By Sir Hardly Anyone
It is rarely difficult to distinguish between a football journalist with a grievance and a ray of sunshine, and that is certainly the case in the aftermath of the latest wild ranting and raving from Jamie Carragher.
Take for example the Daily Express’ approach with its headline
“Chelsea news: Jamie Carragher clarifies Arsenal claim with Man Utd and Liverpool examples”
A convoluted piece of gibberish if ever there was one, which was thankfully translated into English by The Hard Tackle which ran,
Maurizio Sarri has turned Chelsea into Arsenal, claims Jamie Carragher
To ask “What’s this all about?” is of course to ask too much in cases like this, but in essence the stories are that the alien interface between reality and the dark dimensions (also known as Mr James Carragher), who played for Liverpool and is a fantasy correspondent for Sky Sprouts, has spoke.
It appears that the heart of the story is that “The Blues” as the media like to call Chelsea, for reasons that may be something to do with the colour of their shirts, and who were recently hammered by the mighty Bournemouth, went four down by half time in a recent game.
The entity that the media love to call “The Liverpool Legend” allegedly said on Sky Sprouts, “I called a couple of Chelsea performances a disgrace going into this game – this is as bad as anything. The reason I say that is because probably for the last five or six years when I’m watching Arsenal, they get rolled over in big games. That Arsenal team that used to get battered for the last seven or eight years away from home in big games because they were too weak…. We are watching a really weak football team here.”
Now in preparing to publish this, the latest Carragher rambling outburst, the media might have called him a natural pessimist, but then “pessimist” is rather a difficult word for the average journalist. Certainly Carragher is rampantly negative on anything that involves Arsenal so I thought it worth looking into whether Arsenal have been “really weak away from home over the past seven or eight seasons,” or whether this was yet another case of a man with excessively limited football knowledge simply making up stuff in order to attack Arsenal.
(I know that idea might be hard to believe, but honestly, it can happen!)
On hearing I was doing this, the entity known as Carragher has, I must admit, made what we might call “overtures” to me, suggeesting I might go easy on him, but I have now returned his letters, along with the china ornament with “A Present From Liverpool’ written in red on the side which he sent me following my last report on his dubious writings. This time I am not to be bought off.
So to the detail: can we really compare Chelsea’s away form to Arsenal’s across the last seven or eight seasons, and have Arsenal been notoriously weak away from home during that time? Let’s look “season by season” as us commentators like to say…
2011/12: Arsenal were the third most successful away team in the league getting five more points that both Chelsea and Liverpool
2012/13: Arsenal were the second most successful away team in the league with only Man U having a better away record than Arsenal. So better than Liverpool and Chelsea once again.
2013/14: Arsenal were yet again the second most successful away team in the league, gaining the same number of away points as Liverpool – the league’s best away team. But better than Chelsea, ManU, Man C, Tottenham etc etc.
2014/15: Arsenal were the third most successful away team in the league picking up the same number of away points as Man City and eight more than Liverpool. Chelsea on this occasion were the best away team gaining four more away points than Arsenal.
2015/16: Arsenal were the third most successful away team in the league picking up six more away points than Manchester United. Chelsea were the eighth best away team in the league.
It was not until 2016/17 that Arsenal slipped to being the lowest of the top six clubs in terms of away performance. And yes during that year there were some serious away defeats – but as the league table figures suggest they were one offs.
So what would be the academic conclusion to the writing of the Carragher fella? “Mindless gibberish” seems to sum it up.
But of course it gives me no pleasure to say this, for if you have read my occasional reviews here, you will know that I have in essence a refined and poetic outlook on life. I like to be surrounded by joy and life, and I know nothing more joyless and deader than a rambling ex-footballers who make up nonsense and have it printed in newspapers and reported on the bloggettas.
As for the future, these pontificators and those who publish their ramblings should be put down in my view. Slice a journalist or newspaper editor where you like and investigate his insides and you will reveal a jibbering rambler of a wrecking ball that spouts occasional words and mumbles incoherence.
Yes, the Carragher should be led away to a peaceful pasture where he can live in comfort with the sheep and cows. It would be best for all of us. And for him too, I feel sure.
Thank you for this, I think Mr Carraghe and ex-playersr does not think before he says something all in the name of pundits give them a football club to manage its always a failure…I don’t take their statements/judgements seriously coz it’s always a JOKE!
Football is thought of and played in the present so when pea brain pundits sprout the things that stand out in their memory they remember the large defeats Arsenal have suffered Man U away 8-2 Chelsea away ( Wengers 1000 game ) 6-0 and I’m sure there’s more .
As said the outlets that publish there thoughts never question them and never look at the overall results
I should have thought ir was obvious from Carraghers words which you quoted, that he based his assessment on performance in the big games. The article just seems like someone answering a different question to avoid responding to an unpalatable one.
So to respond to carraghers accusation, first we have to define what those are, you seem to have defined it as having to do with other top 6 teams. So looking at away results against man city,Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and man utd in the last few years, you have to admit there have been quite a few whoppers. Readily coming to mind are 8-2,6-0,5-1s,3-0s etc. I’d say Carragher knows what he’s talking about.
You can argue that of course – but supposing you have a team that wins the league – or indeed the double – but in the course of that loses 5-0 to a real down and out club. Do you define the season as a success, or a disaster because of one match? That is the point: the argument was made that because Arsenal suffered big defeats occasionally they were rubbish. But a look at the relevant league table shows that overall they were not.
Most of us tend to value the final statement of a league table above individual matches – which is why we don’t define 1970/1 by being beaten 5-0 by Stoke, but by being champions. Arsenal were of course not champions during the period considered, but Carragher makes Arsenal sound like absolute losers all the way through, which is nonsense.
However as I say, you can choose to see it whichever way you choose.
@Tony, now you’re being a mind reader. Something you accuse every other person of. Let us restrain our argument to what Carragher did say. He said Chelsea’s performance on the day reminded him of Arsenal who have posted many embarrassing away results against the top teams over the years. He didn’t say anything like that making arsenal useless, that is an inference on your part. I’m not saying he has a different opinion, only that that isn’t the opinion he expressed in the statement he made.
Sir Hardly Anyone
I was watching the match Sunday at the time Carragher made his ridiculous comment.
At the time I was making observations regarding the different way we are analysed compared to everyone else, especially Spurs and Liverpool.
Anyway this is what I said regarding the Carragher comment at the time:
“Half time and now we have Jammie Carragher sticking his anti Arsenal oar in.
He starts well with “Chelsea have been disgraceful” but immediately turns it into a dig at Arsenal by adding “Sari has turned Chelsea in to Arsenal”.
Not Spurs of course who haven’t won a thing for 12 years.
And not his beloved Liverpool of course who have also not won a thing for 12 years and have over the last few years capitulated for fun under a manager that’s lost his last 6 finals I think it is.
No, he’s turned them in to Arsenal, the team that has won 3 FA Cups and have a net league finishing position superior to Liverpools over the last 5 years.
If anyone thinks knocking Arsenal isn’t a national sport for the media then they must be deaf, blind or both.”
—————————————————————–
Similarly to you ‘Sir Hardly’ on the back of his inane ramblings I thought I’d have a look to see just how bad our recent away form actually was, and the following is just part of a more in depth analysis I did in the….
‘Arsenal are quite clearly a top four club, but there’s just one problem’
….Article.
“So lets compare those 1st 9 ‘glory’ years, 96/97 to 04/05, with the 10, lets call them ‘Austerity years’, 07/08 to 16/17.
Firstly and most obviously we fell from an average finishing position of 1.77 to 3.5, but how much did that have to do with our away form and especially our defence?
Well I believe it is not as much as people might of thought.
Yes, the statistics show our defence certainly did get worse from the glory years to the austerity years, rising from an average concession of 18.4 goals per season to 24 per season, but nothing particularly drastic, especially when you take in to account we actually increased our ‘goals for’ from an average of 30.6 per season in the glory years to 33.6 in the austerity years.
That equates to a net worsening in away Goal Difference of a mere 2.6 goals per season.
So how did this very slight down turn in our away goal difference affect our results.
Lets see:
WINS
Oddly enough we actually slightly improved our win average from 9.3 to 9.4.
DEFEATS AND DRAWS
This is were we do see a slight dip in points but in all honestly it’s negligible.
Draws drop from 5.8 to 4.6 and defeats raise from 3.7 to 5.
So overall the difference in average points won per season away from home between the glory and austerity years is 1 to 2 points per season.
Negligable I’m sure you would agree.
So despite Carragher’s rantings it seems that apart from last season and so far this, which we all know about, our away defensive performance has been much the same throughout the lifetime of the premier League and as you point out Sir Hardly compares very favourably with all the other top 6 teams.
Jammie Carragher, like so many in the media is simply a bitter and twisted Arsenal hater.
But the question is not why Carragher is such a bitter and twisted Arsenal hater, I think we all know that, but by why he is allowed to make statements so utterly devoid of both facts and perspective ?
SKY must be aware that what he says is utterly baseless yet he goes completely un challenged.
How this nasty piece of work was ever allowed back on our screens I will never know.
Well actually I do. He’s an Arsenal hating Liverpool fan. Enough said.
You are clearly intent on defending the inane and biased ramblings of an ex-pro who repeatedly demonstrates a complete lack of analytical ability yet has never had the wherewithal to even dip his toe into the world of management. Sadly, by doing so the credibility of your argument is already undermined. Let’s not forget we’re talking about a man who, less than one year ago, was suspended by Sky for spitting at a 14 year old girl. That’s the level of intellect this bloke has. Having said that, you just have to listen to him to know that he has nothing rational to contribute he’s just an ex-footballer with a loud voice. That actually isn’t a qualification for anything. Whether you like him or not, he simply isn’t that bright and you don’t need to know anything about his opinions on Arsenal to ascertain that.
If we have 2 football teams playing each other, that both have a long term potential of scoring 1 goal per game and they play each other 100,000 times; the most common score is the 1-1 draw which happens about 30,900 times. Winning by a single goal, occurs about 21,500 times (it’s symmetric). To win by 3 goals happens about 10% as often as the 0-0 draw. The 1% point is between a 4 and 5 goal win, and the 0.1% point is between a 5 and 6 goal win. This potential to score 1 goal is about what the rest of the pack exhibit in the EPL.
If we take 2 teams capable of scoring 2 goals per game, and run the same scenario, we get slightly different results. The mode is still at a draw, but it now occurs only about 20,700 times (about 2/3 as often). The 10% point is between a 4 and 5 goal win, the 1% point is between a 6 and 7 goal win and the 0.1% point is at an 8 goal win.
Losing by 5 goals when both teams are capable of scoring 2 (or more) is NOT an uncommon occurrence!
Thinking that a 5 goal drubbing in that circumstance is exceptional is just the sign of someone who has never properly thought about the situation.
But now that I have done the calculations for you, you can keep it in your head that a 5 goal win or loss is not strange or worthy of comment.
The EPL table to the end of round 26 has Man$ity with 72 goals (2.77 pergame) and Arsenal at 53 (2.04 goals per game). Running that same scenario, we see:
The mode (Man$ity – $Arsenal) drops down to about 18,600 at a 1 goal win to Man$ity. The 10% points (no longer symmetric about 0) are about a 4 goal loss to Arsenal and between a 5 and 6 goal win to Man$ity. Chel$ea have scored fewer goals than Arsenal, so the 5 goal loss is even more likely for them.
I don’t know how Chel$ea ownership feels about statistics, but there is nothing unusual about the loss Chel$ea suffered. It is expected to happen more than 10% of the time.
Let’s flog a dead horse about this.
The EPL table to the end of round 26 has Man$ity with 72 goals (2.77 per game) and Huddersfield at 14 (0.54 goals per game). Running that same scenario, we see:
The mode (Man$ity – Huddersfield) goes up to about 22,600 at a 2 goal win to Man$ity. The 10% points (no longer symmetric about 0) are between about a 1 to 2 goal loss to Huddersfield and between a 6 and 7 goal win to Man$ity.
As far as Huddersfield firing their manager and the new manager declaring he is going to get them out of relegation danger, it is really unlikely. Just for Huddersfield to play against the teams currently at the relegation line, they are expected to get a draw about 36% of the time and a win of any kind only 20.5% of the time. That is an average point production of 0.98 points per game remaining. We’ll be nice, and say we expect Huddersfield to get another 12 points this season, that would put them at 23 points. That is still below 18th place at this point.
It is hugely unlikely for Huddersfield to escape relegation with fair games. Of course, with the PGMO anything is possible. Maybe they start getting 2 or 3 penalties per game? Maybe the better scoring players on upcoming opposition to Huddersfield start getting more cards? Say yellows and second yellows more than 1 game in advance of playing Huddersfield, and reds the game before?
He could of course of mentioned our noisy Neighbours
26 Feb 2012 Arsenal 5 Tottenham 2
15 Apr 2012 Chelsea 5 Tottenham 1 (FA Cup semi-final, Wembley)
17 Nov 2012 Arsenal 5 Tottenham 2
24 Nov 2013 Manchester City 6 Tottenham 0
15 Dec 2013 Tottenham 0 Liverpool 5
29 Jan 2014 Tottenham 1 Manchester City 5
8 Mar 2014 Chelsea 4 Tottenham 0
30 Mar 2014 Liverpool 4 Tottenham 0
31 Aug 2014 Tottenham 0 Liverpool 3
18 Oct 2014 Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1
3 Dec 2014 Chelsea 3 Tottenham 0
15 Mar 2015 Man United 3 Tottenham 0
16 Dec 2017 Manchester City 4 Tottenham 1
2 Dec 2018 Arsenal 4 Tottenham 2
And lets not forget these wonderful capitulations:
15 May 2016 Newcastle United 5 Tottenham 1
2 May 2016 Chelsea 2 Tottenham 2
The Premier League’s most shameful game: How Chelsea 2-2 Tottenham descended into chaos on the night of Leicester’s title win.
Because of course Spurs really do have a great record against the top 6 clubs.
This is their wonderful record against Man Utd: The Reds have a strong record against Spurs since the Premier League’s inception in 1992/93. Monday’s clash will be our 53rd such meeting with Tottenham and we have so far won an impressive 33 times, drawing 11 and losing just eight.
So why not reference trophyless bottlers Spurs?
Or trophyless bottlers Liverpool?
Because it’s any excuse to have a pop at Arsenal thats why.
But having said all that it is true to say we have had a few spankings against the top 6. When we lose we can lose big and Liverpool have been a particularly troublesome opponant of late.
But it’s nothing to do with us being ‘weak’. If we was weak our overall record would be much worse than it is, but as has been shown, by and large we hold our own against the big 6.
I believe our problems were often of our own making, or more accurately Wengers making, in that he refused to compramise his atacking instincts no matter who the opponant.
It was a philosaphy that lead to some thrilling matches and memorable wins to go alongside those humiliating defeats.
I know this approach was not to everybodys liking and I cant say I enjoyed getting stuffed, but overall it was a philosaphy that gave us some of the most joyous football you were ever likely to see.
Personally I’d take that right now.
Sloppy writing in my first blurb. It isn’t that a 1-1 draw happened 30,000+ times, it is any kind of draw happened that often. I was just looking at the difference in scoring.
Sorry.
Nice followup Nitram and Mikey.
I am an Arsenal FC supporter who gives my support to the club limitlessly for life. But if one is to be truthful and be kindid, I also think of what Jamie Carragher has said about Arsenal when Chelsea got hammered 6 – 0 last week at away to Man $ity in the PL. I asked myself immediately after the match if Chelsea are becoming like Arsenal that have lost embarrassingly in big games at away to Man Utd 8-2, Chelsea 6-0 and Liverpool 5-1, 4-0 & 5-1 for heaven’s sake in recent past and current seasons in the PL. I think the only top six club sides that have not taken us Arsenals to the cleaners in the PL at away in the big games are Man $ity and Tottenham Hotspur. So, Emery should spare us Arsenals the pains of another embarrassing defeat to Spurs at Wembley this season in the PL haven oversaw Arsenal embarrassedly hammered 5-1 in the PL this season away to Liverpool. But to cancel out the memory of that 8-2 lost away to Man U in the PL, can Emery’s Arsenal help us the Arsenals to beat Man Utd 6-0 at the Ems in the PL when Ole Gunnar Solstjaer brings his Man U team against Arsenal?
OT: Holly Willoughby bursts into TEARS mid-interview with blind football fanatic after revealing he’ll be England’s mascot at Euro 2020
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6695053/Holly-Willoughby-bursts-TEARS-mid-interview-blind-football-fanatic.html
I gather young Declan Bitmead became blind (and almost died) due to a reaction to amoxicillin (possibly with clavulanic acid – not mentioned in the story).
FYI:
About 15 years ago, in demolishing a deck I picked up a long deep sliver and had to go to the hospital. I was prescribed amoxicillin with clavulanic acid. About midway through the course of the prescription, I started to have difficulty breathing. I no longer took any of that prescription after that. But, it is possible that could have killed me. This doesn’t seem to be a common symptom listed for that drug combination.
Nice to see ManU’s winning streak come to an end. Possibly not-losing streak.
All I can say is that comparing Carragher to idiots, imbeciles and morons will an absolute and ultimate insult to the latter group !
As for putting him to pasture,please leave the animals alone,for they did not ask for,nor deserve , this unusual and cruel punishment ! I’m sure his presence will no way help global warming !
I think the time is nigh for him to be given a managerial appointment to show his mettle and knowledge. All that is required is a club and owner looking for a reversal of fortunes .
You know , very much like that old story about the millionaire who was asked what he was before he got married , and he replied ,” A billionaire!” .
# Jamie Carragher for MANAGER !
Sign the petition below –
1. Brickfields Gunners
All this long diatribe just to tell us you don’t like carragher? Something we could easily have guessed considering his Liverpool ties? Sadly that’s not the topic of the debate. It matters not wether you or I like carragher, what matters is whether his statement be true or false
There is no need to flog this issue endlessly. Jamie was only expressing an opinion, which a majority on this side disagrees with. Sir Hardly supported his position with figures, but Jamie did not. Which of the 2 should carry the day? It is not whether it is true or false what Jamie said, rather it is whether his opinion accords with the facts on the matter.
Well spotted, gentleman. Jamie Carragher epitomises the lack of insight, thought or analysis by the media in general. A shame that this man is the face of the beautiful game in England.