Mass positivity breaks out as fans and writers go for Arsenal love in

He’s just not good enough.  Somehow he got worse 

Footballfancast, 4 April 2018

What is interesting there is that the lineup does include one or two players who like Iwobi have been sacrificed on the alter of audience numbers in the past.  Well in fact all of them were at the start of the season, with the possible except of Monreal who wasn’t playing.  Certainly there were days when Mustafi would probably have wanted to ban all newspapers and internet connected computers from his house and as for the commentary on Cech…

And really was it not just a couple of weeks ago that Ozil was the ultimate enemy of all decent football going people, the man who had stormed out of training and refused to play for the club because he was being asked to play in a position he didn’t want?

And as for Cech, well.  Oh no hang on I’ve done that one.  (Sorry there was so much hatred of Ozil and Cech doing the rounds it is hard to get it out of my head).

So what is this?  Could it at long last be the odd scribbler here and there looking at the meanderings of Untold Arsenal and thought, “hey let’s be positive – we ain’t done that before”?   No, that’s probably going too far, but it is a pleasant surprise to find such commentaries.

Elsewhere the Express, one of the biggest abusers of players, has a story about how the abuse Bellerin received really affected him (they don’t say sorry, but at least they recognise what they are doing), and Caught Offside comes up with another positive message under the headline “Arsenal star gives exciting insight into how Unai Emery has transformed the club”

This Caught Offside story is about Bellerin (again) who is quoted as saying, “With Arsene, he wanted us to play in the same way regardless of the opponents. The idea was that we could play in our way and beat anyone. But Emery is very focused on preparing a plan for our next opponents, whoever they may be.

“It is very detailed and very professional. The next few months are going to be very exciting for all of us. We will reach a higher level.”

Which is particularly interesting, since if you can think back to a few lines above in this little ramble we had Transfer Tavern telling us that they had come up with the perfect lineup – implying it should be played in every match.

And tantalizingly, perhaps showing show how far this transformation of approach to Arsenal has gone we have the headline “Xhak-attacks? Are they unfair?” from The Loose Cannon. 

But no, that would be a step to far.  The anonymous author who reports that he/she is “an FA coach” who has “trained up to UEFA ‘B’ level ” thinks that the attacks are justified.

Bit of a let down after all that positivity.  But you can’t win em all.