By Tony Attwood
Even by the daily excesses of the London newspaper industry the current non-stop attack on Arsenal and everything it does that is currently raging in the Daily Mail, is a bit over the top. And as we have a look at what they are doing it is worth remembering that all this will be read by players, their agents, young players (and their parents), who might be thinking of heading Arsenal’s way.
And if you have a moment to flip through these headlines, do remember they all appeared in the same newspaper’s website over a period of just two days. That reveals the level of attack on Arsenal that is raging in the Mail on a daily basis.
- Arsenal miss out on star midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai as highly-rated 20-year-old signs for RB Leipzig from sister club Red Bull Salzburg
As ever we don’t know if Arsenal were ever interested in the player, but the suggestion through the phrase “Arsenal miss out” is yes, they were and it was probably Arsenal’s fault the club didn’t get him.
- Emmanuel Petit becomes latest ex-Arsenal star to lose faith with his old side as he admits he is trying to ‘detach himself’ from their miserable run – days after it was revealed Thierry Henry turned off TV and refused to watch when Granit Xhaka was captain.
Of course we still hold Petit and Henry as heroes, but they have no influence over the club. Petit is an “abassador” for an online trading broker. Henry is manager of Montreal Impact who came 18th in the MLS in 2020.
- Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno rages at the ‘bad attitude’ of his team-mates and insists under-fire Mikel Arteta ‘is the least to blame’ for the Gunners’ six-game Premier League winless run.
“Rages” suggests a man shouting and swearing at this fellow players. A sense of total disharmony is projected by what the Mail calls an “extraordinary attack”. Yet they publish one or two such reports each day. There are, it seems a lot of “extraordinary attacks,” which makes them, by and large, not very extraordinary.
- ‘He’s got NO-ONE he can rely on apart from a young lad’: Mikel Arteta can only count on teenager Bukayo Saka as Arsenal’s ‘gifted, big players’ like Nicolas Pepe go missing, says Kevin Campbell after draw against Southampton
Kevin Campbell is a man who it seems, TALKS IN CAPITALS. Actually it is hard to keep track of Kevin, having worked with a record company and as an occasional football commentator. I’m not quite sure what he’s doing now, other than rubbishing Arsenal.
Although this does raise a point: unemployed or occasionally employed ex-players are always encouraged to make more and more extreme attacks on current players in the hope of picking up new contracts with the Daily Mail or other publications. Say something positive, and no one gives you a job.
- Ashley Cole admits Arsenal will find it ‘very difficult’ to achieve top-four finish after his former side’s horror start to the season
- Bring Nicolas Pepe back in from the cold, give his European stars a chance in the Premier League and help Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang end his goal drought… with a horrible run of fixtures ahead, how can Mikel Arteta turn Arsenal around over Christmas?
No celeb needed here. The Mail goes in for its own attack adding “They now head into a nightmare run of games in woeful form.”
- Arsenal’s torrid start to the season is their worst in the league for 46 YEARS… but where did the Gunners eventually finish in that 1974-75 campaign? (When they also lost at home to Burnley 1-0!)
Poor old Daily Mail, they can’t even get the facts right when they are both question-master and contestant. For in trying to answer their question they add, “Famously, Arsenal have never been relegated – but the 1974-75 campaign was one of the occasions where they’ve come closest, finishing 16th in the table.”
When a newspaper can’t even get the basic facts right – facts that are available in every history book of Arsenal (including the one I wrote) and which can be looked up in a trice on hundreds of web sites, including that of the AISA Arsenal History Society, well, what can you do? For if Arsenal had never been relegated how come we celebrated 100 years in the first division at the end of last year, while the club was formed in 1886?
We were of course relegated in 1913, coming 20th in Division One. See here for the story.
One last one for now.
- Forget gut instinct, clubs can now use ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE to identify the perfect transfer… and it even assesses a player’s chemistry on the pitch. Here’s who it says the Big Six need NOW.
That is quite an amusing piece since in giving us a list of players that Arsenal need they then tell us none of them are available.
Ah well, it’s the Daily Mail.
The negativity in the press about Arsenal is due to its legendary status, obviously no one notices the travails of minows,i hope our struggles are just temporary.
All out attack to get Arsenal religated by demorelizing every aspect of the club – players, supporters, coatches ect.
Reminds me of the talkshite article when Guendouzi scored and he lifted his arms like he was fed up. Talkshite wrote a whole negative article on how Guendouzi celebrated the goal as a messgae to Arsenal as to why he was loaned out.