By Nitram
On my travails around the internet and across the blogsphere I have come across the notion that the only reason Arsenal might win the PL is that the League and its teams are weak. Now such a view undermines Arsenal as they are also deemed to be boring to watch as well as only being on able to win because they are good at set pieces, which is a bad thing, apparently.
So before we even win the damn thing we are told…
- The Premier League is the weakest it has ever been.
- Arsenal are ‘boring’
- Arsenal will be the worst team ever to win the Premier League.
- Set Piece Arsenal are somehow not playing the game properly.
All of these derogatory ideas are already prevalent across social media and of course, in some mainstream media. Par for the course, really.
But there is a counterargument, and it’s being headed by our ally Terry Flewers at The Football Terrace, and that is that, in fact, the Premier League is actually tougher than it’s ever been. The counter arguments being made, and that I agree with entirely, are thus:
1: The Premier League Is The Weakest It’s Ever been
In fact the complete opposite is true. The notion behind this is down to the coaching. Teams, right the way down to the bottom three, are still very well coached. They may not have the same level of players or, more importantly, the depth of squad, but the coaches are brilliant at using what they have.
The Neanderthals, such as Pulis and Allerdyc,e are gone. The modern coaches, armed with all the modern ‘Data Analysis’ are more than capable of making life extremely difficult for ‘superior’ teams. It’s called the ‘Low Block’ and, done correctly, it is extremely difficult to break down. Not only that, these coaches have mastered the art of the counterattack. In other words, it can be fatal to over-commit against these ‘Low Blocks’.
2: Arsenal Are Boring
Arsenal, per se are NOT boring, although some of our matches might well be. But, the counter argument says, this is not Arsenal’s fault. The problem lies with the fact that EVERY single team in the Premier League employs the Low Block when they play Arsenal. In fact, statistics have just been published that suggest teams are sitting deeper against Arsenal, more often, than they have EVER sat against any team.
It is not Arsenal’s fault that other teams try to stifle the life out of the match. Yes it is up to us to break them down, but as I mentioned above, it is a difficult and often not very exciting process. Nonetheless, not our fault
3: Arsenal Will Be The Worst Team To Ever Win The Premier League.
Well, the first thing to look at is Europe. If the Premier League was as weak as some are suggesting, then how on Earth are five of its members sitting in the top eight of the Champions League table?
Because of the way coaching has developed with the High Press and the Low Block dominating tactics, it may not be as exciting as the predominantly counter-attacking styles of such teams as Wenger’s Arsenal and Ferguson’s Manchester United, but that doesn’t mean they are not as good. My personal opinion is that, as exciting as those teams were, they would struggle against the systems and the fitness of the teams of today. But of course, we will never know.
4-Set Piece Arsenal
How is having the ability to turn every single set piece into a dangerous weapon a thing of ridicule? Well, the answer is it isn’t, hence every other team is trying to do the same. And not only that, I don’t hear cries of ‘Penalty Kick Liverpool’ because they get more penalties than everyone else!!
As we know, ‘Winning’ penalties, and of course subsequently scoring them, is something to be admired when it’s Liverpool, Chelsea or Manchester City. But winning corners and scoring from them is to be ridiculed. If we received the number of penalties those three do then perhaps we wouldn’t need corners?
At the end of the day of course it all boils down to one thing, well 2 actually. Jealousy, and the main stream medias pathological hatred of all things Arsenal.
Ask yourself this. Which other team would still be ridiculed if they sat 7 points clear in the PL and 3 points clear in the CL, having the most PL points of anyone over the last three and a half years and not conceded more than 2 goals since December 2023?
Says it all really.
According to WhoScored.com we have 12 premier league goals from set pieces (excluding penalties) this season. Exactly the same as Chelsea and Leeds. Man U, Newcastle and Spurs all have eleven. I don’t recall any of them getting a mention on that front! When we look at the proportion of goals scored from set pieces, six teams score a higher percentage of their goals from set pieces than Arsenal. Ther media have found an angle that they continually emphasise and fans of other clubs repeat it parrot fashion. And, as you’ve said before, they generally intepret the numbers the way that suits them and don’t make any neaingful comparisons unless it suits their agenda.
A few opposition fans were bleating on about the number of own goals we’ve benifitted from this season too. That is three, the same as Man City and Fulham. Indeed, some have moaned about the “fact” that we get loads of penalties (well compared to previous seasons that is true!), in fact we’ve had three, only six teams have been awarded fewer!
I’ve also heard criticism of the lack of goals we have from open play, indeed, Sky reorted recently that “only three teams had scored fewer” goals than us from open play. Again WhoScored.com shows it to be slightly different and in fact they state that only four teams have scored more goals from open play!
But then criticism of Arsenal is quite high up the agenda so it’s only to be expected. It’s horribly tedious though.
Also, how long before the “dark arts” references reappear?
Mikey
Thanks for the actual FACTS.
Isn’t funny how, when we start to score from a lot of set pieces the media are immediately all over those stats. Similar with the own goals. In fact anything ‘seeming’ to go in our favour and the media are all over those numbers.
Yet, those penalty statistics I’ve highlighted for the past 10 years, and in fact all the way back to Riley, are conveniently over looked.
And as we have discussed, I believe the red card stats are equally stacked against us. Again ignored. In Fact, when ever the red card stats are mentioned, it is a stick to beat us with.
Just to reiterate. The media MUST know those penalty stats. (for those that missed it Liverpool, Chelsea Man City get TWICE the number of penalties for than against. we get EXACTLY THE SAME for and against.) They are all over every single stat out there.
Answer: THEY DELIBERATELY IGNORE THEM!!!