By Tony Attwood
Santi Cazorla: Two more goals for ex-Gunner who is now outperforming EVERY Arsenal player except Aubameyang this season
It was written by Billy Hawkins and published on 8th July 2020 – although it is interesting that it was sneaked out at
So the question is, is it true? Is Santi Caz, now aged 35, really “outscoring Lacazette, Martinelli, Pepe” and the rest, or is it a myth?
Well the Talking Sprout is in no doubt as they claim, “Arsenal would love to be able to call upon Santi Cazorla right now,” and they continue with “Champions League qualification is but a distant dream for Mikel Arteta’s side, and even booking a place in next season’s Europa League is no guarantee given the north Londoners sit eighth with only four matches remaining.”
This of course ignores the fact that missing out on the Europa could be a good thing, as Liverpool began their rise to a Champions League victory and then the Premier League title with a season out of Europe in 2016/17, and used that time out well, to return to the top four at the end of that campaign.
But let’s come back to Billy Hawkins. He is Digital News Editor at talkSPORT.com and for the few who tune in, he can be heard on talkSPORT 2. Before that he was a “Columnist” at Vital Watford. He got a degree in English Literature at the University of Portsmouth.
Now degrees and qualifications are important, I would always agree with that and on occasion I give details of mine, but because I’ve got some I also know they don’t automatically give the proud owner a sense of understanding or willingness to be clear and helpful.
So let’s see if his alma mater will be proud of him with his analysis here.
His article makes the point that “Hitting the back of the net has been a real issue for the Gunners all term”. And yes we have scored two goals fewer than Tottenham and six goals fewer than Man U in the league. Not that bad but we’d all like it to be better. Still, we are in the FA Cup semi-final. Again.
So “If only they could still field fan favourite Santi Cazorla, who left Arsenal two years ago when his contract expired… And while Cazorla may now be 35, it appears age has no affect on the sparkling midfielder – or, if it does have an effect, it seems to make him better!
“With his latest goals, a brace from the penalty spot against Getafe on Wednesday evening, Cazorla now has 14 strikes this season…”
That is amazing. 14 for Santi!!! How is that possible? I mean we love the guy and wish him well, but 14????
Well, you see, not only were the last two penalties, but all of the goals were penalties. Including four in the Spanish cup with two of these being against second division teams (and second division teams in Spain are not quite as powerful as Championship teams in England).
Now we might be asking here, how come a team gets so many penalties in Spain when that doesn’t happen here. Well it can happen in England – Manchester United have clocked up 12 penalties this season and Manchester City 10. Just because Arsenal only have three that doesn’t mean some clubs don’t get them. Funny that, but there we are.
But it is true, Spanish referees “see” more penalties than English refs do – one of the many reasons why Fifa wouldn’t have any English referees at the last world cup.
So Santi Caz is knocking up these goals from penalties, something which Billy Hawkins BA forgot to tell us. And in Spain more penalties are given than in England, which again Billy Hawkins BA forgot to tell us. And we do score most of the pens we are given – something Billy Hawkins BA forgot to tell us.
Thus if Santi Caz had been playing for Arsenal this season he would have got far fewer goals personally and Arsenal would have got at most one more goal than now – which rather invalidates the entire piece.
But here’s another thing. Would he have been on the pitch? Given the way defenders in the Premier League attack Arsenal players with impunity (thus resulting in Arsenal regularly having more injuries than other teams) probably not.
And I do recall all the stories propagated by Talk Sport and many other drainpipes (sorry outlets) that Arsenal got injuries because of Mr Wenger’s training methods. That story always lacked detail and certainly never had proof, and the reality is that since Mr Wenger left, the level of Arsenal injuries has been if anything, higher than ever.
But you may ask, why make a fuss about one article on Talk Sport? The answer to that is, this is how the media treats Arsenal all the time, and undoubtedly Billy Hawkins is just following orders to find a way to knock the club. As we have shown when we analysed every Arsenal story across a long weekend, the level of negative stories that Arsenal get is way beyond what any other team gets.
So to answer the Sprouty point: “Arsenal would love to be able to call upon Santi Cazorla right now…” no they wouldn’t. They simply don’t get penalties so he would not add to their goal tally. And since refs don’t protect Arsenal players, he would have been crippled long ago.
If you are interested in that you might enjoy Why are the media so critical of Arsenal? and also our original research into the subject.
Talk Sport are just continuing the long tradition of knocking Arsenal by making up nonsense. It is what the media does.
All the time.
- Arsenal are currently the dirtiest team in the League. Does it matter?
- New security systems hints at threat to serious journalism after Man C case
- The media always have their favourites, but eventually even they begin to have doubts
Tony,
I’d say Billy Hawkins BA ought to be nominated for the 2020 Lawrence awards then. Perfect fit ! This is real professional lawrencing, is it not ?
By the way, remembering how Mr Wenger was treated when he stuck with players who had been maimed on the field, I can’t start to imagine the shit storm that would have happened had Arsenal given Santi a new contract when his ‘physical’ future was so in doubt – and I still feel sad and sorry for him, yet full af admiration for what he is achieving.
Thanks for this eye-opening piece. I am a very passionate Arsenal supporter. Even from so far away l can smell and almost taste the discriminatory treatment that Arsenal club and players routinely subjected to. English referees are so biased inefficient that they are not wanted at world cup tournaments. As far as the present fake and incompetent so-called expert pundits who exhibit their ignorance daily on Sky Sports are concerned, the least one says about them, the better it is for our sanity. I change channels any time Neville, Gallagher, Owen, Sherwood … and others like them appear on my screen. Thanks for opening my eyes to the hypocrisy that mbues the EPL.
I too have a degree, a pretty useless one I’ll admit and I also know people who have them who I wouldn’t let run a bath let alone an organisation.
My degree isn’t in psychology either and although I did study it for a year I don’t claim to be an expert. My observation however, is that some “journalists” are perhaps quite damaged since the need to write such nonsense either shows an almost compulsive need to distort the truth for personal gratification or potentially a massive level of, almost childlike, subservience to their employers which suggests significant problems with self-esteem.
Whilst I despise how these people choose to repeatedly misrepresent facts, I seriously think they may have personality issues. I could be wrong but surely nobody could be that inept or negligent and purport to be a professional without being inadequate or damaged in some way…….which neatly brings us back to referees!
Good job Tony. It is only because of people like you that these benders of the truth are called out.
Keep up the good work.
Menace,
truth-bender… Love that ! the perfect description
Hey Mikey,
As good an analysis as I’ve seen lately. The fact that Arsenal are treated harshly on and off the pitch is incontrovertible. The reasons are not always clear. But re the media ‘journalists’, I think you’re onto to something. But then my degrees are not in psychology either, lol. Keep analysing my friend.