I am often interested in the stories that football journalists don’t tell us, as much as the ones they do, not least because they tend to reveal the bias that journalists and their editors have in their reporting. And one set of stats that is not being reported stands out this season: the yellow and red cards.
And I suspect you will have realised why this is so fascinating just now – Arsenal are bottom of both the yellow and red card tables in terms of the number of cards issued in league matches this season.
For Arsenal, the red total is a grand zero. Only two other clubs have managed this – Brighton and Hove, along with Manchester City.
When it comes to yellow cards Arsenal are on 49 such cards – a total of five below their nearest rival at the foot of the hyellow table: Liverpool with 54.
The total number of red cards issued this season is 43, and for yellow cards it is 1347. Top of the red card table is if course, Chelsea with seven – and I say of course because you only have to watch them to realise they are going to be in trouble. The club with the most cards on the yellow side is also fairly easy to guess, it being Tottenham with 90 yellows. Which is to say Tottenham get almost two yellow cards for each one Arsenal get – which takes quite a bit of doing.
So, how has Arsenal managed to get their card numbers down so low? The answer I think is that this has been one of the factors that Arsenal have focused on as a club, realising that even a single yellow for a player can impact on that player’s performance of the rest of the game.
It is indeed interesting to compare this season’s card numbers with those of other seasons. Arsenal had 70 yellow cards last season so an enormous drop for them and six red cards – again a huge change drop from that to zero.
Now drops in numbers this dramatic don’t happen by chance but are clearly the result of changes in approach on the pitch..
So Arsenal have dropped from 70 cards down to 49 in one season, and even allowing for a few cards in the remaining games, that is still going to be a huge drop. Arsenal are currently running at 68% of the yellow cards of last season. And in terms of red of course, we can say this season is a percentage of last season as this season in the league the total is zero.
Obviously, not having players sent off or put on a yellow card is an enormous benefit to any club that can do that, because it means the players not on a yellow can play with greater freedom. Equally obviously, having 10 players on the pitch rather than 11 is a great disadvantage.
And now what we must remember is just how the league position of the club has changed this season. With two games left to play, Arsenal already have five more points than last season. The club is within one goal of last season’s total, has conceded eight fewer goals and has a goal difference that is seven better.
Now obviously, when the season is over, we will be able to do a proper comparison between this season and those of the three previous years, which most people consider a considerable improvement on those three earlier seasons. But for now, we can say that by all measures, it is looking like an improvement. More points, more goals scored, fewer goals conceded and fewer yellow cards.
This is quite a rare combination of improvements and one which of course, is not normally noted, but it is one that should be remembered even if a disaster happens and somehow Arsenal don’t win the league this season. The progress of the club on every front has been terrific.
It is unfortunate that none of the regular media has bothered to study Arsenal’s decline in yellow cards, because I do think that this is an important part of the equation. A player on a yellow clearly does have to take more care of what he does on the pitch for the rest of the game, and this can interfere with his natural playing style.
But obviously this big drop in yellow cards is a central part of what Arsenal are doing – and it seems to be something that other clubs are unwilling, unable or simply not able to copy. It will be interesting to see if any of them have a go next season, although I rather suspect one needs a very particular type of player on the pitch to get the yellow cards right down in this way.
