You might think the Fifa squabble is all over, but there’s another explosion around the corner.

 

 

• How times changen and how the Arsenal team is changing
• The two Arsenal factors that are making the headlines this morning

By Tony Attwood

Now this might get a big confusing, because it seems there are only two combatants in football having a bash at each other, but there are at least two different wars going  on.   And one of these wars is largely being ignored by most of the media at the moment.   In fact, Untold itself only picked up on one of these themes just recently because one of our pals in the game called and said, “But what about….”

Of course, football journalists don’t like two themes at once because (they are told by their editors) it confuses the readers.   “Stick to the key theme” is the shout from on high, and most of the time, that is true.   But there are two themes, really.   One is that the manager gains or loses the support of the board because of his transfers, tactics, and above all results.   And the other is that, contrary to all expectations laid down by the media, the club is doing rather well, when the board of directors universally have a swift intake of breath and prepare to sack the boss.

Throw in the signing of a player that no one else seems to want, and, well, you are ready for all hell to break loose.  In desperation, the media start running the tale that other players won’t play with him, the board is in disarray, and all that sort of malarky.   And if the manager then manages to sell the man who is called the “best player they have ever had,” then that’s covered by some new rumour that  has just arrived and is given a big splash headline.

In Arsenal’s case, all this means that winning the league in 2026 was a total fluke, and the board daren’t let Arteta loose on the transfer budget any more because he’ll never be able to do it again.   Or as the Observer said, “Arteta will soon squat like a giant toad across English football”.  I’m not used to calling Arsenal managers amphibians, but”toda” is what a lot of the media call Arteta. 

Of course it is a childish insult, but it is mixed with the fact that Arteta, like Wenger before him, knows how to change his approach – without either the opposition or the journalists noticing.   So the media expects Saka and Rice to be knackered at the start of the season and Saka to take months to return to his previous levels of performance.  As a result, Arsenal will be in poor form at the start.

But supposing Arsenal start with a bang.  And then just as the opposition get used to the new men Saka and Rice return to the height of their form.   Then just as the opposition get used to what they think is new, Arsenal, another new Arsenal, appears on the block and charge up the table to the top.