By Tony Attwood
So now our we are out of a run of league form that is the worst since… oh… let’s check…
Actually it was January 2012
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Jan 2012 | Fulham v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 15 Jan 2012 | Swansea City v Arsenal | L | 3-2 | Premier League |
| 22 Jan 2012 | Arsenal v Manchester United | L | 1-2 | Premier League |
There was a discussion about it on Talk Sport at the time, which of course there always is when Arsenal let in a goal, let alone have three defeats in a row, and one thing the protagonists did agree on was that was that the Arsenal team was made up of new signings who were brought to the club for modest amounts of money – at least compared with what other clubs of Arsenal’s stature spend.
Although actually we don’t have to go back that far to see a poor run because just last year – in December, just prior to the final two thirds of the season which saw us perform like runner’s up, we lost three but with a draw in between. After which we went on that rather good run as I think has been mentioned on this website once or twice or rather a lot of times…. Here is the whole of last December.
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 Dec 2020 | Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal | L | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 13 Dec 2020 | Arsenal v Burnley | L | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 16 Dec 2020 | Arsenal v Southampton | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 19 Dec 2020 | Everton v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 26 Dec 2020 | Arsenal v Chelsea | W | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 29 Dec 2020 | Brighton and Hove Albion v Arsenal | W | 0-1 | Premier League |
What happened then was Mr Arteta was putting together the approach that would help Arsenal reduce the number of fouls and yellow cards awarded against them match after match. And that worked too.
So creating a ditch and then digging us out of it is what our manager has experience in, and now in the league we sit 13th, although some clubs have only played four and not five. Still a 0-6 defeat for Leicester could see us rise up one more place.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 13 |
| 2 | Manchester City | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 10 |
| 3 | Manchester United | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 10 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 10 |
| 5 | Everton | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| 6 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hotspur | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| 8 | West Ham United | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
| 9 | Brentford | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 7 |
| 11 | Watford | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 6 |
| 12 | Leicester City | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 6 |
| 13 | Arsenal | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | -7 | 6 |
Of course sometimes the pundits, desperate for the old “three in a row” tactic will include non-league matches as when Manchester United lost three in a row including Sunderland in the league cup semi-final in 2014. And we have to be fair, they do knock Man U sometimes too.
As for Tottenham, well, they lost three in a row in January this year they actually lost five league games in a row in that run. But no, let’s not make too much fuss about that. It can be mentioned, but only in passing. Not a big deal. Tottenham generally get a good press (if not their owner takes the journos press passes away for having been naughty boys.)
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan 2021 | Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool | L | 1-3 | Premier League |
| 31 Jan 2021 | Brighton and Hove v Tottenham Hotspur | L | 1-0 | Premier League |
| 4 Feb 2021 | Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea | L | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 13 Feb 2021 | Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur | L | 3-0 | Premier League |
| 21 Feb 2021 | West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
But maybe just one more will illuminate my point a little more, not least because it also comes from this year. The mighty wonderful Liverpool, darlings of the media and then some.
| Date | Match | Res | Score | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Feb 2021 | Liverpool v Brighton and Hove | L | 0-1 | Premier League |
| 7 Feb 2021 | Liverpool v Manchester City | L | 1-4 | Premier League |
| 13 Feb 2021 | Leicester City v Liverpool | L | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 20 Feb 2021 | Liverpool v Everton | L | 0-2 | Premier League |
Yep four league defeats in a row. And yet although there was a reaction it did not result in the wholesale demands throughout much of the media to sack the manager.
Of course it can be argued that two of Liverpool’s consecutive defeats were against top clubs, although I am not really sure either Leicester or Everton can be seen in that way. And Arsenal’s defeats included Chelsea and Manchester City, the two top spending clubs.
There ought to be a word of phrase that reflects the media’s desire to knock Arsenal for events which are actually quite commonplace in football – making the results appear somehow different because they were at the start of the season, which ignoring any explanation (decimation of the squad for the first match, six players new to the squad, and the use of an approach to tackling which was introduced to try and reduce the impact of the referees on each game Arsenal played).
But hey that was an 84 word sentence there, and that surely is a bit much for any football journalist to handle.
- Why the collapse of the transfer market prefaces the collapse of football.
- Arsenal’s financial woes and the media’s call for more spending.
- Arsenal’s finances are really in a mess
- Football finances: the numbers are not making sense
- The finances of the top clubs are weird and not wholly making sense.
Tony
In line with this theme of how anything we do, or more precisely don’t do, is exaggerated and blown out of all proportion, I just heard this from Roy Keane on SKY sports.
Now it’s not what he said about Arsenal but what he said about Manchester United. This isn’t verbatim but pretty close:
“Following Ronaldo’s fantastic impact the rest of the players cant just rely on him and have to remember they have to contribute to address the issues of the last couple of poor seasons”
Which got me to thinking. Last COUPLE of poor seasons. Really ? Just a couple? Before checking I thought they haven’t been doing much better than us, and yet when anyone talks about us, especially our own ex players, they’d have you believe we’ve not only won nothing, but in fact have been relegation fodder for the last 5 years or so, so I thought I’d have a look.
These are the last 8 years statistics going back to season 2013-14.
MANCHESTER UNITED
League finishes: 7th – 4th – 5th – 6th – 2nd – 6th – 3rd – 2nd. Average = 4TH
Trophies: 1 X FAC, 1 X EL, 1 X LC. 3 Trophies
Plus 2 Community Shields
ARSENAL
League finishes: 4th – 3rd – 2nd – 5th – 6th – 5th – 8th – 8th. Average = 5th
Trophies: 4 X FAC. 4 Trophies
Plus 4 Community Shields
So neither of us have won the title.
Man Utd’s average league finish is 4th, ours is 5th, but as we all know finishing in the top 4 was something to be ridiculed anyway, so that hardly matters, because it’s trophies that count, and on that front, well there’s only one winner, as 4 FA Cups plus 4 Community Shields easily trumps 3 trophies (well 2 and 1/2 really) and 2 Community Shields.
And not only that but over the last 8 seasons Arsenals Net spend, though high at £353M Nett is nothing in comparison to Man Utds £600M Nett spend over the same period. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, that’s nearly double our spend.
Now I’m not saying Man Utd don’t get a bit of stick, of course they do, and so they should, as should we. But they are the richest Club in the World and they have been spending like it.
Yet the stick they get is nothing, I repeat nothing as compared to the stick we get on an almost hourly basis from all quarters of the media.
I only did this because I thought it was quite telling how Keane, who it has to be said is one of Uniteds bigger critics, just passed of those 8 extremely poor years, at least by the standards you would expect of the richest club in the World anyway, as just “a couple of poor seasons”.
You only have to listen to Merson and Keown over the last couple of weeks to know just how differently our in fact more successful recent history is totally trashed.
Sorry to ramble but it just seemed to me to encapsulate in one sentence a perfect example of what we are talking about.
Pogba does the most blatant dive for a penalty. He appealed for one. Rightly waved away by the ref.
Not even mentioned by the commentators. No card from Atkinson. What a surprise.
I wait to hear if it gets a mention at HT
Nope, not a mention despite it being an absolutely blatant dive.
When it suits. Cheat. Disgrace. Ban him. Blah blah blah.
Couldn’t be it depends who you play for could it ?
Now Pogba shows exaggerated decent. Still nothing from the ref and the commentators “Can understand his frustration”
I’m telling you if that was Xhaka they’d be banging on about how fortunate he is (lucky boy) to still be on the pitch.
West Ham Have just had a massive penalty appeal turned down and a foul actually given the other way.
And this is the point I/We keep making about the media and the massive influence they have.
These, what shall we call them, ‘Oversights’ only become issues if the media MAKE THEM big issues. If as in these cases they don’t even mention them, and certainly don’t start highlighting how he ‘got away with one’ etc etc, the incident just disappears into the ether.
On the other hand if the commentators/pundits/media choose to make something of the incident they can be kept in the public’s psyche for years.
Another blatant dive from Ronaldo now. Still no card.
And yet another dive from Ronaldo. No pen. No card. No criticism.
This is a joke but a perfect example of refereeing and media double standards.
Now Ronaldo does get fouled and should of had a penalty, ok 3rd time lucky but 2 were dives, but this is what we get from Smith:
“Ronaldo, quite rightly is furious the he is not getting the decisions here”
So Smith re write what’s actually happened.
Ronaldo has quite blatantly dived for 2 penalty appeals. Both waved away. But no critisism. Not even a comment from Smith.
Then when he does get fouled and doesn’t get a penalty all of a sudden the 2 blatant dives are somehow penalty’s that he didn’t get and should be furious about.
The man’s a diving cheat and gets away with it then we’re supposed to feel sorry for him when he doesn’t get one he should.
Again, if that was an Arsenal player it would of been no more than he deserved for trying to cheat earlier.
As I say. The way the media treat others compared to us is madness.
In that match Ronaldo did 2 blatant dives. That should be 2 yellows and off.
Pogba with 1 blatant dive and clear dissent should also of seen red.
Not one of those incidents received a yellow card.
not one of those incidents drew a comment from the commentators.
I just want one of the guys who keep coming here telling me and others it’s all in my/our imagination how that could be.
And more how they didn’t illicit a single disparaging comment from the commentators?
This from the BBC report:
“…the Portugal international continued his impressive return and he could have had more goals, as well as having a number of penalty appeals turned down.”
So 2 of them weren’t blatant dives then ??
I swear I can see Lukaku ‘bullying’ Spurs all over the pitch.
Or maybe not, because Neville hasn’t mentioned it and if he doesn’t mention it, well, it obviously isn’t happening.
Nope they’re just facing a really really good side apparantly.
Tottenham – 0 Chelsea – 3
Nuno out
The media were strangely quiet after a poor Spurs performance.
Our under 23s beat Chelsea 6 – 1 away today, despite being reduced to 10 men when Rekik was sent off after 36 minutes. Balogun scored a couple of goals and Biereth got a hat-trick.
Spurs have been pummeled but apparently we mustn’t forget that first half an hour when Spurs dominated.
Yep dominated to the extent of one shot on target.
The closest we have had to criticism of Spurs so far is:
“It could of been 5 or 6, if Chelsea hadn’t decided to play 5 a side for the last 10 minutes”.
Now it’s 3 nil.
At last a few worlds of something like criticism.
‘Sobering’ for Spurs.
yep that’s it folks.
Do you recall the stick we received?
Chelsea managed 22 shots 5 on target against us.
Chelsea managed 19 shots 10 on target against Spurs.
We managed 3 on target, Spurs 2.
I know I’ve rambled on but I just thought I’d actually follow an afternoons football and accompanying commentary to see just how differently it is refereed and commentated on to when we are on.
Hardly any different at all really 🤣🤣🤣
Now for the post match garbage. Lets see?
Apparently, it was a net-zero game. The Spurs strikers can attest to that, although Dier did manage to score.
At last.
Keane
Couldn’t believe how bad spurs were. No desire. Etc. Etc.
Fair enough.
By and large although a bit over critical at times I do at least give some credence to his comments and to be fair he wasn’t particularly over critical of us against Chelsea.
To be fair it’s that Neville and Carragher that get my goat.
The commentator during the Spurs game went to great lengths to sympathize with Spurs having a lot of injuries to contend with.
Not much sympathy around when we had half our team missing for the first three games, it hardly got a mention and if it did it was along the lines of ‘can’t use missing players as an excuse’ for poor results.
The Daily Mail have dug themselves into a hole after following Lineker’s lead regarding the overturned penalty decision at Burnley yesterday. Lineker later backtracked (albeit rather unenthusiastically), but the Mail joust ploughed on regardless.
Next up – AFC Wimbledon, followed by the spuds
Nitram – I saw the games the same way as you did. The commentators are like autumn leaves rustling in the breeze (nothing meaningful just rustle).
My comment that the PGMOL officiating is now ‘headfone referees ‘ controlled by the flea in the ear (the flea being Riley). Both Atkinson and Moss are past their ‘use by’ date.
We have seen the way officiating slopes the pitch and the selective vision – including that of the media that sees the shoots in the spuds, while what we see is the elephant ** falling from the tree.
** Spurs are like an elephant in a tree. How they got there up there is not known but they will surely fall from it.
Menace
Atkinsons performance was lamentable.
He had 6 penalty shouts, and got something wrong on 5 occasions.
1: Pogba takes a blatant dive and appeals for a penalty.
Atkinson correctly waves it away but fails to yellow card Pogba for the dive.
2: West Ham have a big shout for a penalty.
It looks stone wall to me. Atkinson actually gives a free kick the other way. VAR Anyone ?
3: Ronaldo goes down very easily appealing for a penalty.
Atkinson rightly waves play on. Replays show it was a clear dive with Ronaldo initiating the contact. Again no yellow for a clear dive. VAR Anyone ?
4: Ronaldo again goes to ground appealing for a penalty.
Atkinson again correctly waves play on. Another clear attempt to cheat, but again no Yellow card from Atkinson. Ronaldo should now be off the park.
5: Ronaldo clearly fouled.
Atkinson gets it wrong again. VAR Anyone?
6: Clear hand ball with outstretched arm.
Even this took VAR, at last, to sort out.
He also failed to Yellow card Pogba for a petulant act of dissent that would of seen Xhaka straight in the book. That should of been Pogbas second Yellow.
I await the uproar on Talksport and SKY tomorrow.
Oh no, that’ll be all about how Burnley were cheated out of a point against Arsenal by VAR.
I just want to say, this isn’t a pop at Spurs. This is about how events are covered in the media.
They lost to a damn good team, under what seems to be an exceptional good manager, as did we.
But lets not forget Spurs Nett spend over the last 10 years is a poultry £30 Million.
Chelseas Nett spend over the last 10 years is £400 million.
Chelsea had every right to beat Spurs 3 – 0 today.
So Harvey Barnes standing in front of the Brighton goalkeeper at a corner is offside, even though he didn’t play the ball. Bernd Leno being held by a Brentford player doesn’t register on the referees’ database of fouls.
Something is seriously wrong in the world of PL “officiating”.
It’s funny that Dion Dublin pipes up about the injustice of refereeing decisions when Arsenal are not involved. He should stick to cooking and staircases.
Nitram – I agree with your assessment. I was very glad that Moyes failed in his shameful substitution with no respect for his on field players.
@siesmic – Dublin should hide under a staircase or sit on a hot plate to get a wake up call on truth.
The officiating makes abortion sound like cake decorating. These corrupt swine get away with their cold blooded robbery because the media is complicit.
Menace
“These corrupt swine get away with their cold blooded robbery because the media is complicit”.
Absolutely. It’s why I decided to follow, and comment on the 2 matches yesterday.
The Burnley goal, correctly overturned in my opinion, never the less is a subjective call and a matter of opinion.
As to how the incident will ultimately be perceived in the eyes of the public, or footy fans, as the Red Tops love to call us, depends almost entirely on how the incident is reported in the media, primarily SKY, BTS, MOTD, TS and indeed the Red Tops.
And as we know, should one of these subjective calls actually go our way, which they do on occasion, just on way too few occasions, they sure as hell let the World, his dog and of course THE REFEREES know, and frankly it’s not good enough. The message to all on sundry, especially the Referees is remember this, Arsenal got one go their way so will be due some pay back, and when you give it we’ll be with you every inch of the way.
The thing with Saturdays call is as much as you can tell they all hate the fact it was turned over, the keeper got the ball, that is a fact which actually tacks the subjectivity out of it. But the point is even so more fuss has been made of that than all those incidents in the United game put together. It’s like they never happened.
But as I pointed out as the day went on yesterday, Manchester Utd actually got away with murder. You wouldn’t of believed from the commentary, half time or full time analysis.
I pointed out a catalogue of errors from Atkinson ably assisted in his blundering by a complicit VAR who seemed incapable of seeing anything, even in slow motion and after numerous looks.
So as I said yesterday, what was a terrible performance by Atkinson will disappear into the ether.
Manchester Utd Getting away with murder will also slide away without a trace.
BBC on Ronaldo:
“The return of Ronaldo seems to be an inspired move by Solskjaer as the Portugal international continued his impressive return and he could have had more goals, as well as having a number of penalty appeals turned down”.
He dived. Twice. He was trying to cheat. No criticism at all. As for the even worse Pogba dive. Just like the commentators on the day. Not a mention. As far as the World is concerned not one of those dives even happened.
As I keep saying, the media run our game.
Nitram. There was a typo in the last line of your last comment. It should have read “the media ruin our game” 😉
Indeed they do.