- Arsenal are allegedly the dirtiest team in the Premier League. So what do the figures say?
- Multiple injuries strike Arsenal players in internationals, and it is hard
By Tony Attwood
During normal (i.e., non-World Cup) times, it is easy to accept the criticism levied by the media against teams. For the journalists, it seems, can point out the dreadful mistakes club owners and managers make, which they can see but which the club can’t seem to put right.
As a result, the negativity recently seems to have grown from overwhelming to being all-encompassing.
I’ve picked a few headlines below to illustrate my point, but I would not want you to think they are all selected from different days on different subjects. They are all from today’s papers, and all concern the recent international games.
And as you look at them (if you have the time that is), you might care to wonder why we get such a rush of rampant negativity from the same newspaper on this one day. For the implication has to be that these journalists (each of whose pieces appears in the current online edition of the Telegraph) know exactly what’s wrong, and could put it right, if only given a chance.
Today, the big story is that England are dreaming if they think they can win the World Cup. Although I immediately thought, does anyone really think England can win?
The commentaries include headlines such as, “Three great talents only score 4/10 against Japan.” It’s all negative, and these journalists can see it, but somehow the management can’t. How can that be?
We then move into parochial politics as we get Watch Wales boo God Save The King, and by way of contrast, we are told Iran footballers hold up pictures of children killed in US and Israel strikes, just in case we didn’t know there’s a dirty war going on.
Of course, it is not just internationals where management can’t get it right – there are the regular implications of financial incompetence too, as we find Newcastle face ‘likely’ Uefa fine – this is what is really going on with their finances
And there are some parochial matters too, as we are told that Cucurella questions project in latest player to speak out as he claims “dismissal of Enzo Maresca mid-season created ‘instability’ at Stamford Bridge.”
So again it’s the same thing: these newspaper writers know exactly what’s wrong, but the people we have running the clubs and the national teams haven’t got a clue.
Meanwhile, we are led to believe that English football’s managerial merry-go-round has become a circus but we are not offered an explanation of why it’s like this, or how ithings could be put to rights.
And we can also read about Spurs’ 51 signings since Pochettino was sacked, as well as a separate piece on Every disaster on the Spurs timeline of misery this season. So could it be that the journos are actually as incompetent as those whom they criticise?
Now my point here is that all of these articles have appeared on one daily newspaper’s website on one day! And reading that lot makes it quite clear that in the Telegraph’s eyes, all football in England is tawful, from the style of play to the style of management, from the team selection to the clubs’ ability to run their finances.
So I ask, was it always like this, or is it something new, or is the media simply making it all up, or does the media just go and pick on the bad bits?
And what makes all this even more extraordinary is that in all those commentaries, there is no serious review of the situation concerning Manchester City, which still faces 115 or so charges, and the last we heard were threatening to sue the league out of existence if they dare proceed against ManC. On this the media remain silent.
Thus the question is, why are we being told about England’s zero chances of winning the world cup, why do individual players play so badly when with England, why do some Welsh people boo the UK’s national anthem, why do Iranian footballers make a political protest before their game, why do Tottenham keep signing the wrong players, why is Chelsea so financially unstable and why did Newcastle get its sums wrong?
In short, why is so much in English football in such a mess, and why isn’t anyone sorting any of it out or even asking questions? Questions like…
- Why has the media stopped looking at ManC’s financial issues?
- Why are Arsenal accused of being the dirtiest team in the league without anyone looking at the number of fouls?
- Or how come Arsenal have managed to cheat so much and foul so much, and yet be top of the league? Are the refs corrupt?
Of course, I don’t agree that Arsenal are cheating, but what I wonder is why all we get are allegations, without facts, or at least a demand for a fresh, more vigorous look at PGMO and the way it operates?
Of course, we can go on moaning, but behind it all, there is still that one question: if these problems are real, as the media suggests, why doesn’t the media start suggesting why, and then start pushing those in control to get things sorted out?
Could it be that the media love all these problems, as it gives them something to write about without actually having to do any serious investigative journalism? In short, is the media perpetuating these problems just to keep us reading?
