forest 33 players
- Newcastle United 32 players
- Chelsea 32 players
- Manchester United 31 players
And I would argue that all of these clubs underperformed in terms of what they might have hoped for and responded to this underperformance by using more and more players. The two clubs who used the smallest number of players (25 in each case) were Arsenal and Manchester City.
Thus it would seem that using more and more players does not bring success and hence buying more and more players is not always the best move. But even so the media is adamant in its appraisal: Arsenal should rotate more, because it is “news” without cost. No research, just make it up.
“Lack of squad depth leaves Arsenal treading a tightrope in quest for title,” again from the Guardian, is one such invention. But that was not an article analysing the issue in depth, but really an opinion piece which began “Arsenal did not manage to win the transfer window this time…”
For the media, rotation means bigger squads and more transfer dealings which can be reported without expense since they are mostly just made up. In fact, it has got to the point where if a newspaper isn’t covering invented transfer nonsense during the window it looks like it is not joining in the serious debate.
“Rotate more” is not in any way a proven route to success (as the success of Arsenal and Manchester C last season showed), just as buying a centre forward (which has been the main cry from the media for most of this window) is also not necessarily a route to success.
Indeed even with the limited amount of competition that the media perceives Arsenal to have at the moment, there is still room for debate as with “Leandro Trossard has suggested he wants to start Arsenal’s next game against Brighton, his former club, after his muted reaction on scoring the breakthrough goal at Aston Villa prompted his manager Mikel Arteta to admit the ‘super sub’ is not happy at playing second fiddle.”
Although sometimes a totally opposite thought might appear as after the last match the Mail broke ranks and wrote “Arsenal’s strength in depth was on full display at Villa Park… but can Mikel Arteta keep his entire squad motivated and fulfil their title ambitions?
So there we are, it is all turned upside down. Too many players and they won’t all be happy. Not enough and the squad is too small. But no one else mentions that the two clubs with the smallest squads came first and second last season.
Embarrassing article. Write about football, not your obsession about the media.
As I think I may have mentioned before Andrew, your embarrasment can be easily overcome by you not reading Untold.
Indeed the prime questioin here is why do you torment yourself so by reading a blog that you clearly find causes you negative emotional feelings. It is your choice of course, but really it is a strange thing to do.
And this notion of yours that you can define what an obsession is or not; that is a bit . My view has been put here many times – the media chooses which stories it will cover and which it won’t and as a result of that people who get a view of football via the mainstream media only get a partial view of what is going on.
That is I feel a perfectly legitimate viewpoint, because it is founded on a logical analysis, it is not an obsession. If there is an obsession to be found, it could well be your desire to read a website you clearly dislike, and then write in and complain, although I would also admit that is an approach to life that one does find sometimes on the internet.
I choose to publish your commentaries because I think they are rather unusual, but I really would welcome some logical justification for your instructions on telling me what to write on a blog that I run. After all, I don’t tel lyou what you write about in your commentaries.
How important is a big squad? How important is rotation?
I would say the answer to question one is very important.
I would say the answer to question two is not important at all.
I will try to explain, and later I will use Saka as the for example.
Of course it’s always nice to have the utopian dream of having 2 complete teams where you can hardly see the join between the ‘1st 11’ and the ‘2nd 11’, but as we all know that in itself comes with it’s own problems.
First and foremost is how do you keep 11 players happy on the bench who are, give or take the width of a fag paper, as good as the starters?
The fact is, most of the time you cant. The player on the bench will not be happy, and rightly so.
For the manager it is at at the same time both a dream and a nightmare.
But from what I can see, even when the players are THAT closely matched, most of the time the manager still plays what he considers his best eleven whenever he can.
And this is because the pressure to win every match is always there, and given the quality of the PL and the CL the opportunities to ‘rest’ players are few and far between. It is too risky.
Okay, lets say Ipswich or maybe Everton at home are possibilities, but honestly is it worth the risk?
Pep didn’t rest Harlaand at the weekend did he? In fact he played him for the entire match. Man City were 3-1 up at half time with 76% possession, yet he still played him the entire 2nd half. Why?
Because by and large managers want to, and would if they could, play their 1st 11 all game every game.
There were cries towards the end of last season that Saka was being over played, and if only we had decent back up he would of been rested. I don’t believe that is true at all
If you have a player as good as Saka. A match winner such as Saka. You play him whenever he is fit. Whenever you can.
I concede at times Saka looked a little fatigued, but the fact is he was still producing the goods.
Over the season he scored 16 PL goals at a rate of 1 every 2.4.
Over the first half of the season he scored 6 goals at a rate of 1 every 3.80
Over the second half of the season he scored 10 goals at a rate of 1 in 2.4
So, in the second half of the season he was more prolific than the first.
Over the final 7 matches, following the game he missed at home to Luton, he still maintained a rate of 1 in 2.3, pretty much his seasonal average.
In fact scoring 2 in the last 3 matches he played was well above average. So tired or not he was still a pivotal player, and more importantly he was still producing the goods.
My point is, I believe managers will always play the BEST players whenever they can. As Pep and Arteta demonstrated, they are not really into ‘rotation’, and I would suggest finishing first and second is proof positive that that is the way to do things.
So why did I say right at the top that a big squad is so important. If it’s not for rotation it has to be to cover for injuries and suspensions, which is something that every manager has very little control over. If you are lucky and get very few injuries or suspensions, as was the case for both Arsenal and Man City last season, the managers pretty much play their best 11 every single game.
Having said that I am sure that on occasions 2 players in one position are so closely matched that even the manager isn’t sure and will make decisions on gut feeling, the type of opponent etc., but by and large they know exactly who they believe is the best player in that position and will play them at every opportunity. They will not ‘rest’ players unless they absolutely have to.
Actually, it’s one of the advantages of having such a young squad. They can carry the workload.
As a footnote. It is interesting to note that Sakas goal output increased by 50 % after Havertz moved to centre forward.
Coincidence?
It seems to me that Mr. Banks has some kind of obsession with Untold….
Something most ‘supporters’ don’t always look at is the combination of certain players and their synergy when playing together. What Nitram says about Havertz is quite true as it shows that people train together at certain ways to get a better result for the team. The way that Ben White & Saka fit and play together is a prime example. You can see the confidence that exists between them and it shows in the output from them where Ben scored some goals & assists this past season. I was not sure that Ben is a good fit on the right but seeing the progression & how it has helped Bens’ confidence in going forward as well as the goals scored, makes me realize that we don’t always see the team in the way the manager sees them, hence I have to acknowledge that I was wrong about him. If only the ‘pundits’ and journalists have the decency to admit that they were wrong, then the supporters will have more trust in them.
A prime example of this is the fact I saw in July that Nico Williams of Spain was joining Arsenal for 49mil & 2 days later Mikel Merino was joining for 42 mil. Now they tell us it’s just Merino joining, and the price is now something around 32 mil. Who should we trust, or should we wait until the club announces a signing???
Banksie Banks since you are too thick to interpret Tony’s politely worded response to you, let me clarify. Go away.
As I have said before, Banks is a moronic heckler. No more, no less.
If he started this nonsense in a theatre 2,000 people would just look at him and think ‘what a PRAT”.
Need I say more.