- Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. The seasons so far
- Can banter against Tottenham go too far while it is open season against Arsenal?
By Tony Attwood (passing the day with a little chuckle)
In the last month, both Arsenal and Bayern Leverkusen have each played seven games, but the results have been a little different. Bayern have won 3. drawn 2 and lost 2.
In the last month, Arsenal have won five and drawn two. And that is interesting for Arsenal, and not just because that is a fairly solid run of results. It is interesting also because the draws against Brentford and Wolverhampton led to an outpouring of commentaries along the lines that Arsenal were done, they were collapsing, and we might as well admit it now, we were not going to win the league.
Indeed, we might also recall when it comes to Europe, in the opening round of eight games, Arsenal became the only team to win all eight, and thus of course come top of the league. On the other hand, Bayern L drew at home with Olympiacos and then won 0-2 away to get through to the first of the final knockout rounds – playing Arsenal. Arsenal of course, were excused from playing the extra round that some other clubs that I won’t mention had to play in, because, well, you know, we win games. So there’s not much point.
But what is interesting is that because of the media in the UK, many fans don’t think too much of Arsenal and their performances this season, while in Europe Arsenal are considered quite a frightening prospect, what with being not just top of the league but also having lost just one game in the last 24 they have played.
And yet it is indeed undoubtedly because of this extraordinary run that Arsenal are now branded as cheats, and seen in the media as the club that is spoiling the game as a spectacle. No thought of the fact that
And it is interesting at this moment to see exactly what the media are up to in their eternal warwith Arsenal. There is no notion of the fact that Arsenal are the top scorersin the league and the club with the best defence. Although I suppose the Brighton manager would say that Arsenal score their goals in the “wrong way”. A goal scored by Arsenal is not entertaining in the way that a goal scored by Tottenham is, although the latter is of course much rarer.
Looking, as I write this at midday on Tuesday, the top five storiese about Arsenal running on Newsnow are all about Arsenal buying new players – even though as far as I know, the transfer window doesn’t open until 15 June, which is over three months away by my reckoning.
And we know from our previous counts through the summer that only 2% of pre-windo transfer rumours turn out to result in an actual transfer, so we might wonder why these bloggers and journalists don’t turn their attention to a game that Arsenal have tomorrow. And the answer is that Arsenal are likely to win it.
The clubs playing tomorrow have played each other twice, once drawing 1-1 on 19 February 2002 away, and then winning 4-1 at home in the return game on 27 February in the return.
But of course, even though there is a day and a bit to go before kick off there is still plenty of amusing entertainment around, such as the headline “Boring to Watch” in the Metro with the subheading Tottenham star takes swipe at title favourites Arsenal, doees its usual.
However, I do like that headline because it implies that Tottenahm are not boring to watch, and yes I would agree with that. In fact, I am now making a point of watching the tiny totts as much as I can on TV because, quite honestly, I haven’t laughed so much in years. And it is not just the defeats and the misplaced passes; it is the run of results this year. Starting from 1 January, Tottenham have played 14 games, which you might have thought was enough time to get themselves together and sorted (especially with the speed at which they can change managers). After all, they are a very big club (and I know this because the media keep telling me). Anyway, in these 14 games they have won twice, and they have drawn four and have lost eight. Which isn’t that good, is it?
Now you might think that an awareness of Tottenham’s plight was something to have a little chuckle about, but no, we are back to “boring boring Arsenal” instead.
And I do find that amusing because it involves a complete change in terms of what we are supposed to value in football. It seems that whereas we would in the past value winning as the most important thing, after all, we do total up the amount of trophies clubs have won – now it seems as if some home-made and unverifiable “entertainment” factor is how we value clubs. And I guess that could put Wolverhampton pretty close to the top of the league, since they are fun to watch. They don’t win much, but I do find watching them is amusing.
