“All clubs play with the same ball” up to a point

 

 

• There is something seriously wrong with Arsenal’s admin
• The tragedy is Arsenal might just give in and do what their critics want

By Tony Attwood

There is something of a confusing piece in the Guardian about the actual football used in the League Cup, in that they say, “all clubs play with the same ball,” to which I suppose one can only reply with the famous old phrase of Lord Copper from Evelyn Waugh’s novel “Scoop” about the English media, “up to a point”.

The fact appears to be (and I say “appear” because no one seems to be making it very clear) that all matches in the League Cup use one brand of ball (although of course not the actual same ball) whilc in the Premier League all matches use another brand of ball.  

According to Mikel Arteta, the League Cup ball is “very different to a Premier League ball, and you have to adapt to that because it flies differently. When you touch it the grip is very different as well…”

Which raises the question, “Why on earth are different competitions using different types of ball?   The problem is, we are not told.  At least not as far as I have been able to find out.

So the Telegraph, which mentions the ball issue, leaves us hanging in the air and instead has Keith Hackett telling us that “Liverpool [are] right to be furious”.

This is because, they say in no uncertain terms, “Bergvall should have been sent off”   And yes, if Liverpool is involved, fury is fine.

West Ham meanwhile have got rid of their manager, found another one (who would be their 12th this century), and are thinking (according to the media) of getting rid of their technical director.  They are currently 14th which is exactly where they finished up in 2022/23.   So the money they have spent since 2022/23 has been for them to go nowhere across two seasons.   And surely in part that must be due to the lack of insight by the people who appointed the manager and technical director they have just got rid of.

And yet it seems the directors who appointed the people they have just sacked are now appointing the next person.  It guess it is just me that feels that the people responsible for making what they now say is a bad appointment are the ones who should be sacked.   After all West Ham were given their massive stadium for free by Boris when he was in charge of things so they can’t actually be lumbered by debt.

Although, they have spent around £100 million on a host of players in recent times, but on the other hand they get crowds of 60,000 for each game.

Back with the Telegraph, we have the point, “Five misses that prove why Arsenal must sign a forward this transfer window,” and I’m rather pleased they have run that because it does show that their writers do take a very very short-term vision of football.   Indeed reading that piece one can hardly imagine that it is about the club that is second in the Premier League, has the best defence in the Premier League, has the third-best attack in the Premier League, and by mid-December had lost 406 player-days through injuries.   Somehow in reading the Telegraph one would never know that is true.  The impression is more that Arsenal are about to be relegated.

Indeed having put forward all the reasons why Arsenal need a striker in a 814 word article 41% of those voting in their poll “Can Arsenal get season back on track by buying a new striker?” say “no”.  So their powers of persuasion are obviously not quite what they imagine them to be.

However, apparently there is a lot of Arsenal activity in terms of transfers this month.   The Standard tells us “Arsenal want Mbeumo deal” and “Arsenal plotting Araujo bid”, while forgetting to tell us that 97% of all newspaper transfer reports last year did not accurate predict what was about to happen.   Meanwhile just to throw in another name, The Express tells us “Arsenal continue to be mentioned in connection with Alexander Isak but the Gunners have also been tipped to improve their midfield ranks.” 

Finally Tomas Rosicky is being reported as the most likely person to be “Arsenal’s sporting director.”   Oh yes, and Oleksandr Zinchenko’s future at Arsenal is in serious doubt according to the Mirror

So now you know.