Sir Hardly Anyone considers what the bloggettas do now the window has slammed and the glass is lying on the floor.
Indeed, what do the bloggettas do when the window has cracked and all the transfer rumours have been put to bed for another few weeks, before the fever of the January opening breaks forth?
Not much, you would probably guess. For cometh the interlull, goeth the news. The players go away, breath is held in case anyone gets injured, and the players comes back. It doesn’t make for too much information for the poor old sports journalist to get her or his teeth into.
Of course we have had the sudden arrival of the shock horror news about PGMO telling referees to forget they saw something. It flared up, PGMO denied, and behind the scenes all the media were quietly reminded of their duty to keep the good name of Premier League football in tact. After all if the pubic were to stop believing in the honesty of referees where would we be?
Well, actually back in Italy, whose corrupt system of a few years ago is that upon which the PGMO model is based upon. But the old monolith has successfully shut the story up, so we are just left with more doubts. Plus the remarkable video reviewing of curious referee decisions that is being served up this season. That link takes you to the latest in case you have missed it.
So what, you may be asking, do the little bloggettas actually do when the DONE DEAL headlines are over and there are no more DONE DEALS done?
Well, here’s an example…
Arsenal Receives Massive Injury Blow Ahead Of Southampton Clash
That’s the rampaging headline from “1 nil down” – setting the scene that the tabloids will undoubtedly follow. In a rather desperate attempt to make something out of minus zero they tell us that, “The Gunners, who have already sent Jack Wilshere to a loan move with Bournemouth, found themselves comparatively short in midfield options as they prepare for a busy week which will see them take on Southampton and Paris Saint-Germain.
“Ramsey suffered a hamstring injury in the season-opening 4-3 defeat to Liverpool, but he was expected to return following the international break.”
So there was the rest of us all believing that we actually had a surfeit of midfielders, only to find that we have an INJURY CRISIS already.
Of course it is all Mr Wenger’s fault because before the Watfordian game he is reputed to have said of Ramsey and Iwobi,
“They are progressing well. Will it be immediately after the break [that they are back]? That’s what we’ll have to see in the next two weeks,”
which of course is tantamount to saying they will never be injured again in the next ten years.
Anyway, here’s the real twist. Having had 3 months of mindless “According to…” transfer reports the whole approach has now been taken up for injuries as the bloggetta claims that, “according to the Telegraph, Ramsey won’t be available for us for the game against the Saints. The report claims that Wenger was desperate to include Ramsey in our squad, but he won’t take any chances if the Wales international hasn’t fully recovered from his injury, especially keeping in mind the upcoming games against Paris-Saint Germain and Chelsea.”
Now you might wonder if this is news, and if it is news, how it actually comes to be news, and quite honestly, if I knew I would tell you I know, but I don’t know. But where the bloggettas go the papers follow. And it is ALL Wenger’s fault because…
Wenger has already attracted criticism from Wales manager Chris Coleman for not giving a sufficient break to Ramsey following his participation in the Euro Cup. Due to his injury, Ramsey was forced to sit out from Wales’ World Cup qualifier against Moldova.
“It’s disappointing he’s got an injury. Could it have been prevented? Possibly, yes,” said Coleman.
“I think we all expected him to [miss the start of the season].
“So I don’t know what happened between then and when he ended up on the pitch.
Moving on, we have a new word: “Fumed”.
Injury Blow: Arsenal star pulls out from weekend clash leaving Wenger fumed
This one tells the same tale, but adds that Iwobi is available and “The French manager is set to hand a debut to new signing Shkodran Mustafi alongside Laurent Koscielny in central defence, while Olivier Giroud is set to retain his place leading the attacking line despite the signing of Lucas Perez.” [All definitions for FUMED using the five letters as the start of words – in the style perfectly during the “window”, very welcome. I came up with
Fucked Up Moderately. Except Delay.
But now citing the Express we find that “Wenger is cautious about rushing the Welshman back into action with huge matches against Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea on the horizon.
“Wenger is not short of options in attack though, Iwobi, Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all pushing for a starting berth, with Granit Xhaka and Santi Cazorla starting as the pair in central midfield.”
Ah so maybe not a crisis after all!!!!!!!!!
Elsewhere we are told that Mustafi spoke to Ozil before joining Arsenal. Wow. And both of them in the same Germany team too! Wow!
“We had time to speak,” said Mustafi. “He told me about the club, about the team. I noticed that it’s a club where I can develop, where I can grow as a player. He said that he’s happy here, that the people are crazy for football and that it’s a team that enjoys playing football the way that he does, the way that I do.”
But it is not all plain sailing even after the 100+ wrong stories about Arsenal transfers this summer, because Arsenal news HQ has
Alexis Sanchez Makes Shock Demands From Arsenal Before He Signs New Deal
This ought to lead to the normal random piece of gibberish, but instead what you would get were you to click on the link is the warning, “Deceptive site ahead. Attackers on arsenalnewshq.com may trick you into doing something dangerous like installing software or revealing your personal information (for example, passwords, phone numbers or credit cards).”
Oh! whatever next.
Anyway, not all the bloggettas have given up and gone home for the autumn for we do have:
Done Deal: Arsenal complete signing 24-goals classy forward
Arsenal teenager Eddie Nketiah has signed his first professional contract with the north London club, according to the reports. (The reports come from ESPN).
The 17-year-old, who the Gunners picked up after Chelsea released him, refusing to give him a scholarship, bagged 24 goals in 28 appearances last season and has already put in some stand-out performances this season, including the u18s’ 4-0 win over Aston Villa.
That’s all right then.
- Oh look, a newspaper has discovered the reason why England teams are rubbish. Again.
- Arsenal near the top of the injury list, so which back up players do we have?
- The net spend league: which club (surprisingly) brought in the most money by selling players this summer?
Sir,
you left out the new ‘subject’ that has kept propping up since the close of the transfer window : Arsenal are actively searching for a successor to Arsène Wenger…..
Frankly, I just wish this subject stays alive for years to come… ;=) Long live Le Prof.
” Arsenal are NOT desperately short in midfield !” , claims The Brickfields Gunners Blog .
Well , at least not since Jack Wilshere left on loan . Granted , that Santi Cazorla is a little on the wee side , but the Arsenal midfield is not short at all !
The buildup to Southampton visit to the Ems on Saturday has now begin as from today, and we’ll have a clearer Gunners infomation tomorrow when Le Prof address the press men in his weekly press conference and also gives the update on the state of the Gunners. So until them, let’s hold our breath and wait to hear what he’ll say.
There’s only one place you’ll see the expressions “desperately short” & “injury crisis” vis-a-vis Arsenal, and it’s not in the media. (Not yet anyway.)
The Halsey stuff stopped pretty damn quick a few days ago.
I’m having a good dig in his autobiography at the minute. All those who want to understand as much as possible about PGMOL’s mysterious ways should give it a read. A few of the more interesting things so far:
Pgmol and the premier league both fought hard to stop the book being published. Publisher dropped out under pressure so it was self-published
There are confidentiality clauses when refs join the select group.
Premier League provide 80% of pgmol funding; FA 15%; Football League 5%
The 1st head/general manager of PGMOL lost his job in 2004, possibly because of pressure/complaints from prominent managers in the Northwest (Ferguson, Allardyce, Moyes- the ole gang).
Who sacked him is not made clear, only the fact that someone (pgmol board, maybe?) has that power is.
Riley got the FA cup of 2004 despite only being sixth in the order of merit that year. Slightly unusual.
Same year, if I remember right (this bit was from Poll’s book), that he went to the Euros, after special pleading for his inclusion to Uefa, ahead of the ref/s who were due to go by the normal procedures/rankings. Unusual (Someone in high places liked the fellow)
A weird, weird mention of Arsenal : supposedly we rang up (pgmol or FA) to try and get Halsey removed from a game, having been told by an unknown insider that he hated Ashley Cole and planned to send him off in an upcoming fixture with Liverpool.
Plenty to ponder
Rich
And only £3.69 on Kindle.
Strange how Neville has gone so quiet on this. If anyone was in a position to keep the “ball in the air” it would be him. Must have been some pressure from the Sky.
The whole lot are involved. Media, FA. PGMO, politicians all have a stake in the sound that is fiddled to the public.
Just look at the reality 0 hours contracts or multi million pound bonus to reward one human being. It is our society.
Thank God for football. Keeps us focused away from evil.
Leon
Damn! I paid about £6.50 for it on iTunes.
Had a look at Halsey’s twitter a couple of days ago and there was nowt more from him; I guessed Neville had also gone quiet, as I hadn’t heard any more about the whole thing on twitter or elsewhere.
Seems pretty obvious some phone calls and emails have been flying about.
Pathetic from the press but completely what I expect from them. The surprise was that they mentioned it initially.
I’d love to hear what the ref review guys here make of all the insight provided in the book.
Half-Begging for players’s shirts, cuppas or wine in the managers office ; a holiday with Jose a month after he left, even though the friendship proper absolutely didn’t start while the former was a manager here; training at Bolton; giving managers a ring on occasion; being trusted to list your favourite team on a questionnaire; admitting there’s more to think about when sending off a big player, etc, etc.
Apparently Riley has put a stop to some of that, so…well done, Mik…no I can’t say it
You can see why pgmol and prem are so keen to shut them all up.
When a golden handshake loses it’s sparkle it must be time for the pgMOB to spend spend spend some more wonga no?
Riley needs to stop DITHERING.
well, if the english press can’t raise the dust and do the unearthing, i was hoping the spanish or the french press( are’nt they supposed to despise the premier league) would be interested in bringing the self acclaimed best league in the galaxy into disrepute, or are’nt they permitted to meddle into other folks affairs? cos i can remember the wide bleatings of the english press during the italian saga and the more recent barcelona and madrid cases.
Quote from a former player ‘super agent’
“Arsene has continually delivered success in various forms and made the club beyond iconic. It is now a magnet for a lot of players around the world who want to enhance the career, which wasn’t always Arsenal’s reputation. When he leaves, I hope he will depart as an icon with that legacy and more.”
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/the-deal-arsene-wengers-moneyball-works-but-next-arsenal-boss-needs-super-agents-like-manchester-a3339776.html
Aw will leave at 70 I bet everyone here!