The Arsenal team and the responsibility of supporters

 

 

• After the first six games, we can be fairly sure what the final table will look like
• Arsenal v Athletic Bilbao: two sides with very similar league form

By Tony Attwood

Just in case you missed it, here is the lineup from Arsenal

Raya

Timber  Saliba  Gabriel  Calafiori

Zubimendia  Rice  Odegaard

Saka Gyokeres Martinelli

And of course immediately it is announced, so the Anti-Arsenal Arsenal – those who complain about the management and the club, those who say Arteta should be sacked, those who want members of the squad sacked, and dndeed those who don’t actually know what the concept of “Support” (let alone “thick and thin”) actually means, are complaining.

Inevitably, some of that reaches the players, and so levels drop, and the complaints become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Indeed, it has got so bad at times that in some seasons we have had players who can only get selected for away games since the barracking of them is so intense at home.

The reason for this is that the media coverage itself is negative, and so we go around and around in circles – same fans get negative, the media report that, the fans are encouraged, and so it some more, so to curry favour with the audience, the media gets more negative.

It must get to the point that some players get fed up with playing at home, and indeed, we have had some players who, it was reputed, asked only to be selected for away games.

So the media love it, and we go around and around, and those looking on from other clubs can’t believe their luck.  Supposed Arsenal fans are doing their job for them, undermining the team, hour by hour, week by week.

Quite why they can’t see that Arteta is an utterly brilliant manager who has taken a team that was down around 15th in the league when Emery left and turned it into a team that could come second three seasons running is beyond me.   Their demand of course, is to win the league regularly, even without the levels of cash that some others have, and despite the vagaries of the ultra-secretive PGMO.   But with such raging negativity in the ground that is going to be very hard.

But that is where we are, so we settle back to watch the game, and hope for the best, but fearing the raging negativity that will pour down on Arsenal from supposed Arsenal supporters, if the club fall short of an overwhelming win..