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By Tony Attwood
There is a story in the world of newspapers in which the Sports Editor walks into the journalist’s office and demands, “Right what’s today’s Arsenal crisis?” and the journalist turns in bemusement and says, “Well there isn’t one boss, they are doing ok”, to which the sports editor replies, “You’re fired.”
You can tell the truth of this because this is the third year running in which the media has conjured an Arsenal crisis out of one small set of results, ignoring everything else that is going on around them. This means the real question of course is, “why do the media keep hunting for Arsenal crises?” and the answer is that sadly there are a few people out there who call themselves Arsenal supporters who hate it when Arsenal keep winning because what they really love to write about is doom and gloom, while knocking the manager and the players.
Now you will certainly know about the current crisis – which to distinguish it from last season’s crisis and the crisis of the season before and…. we’ll call the 2024 crisis. You will, I suspect, be very familiar with it. It consists of having played six games, won two of them, drawn one and lost three. And we know it is a crisis because every minute of every daythe media is telling us that this is a crisis.
Here’s the run of form….It consists of six games in which two have been won, one has been drawn and three have been lost. Shock, horror, indeed.
| Date | Game | Res | Score | Competition |
| 19 Oct 2024 | AFC Bournemouth v Arsenal | L | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 22 Oct 2024 | Arsenal v Shakhtar Donetsk | W | 1-0 | Champions League |
| 27 Oct 2024 | Arsenal v Liverpool | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
| 30 Oct 2024 | Preston North End v Arsenal | W | 0-3 | League Cup |
| 02 Nov 2024 | Newcastle United v Arsenal | L | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 06 Nov 2024 | Internazionale v Arsenal | L | 1-0 | Champions League |
Now because journalists have a memory span similar to that of the lesser spotted garden sheep they forget that in 2023/4 they also cried out “crisis, crisis, crisis cri… ” or baa baa baa in journalistic talk, with the run of played 7, won 1, drawn 2 and lost 4.
But the journos and their editors don’t mind repeating the tale from last season because basically, they treat their readers with utter contempt. However in case you have been persuaded that the current crisis is new, here’s last year’s crisis…
2023/24
| Date | Game | Res | Score | Competition |
| 9 Dec 2023 | Aston Villa v Arsenal | L | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 12 Dec 2023 | PSV Eindhoven v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Champions League |
| 17 Dec 2023 | Arsenal v Brighton & Hove | W | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 23 Dec 2023 | Liverpool v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 28 Dec 2023 | Arsenal v West Ham United | L | 0-2 | Premier League |
| 31 Dec 2023 | Fulham v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 07 Jan 2024 | Arsenal v Liverpool | L | 0-2 | FA Cup |
Yes, well, ok that was last year, when in fact Arsenal came… err…. second. But that was a one off wasn’t it?
Well actually not really because in 2022/23 we had a crisis which involved playing four games winning not one single one of them, drawing one and losing three, and that was indeed called an Arsenal crisis.
2022/23
| Date | Game | Res | Score | Competition |
| 27 Jan 2023 | Manchester City v Arsenal | L | 1-0 | FA Cup |
| 04 Feb 2023 | Everton v Arsenal | L | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 11 Feb 2023 | Arsenal v Brentford | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 15 Feb 2023 | Arsenal v Manchester City | L | 1-3 | Premier League |
Now of course I am not saying that these sets of results were good, or the sort of thing I enjoy sitting through, but I publish them to show that what we are getting this year is pretty much the same as for the last two seasons. So any suggestion that Arsenal is in decline is mindless twaddle, which come to think of it is what the media spout most of the time in relation to Arsenal.
Winning the league means going through the season without such a dip and that is not the level that Arsenal have got to yet, although they are much closer than they were a few years back.
So why do the journalists push this story of Arsenal’s weakness, chaos, and general incompetence? Largely because it helps cover up the fact that what Arsenal have been up to in the last couple of seasons would in the past have been enough to win the league. That the league was not won was because of the multi-billions ploughed into Manchester C, and that is something the media find hard to publicise.
here we go again. Gvardiol on the ground in the box, touches the ball, even the commentator on german TV says it is suspicious and is surprised not even a VAR check… why am I not surprised…. ?!?! Ah yes, Jarred Gillett again….
Back to the topic above…. City115 don’t have a crisis…. Lost 3 in a week… but it is not a crisis, just lots of players injured.
And the infamous 3 Lions manager has called up Kyle Walker who is just coming back to fitness.
It is so transparent and visible they have an agenda.
Alan Smith welcomes the return of DeBruyne because “he is a joy to watch”.
Brighton should have scored 3 or 4 against the 12 men of 115 City.
Blatant pull of shirt in the box by a Liverpool player on a Villa player. Nothing from the ref and of course nothing from VAR
Aston Villa player clearly hoofs the ball up field after a free kick awarded. Again nothing from the ref. Not a word from the commentators.
Now A Villa player booked for an almost identical shirt pull.
It’s got so bad even the commentators have mentioned the blatant inconsistency, or as it’s known down our way, cheating.
All that and I’ve only been watching for 20 minutes.
The refereeing is actually so bad it is laughable.
David Coote (the one with the gormless expression) was the referee for the Liverpool/Villa match. The same referee who sent off Tomiyasu after Ayew dived. That card was never rescinded.
PGMOL dishonesty in full view.
@seismic,
I won’t follow you on the ‘dishonesty’ level, as it would imply they have some sort of plan, organisational intelligence.
They are just incompetent, run by an incompetent organisation that does not even know how to count, be it referees on the field or money in it’s accounts.
If you have watched the last classico in La Liga…well so much better in terms of spectacle and use of technology then what the best league in the world has to offer. At some point the PL will lose it’s shine and leading position, revenues will diminsh as will budgets. Maybe then, by rgressing, football will become better again.