By Tony Attwood
In response to yesterday afternoon’s events The Guardian says, “It is an interesting part of the dynamic that for an hour it had been tempting to wonder if this was the kind of afternoon where Arsenal would miss having a sniper, a finisher, a one-shot killer.”
But that was before. All criticism of Arsenal after the game was set aside as now it is Tottenham and their manager who are knocked. Prior to the game Australians were lauded, now, not so much. Strange that.
But more to the point is that only once in the last ten years have Arsenal had a better start to a season, and that was in 2022 when all four games were won and the goals were 11 for and three against. But we can certainly say that on the basis of just the first four games (and yes of course I know it is JUST four games) Arsenal have the best defence of the last ten years – and also a better defence than in the Unbeaten Season.
In fact the rebuild to get to this triumph started from the low points of 2021 when Arsenal lost the first three matches but finally won the fourth to give the club, after four games a goal difference on -8. Indeed this is only the third time in the past ten years that Arsenal’s points total has been in double figures after four games. And those three seasons are the most recent three seasons.
So we can look at the whole table of the last tend years (with the Unbeaten Season tucked in below just for comparison) and ponder the fact that last season after the Aston Villa defeat some people were calling for Arteta to go, on the grounds that the club was slipping backward. And indeed why so many were calling for a new striker in the summer.
Although, let us not get too carried away. At the moment goals are a bit of a problem. In six of the last ten years we had more goals thus far, than the six we have garnered this season. Yet as already noted this is the best defence of the last ten seasons – and better than the Unbeaten. Put that together with the goals scored and this is the second best goals difference in the last ten seasons.
| pOS | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Arsenal 2024 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| 5 | Arsenal 2023 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 1 | Arsenal 2022 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 12 |
| 17 | Arsenal 2021 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | -8 | 3 |
| 4 | Arsenal 2020 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 9 |
| 5 | Arsenal 2019 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 7 |
| 9 | Arsenal 2018 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 6 |
| 11 | Arsenal 2017 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 6 |
| 6 | Arsenal 2016 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 7 |
| 6 | Arsenal 2015 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| 1 | Arsenal 2003 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 12 |
So how has Arteta done it? “By transfers,” to a large degree, must be the answer. Arsenal have spent £577m on players since Arteta arrived. (Or £556m according to the possibly more reliable Transfermarkt.)
By comparison, Chelsea have spent £943m (I’m rounding these up to the nearest million), Liverpool have spent £300m, Manchester City £165m, Manchester United £650m, Newecastle £440m and Tottetnham £544m. Only one club has made a profit on transfers andthat is Everton, who have made a profit of £32m and are bottom of the league.
The cases of clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United, and indeed Tottenham Hots shows that simply buying players is not enough, as we have reported many times. It may sound self-evident but clearly not to those clubs, for it has to be the right players playing under the right manager and using the right approach.
Indeed this has become a bit of a talking point since yesterday’s game when so much has been made of Nicolas Jover, the Arsenal set-piece coach, and the fact that Tottenham Hotspur do not have a set-piece coach.
Although of course Tottenham have their response to any suggestion that Arsenal won fair and square as you would expect.
In the NY Times Postecoglou is reported as saying set pieces themselves were not the issue and the problem is that Guglielmo Vicario has been targeted by opposition players at set-pieces. This is a sudden switch for the Tottenham boss and the media where the same publication previously ran the article, “Are Tottenham overly reliant upon Guglielmo Vicario’s excellence?” Indeed the piece noted that “Tottenham have quickly learned to lean on Guglielmo Vicario’s excellence as a patched up back line looks to the Italian for reassurance…”
Postecoglou has implied that he is blaming the PGMO referees saying “I watched the Champions League last night and there was a couple of times they went in on the keeper and it was a foul straight away. I don’t know. It is a weird one for me.”
And we might reply that a Premier League manager who thinks the variability between referees in Europe and PGMO is “a weird one” really isn’t fit for purpose.
Yet that really does point at the heart of Tottenham’s failures. The referees under PGMO rule are in a world of their own. For the Tottenham manager not yet to have studied their ways let alone understood what they do is an absolute indictment of his regime. As I understand it, not only do most clubs have a set piece coach, a goalkeeper coach, etc etc etc, they also have a coach in charge of checking on the referee, to advise players of what not to do with this referee. If Tottenham are out of step with this, that explains a lot about their performance.
I have no sympathy for Spurs and I noted their continuing diving and collapsing whenever an Arsenal player came near. The referee seemed to fall for this in the eary part of the game, but surprisingly seemed to adopt a more balanced approach as the gane went on, -especially in being prepared to book 5 of theri players. I felt that the booking for Timber was undeserved, as it was hardly even a foul. Glad that, for once, VAR did not fall for the extra-theatrical display from the Spurs player and the J. Redknapp ridiculous call for it to be upgraded to a red card.
However, I do also feel that the criticism of Spurs from many who claim to be their supporters has been excessive. Their manager may not be the greatest coach, but he seems to be a decent man – respectful of our manager and all our coaching team, and certainly no worse a coach than the countless short-lived predecessors, whose names are too numerous to remember and ceertainly no worse than Conte or Mourinho. They should all have realised by now that changing the manager does not automatically bring about improvements, as they themselves are proof of that over at least a decade.
John L
My thoughts exactly on so many points.
1-I have no sympathy for Spurs and I noted their continuing diving and collapsing whenever an Arsenal player came near.
2-I felt that the booking for Timber was undeserved, as it was hardly even a foul. Glad that, for once, VAR did not fall for the extra-theatrical display from the Spurs player.
It was embarrassing. And as you say Timbers incident was hardly a foul let alone a yellow or RED?
3-However, I do also feel that the criticism of Spurs from many who claim to be their supporters has been excessive.
Me too. When you look at Spurs stats this year everyone can see where their problem lies. Finishing. They work hard. Keep the ball well. Create chances. They just cant finish. As one Spurs fan said yesterday, Sons form has fallen off a cliff. And they have simply not got any other finishers in the team.
4-Their manager may not be the greatest coach, but he seems to be a decent man – respectful of our manager and all our coaching team, and certainly no worse a coach than the countless short-lived predecessors, whose names are too numerous to remember and certainly no worse than Conte or Mourinho. They should all have realised by now that changing the manager does not automatically bring about improvements, as they themselves are proof of that over at least a decade
Again, a pretty fair assessment, although I think Pochettino has been by far their stand out manager and personally I think they should of stuck with him a little longer, but what do I know? I thought we should of given Wenger another year, and wasn’t even sure we should of sacked Emery. I think time has shown both decisions, though not without pain, have been shown to of been correct in the long run. To change or not to change? Never an easy call.
Back to yesterday, and specifically the referee, and even VAR.
I must admit to being shocked.
Prior to the match I had a list of things I felt would happen.
A-We would have a player sent off.
B-We would have a perfectly good goal disallowed.
C-They would be awarded a penalty.
D-We would have a good penalty shout turned down.
I thought all that on the basis of what I had seen from this referee with my own eyes. He has been awful, whether as a referee or on VAR duty. There is a long list of extremely poor and costly decisions against us. I know it sounds harsh, but I actually think/thought he was a cheat, pure and simple.
Add that to the fact he was an Aussie AND a Liverpool fan and I saw the perfect storm.
It was nothing of the sort.
Okay, he was a little card happy, but he wasn’t biased and perhaps that was just his way of keeping on top of a match that might of easily boiled over, as it nearly did following the Timber incident.
Personally, as I said above, I think even a foul was harsh, BUT I am saying that with the benefit of hindsight, or more accurately, replays.
In real time I was fearing the worse. It just looked ‘dodgy’, and it looked as such because Timbers foot ‘bounced’ over the ball and made contact with the shin. It was an accident, and in fact the contact was so minimal as to be irrelevant.
My point is, given what it may of looked like to the referee in real time, the over reaction of the Spurs player, the baying crowd and the ensuing handbags, it gave Gillett the perfect excuse to issue a red card.
I still cant believe he didn’t.
I still cant believe VAR didn’t at least ask him to revue it.
I cant believe he didn’t disallowed our goal. There was a push. It was slight, and would of been extremely harsh, but harsh is what I have come to expect, not just from this referee, but especially from this referee.
I still cant believe VAR didn’t ask him to revue it.
Yes, both a red for Timber and the disallowing of our goal would of been harsh in the extreme but it’s what this referee usually is with us. And what’s more he would not of been criticised, because as we heard, Rednapp and Merson, to name but 2, think both should of happened.
I don’t know what to make of it. A referee that has given is nothing over the years. A referee that inspired Tony to ask: ‘Is Mr Gillett unconsciously biased in any way, or does he treat teams equally’, suddenly puts in what can only be described as a decent and more importantly balanced performance.
He usually screws us. He could of screwed us. He didn’t screw us. WHY?
Just thought to add, and this may indeed be the answer to my own question.
Tony’s pre match assessment of Gillett:
“The one thing that might help Arsenal despite this assault on our defenders by the referees is that Jarred Gillett is more prone to overseeing away wins than any other referee. Last season 47.6% of his games were away wins and 42.9% were home wins. Here are the figures for some of the most used Premier League referees last season. Just look at the variation between Jones with 13.6% away wins and Gillet with 47.6%.”
It seems, despite his faults, one thing about My Gillett is that he doesn’t get swayed by the baying crowd.
Brilliant research if I may say.
Isn’t this a moment in the season where we should have one word come back from the black hole of english language…
The Tottenham defense was
lackadaisical
Don’t you agree ?!?
As for the referee, maybe more people are reading Untold and are getting aware that some crunching of numbers is happening and it has some effect ?
Chris
I too had wondered, what with Arsenal being such an outlier regarding certain statistics, as exposed yet again by Tony, if somebody had thought that it was starting to look a little too obvious that Arsenal were being treated differently?
Add to that a couple of high profile, NON Arsenal Bloggs, suggesting just that, and even some ex players laying in after the Rice incident, you never know?
Maybe there is a limit to how far even POGMOL are prepared to go?
If I’m honest I doubt it very much, and suspect yesterday was just an apparition on their part.
My impression of the Timber foul was that he had possession of the ball (foot on top) and was trying a roulette (Zidane spin) or at least the protect the ball when Parro came in with a challenge and nudged the ball causing Timber’s foot to come down on his shin…No foul.
As Porro fell to the ground, he could be heard issuing the overused cliché – “Timber”.
Porro received no treatment on the pitch.