Partey setback, AFC man hauled off, new C Ronaldo signing, Arteta desperate

By Sir Hardly Anyone

“Mikel Arteta should heed “dangerous” verdict in the wake of fresh Thomas Partey setback”

That is a headline that looks really worrying.  In reading it you perhaps had already heard that Partey, despite being troubled by injury, was not only called up by his country to play in internationals but is now said to be injured again.  Although quite what the problem is, is not clear (at least not clear to me).  The evidence of the injury seems simply to be that he did not play against Brazil, rather than any medical announcement.

Anyway, whatever the problem – we have the issue of the dangerous verdict.  Which turns out to be related to Ian Wright saying, ‘Xhaka is a “really dangerous” player when he is given the freedom to operate in advanced areas.’  So no setback.

Here’s another one…

“‘Hauled off’: Media slam Arsenal player for ‘uncoordinated’ international display; hand him 3/10 rating.”   This story from The Boot Room is one that tries to tell us that William Saliba is a useless player.

And of course in these tales Arsenal players are never “substituted” but “hauled off”.  Actually Saliba just played the first half, as was planned.

Apparently Get French Football News gave him a rating of 3/10 (because he only played 45 minutes) and TBR concludes, “there is surely every reason to think that a difficult night in Denmark will have no impact when Saliba lines up for Arsenal again.”

The fact is that the story, instead of being headlined “Hauled off” could have been headlined “Arsenal player avoids needless injury in France” by playing just 45 minutes.  Good news for Arsenal.

There was also no question that Saliba was about to become a regular in the French squad – there are others ahead of him. In fact two international rookies were given a 45 minute run out each, nothing more.

On a more positive note the Express goes with Arsenal target Gunners could sign in January sees himself as new Cristiano Ronaldo

And you may not be surprised to hear that actually, that is not the case.  Mykhaylo Mudryk has said that his role model is Cristiano Ronaldo in his younger days as a winger.   So in essence a player that Arsenal might well never sign (given that only 3% of transfer rumours ever come to fruition), has said that he has noted the way Cristiano Ronaldo played in the early part of his career and is trying to adopt a similar playing style.  Which is not the same as adopting the player as a “role model”.

He’s a 21 year old left winger, and in short, it’s just another transfer rumour.

Moving on, does the current Arsenal team look desperate to you?  Does the management’s behaviour suggest they are desperate about something?

Obviously, I don’t know your answer, but for me the answer is no in both cases.  Arsenal give me the image of a club that knows exactly where it is going and what it is doing – as it has since Arteta joined.

But so ingrained did the tale of the three defeats at the start of last season become in the minds (or what passes for the minds) of newspaper journalists that desperation is the eternal name of Arsenal’s modus operandi.

So this tale tells us of “Mikel Arteta’s side seemingly desperate to add reinforcements in the middle of the park.”  As a result “Arsenal transfer target Douglas Luiz will end up at the Emirates, according to journalist Simon Phillip” – or at least that is how Give Me Sport sees it.

The article continues saying, “Now, heading into the January transfer window, the Brazilian’s future remains up in the air, and there appears to be an expectation that he will make a move away sooner rather than later.”

And we might perhaps note that “there appears to be an expectation” is somewhat different in its style and tone from the “desperation” expressed in the headline.

But perhaps we should end with a couple of headlines from those laugh-a-minute jokers, Football.London.   They tell us following a headline about a double Arsenal injury boost that both Martin Odegaard and Kieran Tierney “are set to be available for the Gunners as Spurs make the short trip to the Emirates Stadium.”

But they counter this news with the thought that Arsenal summer signing could lose Premier League spot after international break again a story run in Football.London,  However quite why and how and who, the article does not tell us.

Persky things these journalists.   And perhaps it is interesting that the prime source of four of these tales (Football.London, Sunday Express, Daily Mirror) are all owned by the same company: Reach plc.

It’s a funny ol’ game, this football journalism lark.

2 Replies to “Partey setback, AFC man hauled off, new C Ronaldo signing, Arteta desperate”

  1. Journalism it isn’t, but then we all know that, I studiously avoid clicking on anything from Football.London but sometimes forget myself with the Mirror and Express, I should really know better.

    Gabby Agbonlahor always has something irrelevant to say, but he’s earning himself a living talking utter rot so well done on that. The list of ex-footballers on this kind of a gig, usually following their failure to remain in the game due to their lack of ability, is endless. Not everyone of course can get on MotD or Sky so I guess that a clickbait blog is an alternative form of income for the most average of self-styled pundits.

  2. I love the phrase, “Now, heading into the January transfer window….”. It’s bloody September for god’s sake. What is wrong with these people?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *