- Arsenal v Manchester United; a game that is not just like old times
- Arsenal v Man U: the home/away form and an equal recent record
- Arsenal’s new signing and preparing for the Manchester United game.
By Tony Attwood
Obviously we learned that Manchester United are really not quite as good as the media like to make out – not least because they have won under half their away games, and winning away is a key part of winning the league. Only two teams have won more than half their away games – Arsenal and Manchester City.
Only two teams are home invincibles this season: Arsenal and Newcastle.
And we learned that Sky don’t really care about atmosphere in the ground although they always say they do. When Liverpool fans sing “You’ll never walk” the media shut up and listen in respectful silence. When Arsenal fans sing “North London Forever” they media idiots talk all the way through it.
We also learned that the difference between Arsenal and Manchester United, despite all the media’s hype, is huge. Arsenal have scored 13 more goals than Manchester United, conceded nine fewer than Manchester United and have won 80% of their away games. Manchester United have won just 45% of their away games. That is quite a difference.
Manchester United are all of 11 points behind Arsenal – which just on half way through the season is quite a lot really – although not as many as Tottenham who are 17 points behind Arsenal.
So what has the league topping club been doing after 19 games in the past?
| year | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/3 | Arsenal | 19 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 45 | 16 | 29 | 50 |
| 2021/2 | Manchester City | 19 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 50 | 12 | 38 | 47 |
| 2020/1 | Manchester City | 19 | 12 | 5 | 2 | 36 | 13 | 23 | 41 |
| 2019/20 | Liverpool | 19 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 47 | 14 | 33 | 55 |
So not the best of all time, as I heard one bonkers commentator say it was, but still pretty good.
And what about Eddie? What did the media have to say about the idea of using Eddie as centre forward? Here are some comments on Eddie in recent times…
“Arsenal’s plans to replace Eddie Nketiah have been dealt a major blow.” Express
“‘Even Wolves wouldn’t sign him’ – Paul Merson says Arsenal star Eddie Nketiah can’t replace Gabriel Jesus.” Metro
“Eddie Nketiah: Arsenal striker not good enough” Team Talk
“Paul Merson is fearing for Premier League leaders Arsenal’s top-four credentials with Eddie Nketiah in line to come in” Football365
“Martin Keown urges Arsenal to replace ‘second-string’ Eddie Nketiah and Granit Xhaka” TalkSport
“Arsenal line up Nketiah replacement as Arteta prepares sale” London World
“Arteta reveals Arsenal’s January transfer window plans: ‘We can get a striker”” Metro
“Arteta insists he will receive the backing he needs to sign a new forward” Mirror
It would be nice if some of these publications at least now say that they were misled by their sources and will never use these sources again. But they don’t. Because there weren’t any sources. They just made it up as they always do.
But still, a few apologies would be nice. But don’t hold your breath..
And they were making it up because I did all the stats. I posted all the evidence that showed he was our most efficient goal scorer. More efficient than Jesus, Saka, Martinelli. They must of known as well as I did.
Not only were the media making it up, or at the very least failing to do their research, we had supposed Arsenal fans coming on here joining in with the nonsense.
We wont get any apology from those fools above, and neither will we get one from those Arsenal fans that came on here to join in with the bitch fest.
I am so so pleased for him. Deserves all the accolades that will surely come his way.
All week weve had all the mikhy Mud taunts . Mikel Arteta took all that anti Arsenal media mince and mustve told his squad ” Focus , stick it to everyone out there who doubts you, ram it down their throats. ” To say im so proud of the Arsenal really doesnt do them justice. Bloody well done Arsenal.
NORTH LONDON FOREVER
The media don’t have “sources” they make this shit up as they go along to suit a preconceived agenda.
Unlike the media, however, I can apologise for my mistakes. I posted earlier today about Atkinson being the ref (which is what I read on more than one site) and then did some research into his previous performances (which already puts me ahead of the professional media!)
As seismic pointed out Atkinson has retired (which, despite my memory lapse, is obviously extremely pleasing,).
Anyway, apologies for my huge error. At the end of the day, I suspect there isn’t one Gooner out there that cares given the way we won the game!
Although the stats suggest we were well on top, I felt it could go either way. I actually felt we were more superior at OT than today! But I still believed we deserved the victory and, as the youngest team in the league, they were immensely mature and professional.
A great day!
What we learned today, if we didn’t already know it, is that Arsenal must be a nightmare to play against. You know how when certain players give you get the ball you crane your neck, or move to the edge of your seat because you just know something is going to happen, Most teams have one if thet’re lucky, some two if they are really lucky.
We’ve got 4 at least, more even.
Not only the obvious in the shape of our wingers, Saka and Martinelli, our midfield maestro Odegaard and wing back Zinchenko, but we have our other wing back Tomiyasu, who looked different class when he came on, as well as Party who you just cant leave alone near the box, and now we have Trossard, who looked great and yet another defenders nightmare in his short cameo debut, and not to mention our strikers Nketiah and Jesus.
How on earth do you even start to set up against that little lot?
Mikey
And I did a follow up based on your post so I’m no better!!!!
We all make mistakes, I’ve made many, but at least we try to be accurate and honest, unlike these drainpipes that are DELIBERATELY inaccurate and dishonest.
Richard Keys was claiming that Zinchenko was offside for Nketiah’s second goal. What a plonker. Qatar must be very proud of him.
Arsenal have won the last eight PL matches that Taylor has refereed. Strange, but true. I may have to stop mentioning Wythenshawe in my posts here and on Twitter.
@seismic,
why do you bother. The sod did not get any work in Europe, is exiled in Qatar and no one in England ever sees the games he comments. So he just wants to be present. Just ignore him. This is publicity for him. Keeps him in the headlines.
Richard who ? Or should we call him dick ?
If you have 15 minutes to spare, the following article provides the history of Keys’ deranged obsession with Arsenal, and in particular, Arteta.
Obsessed
Watching a really good documentary on Sky where a Man City bod explained that they calculate exactly what a player is worth to them and at the point he isn’t value for money they walk away. Very basic. I did exactly the same when I was running a company. But apparently, according to the media “experts”,t when Arsenal pulled out of the Mudryk deal they were losers and Arsenal didn’t have a clue what they were doing.
I personally think the media has an agenda against us but in fairness, I’m prepared to cut them a lot of slack and accept that they are just not terribly intelligent people.
Apologies, when I said “not very intelligent” I actually meant utterly inept aresholes. I really need to be more honest from the outset. I apologise, I just had a career in which diplomacy was major part. I’m retired now, I should be more honest. Particularly given I hate unsubstantiated opinions and love statements deduced from indisputable facts! Hence why I love this site so much!
Has anybody noticed the media slowly turning their attention to Arteta? First it was Arsene Wenger and now it’s Arteta. Apparently our manager can’t stay in his technical box and gets pretty animated, which I find very strange because a certain manager from Manure was a predecessor who couldn’t leave officials alone. All the monotonous drone coming from Manchester and a certain cheating husband without any morals who can’t work in the western hemisphere.
WOO HOO , HOO ! Well done the lads , good show ! Well deserved victory . An dared to dream !
Am now upgrading my outlook for the team to genuine EPL title contenders ! Well we are at the halfway mark , and trotting on comfortably . Those extra points are money in the bank !
Up the Gunners !
You know, we are talking about millions here. Tens of millions there. Yet last night to quote another Arsenal blog (Arseblog), it was Hale End 3 – 2 Manure…
And still Mr Wenger’s fingerprints….
The great thing is that Mr Arteta is definitely a worthy successor and the organisation is baking him up smartly and the way it should. Their merit should not be forgotten
As the season progresses, we are learning that Arteta has the ability to improve his players and make the team better than the sum of its parts.
Exciting times when we have a genius for a manager and so much young talent in the team.
Ah, apologies, apologies. . . why is it that we demand apologies for every incorrect opinion? And why is it that the world is full of people who are so desperate to take offence for every perceived slight? Not very long ago I had a fairly lengthy conversation on this site with Nitram. I said that I doubted Eddie Nketiah’s ability to lead the line because I felt that he was too inconsistent. Nitram staunchly defended Eddie with some fairly detailed statistics. It now seems that he is being proved right and I am being proved very wrong indeed. I couldn’t be happier about it, and I sincerely hope that our Eddie continues to make a mug out of me. I’m very pleased for him; he seems to be on fire, and I’m very pleased for the team and for all of us Gooners; goodness knows we’ve waited long enough. I will also happily pay homage to Nitram for his statistical vision. But be it muggins me or some overpaid television pundit: to offer an apology for voicing what subsequently turns out to be an incorrect opinion??? Not a chance.
MikeB
Thank you for that.
But just to say, I do not have a problem with people having opinions, but I do when that opinion is in complete contradiction to the facts, or the statistics. If I think that, I don’t just say you’re wrong, my opinion is this, I’m right. I go away, find the supporting evidence and put the evidence forward. And that shouldn’t be a surprise to you, because surely you have seen that from the top to the bottom this site imbeds itself in statistical evidence. That is why I post here. I like statistical based debate.
If I wanted to get in to a debate along the lines of ‘I think he’s great ‘ ‘WelI I think he’s crap’ ‘Well I think he’s the best player at Arsenal’ ‘WelI I think he’s the worst’ and round and round we go. I’d post on the Daily Mail. It’s nonsense and it gets nowhere.
But the problem is, and given your post above It doesn’t appear to include you, some people think all that matters is their opinion. Or they say you can make stats say whatever you want. Well it isn’t, and you cant. But hey, if they think that fine, but don’t come here and not expect to be confronted with a raft of statistics. And that’s another problem, when I do that, people get upset. I say, don’t get upset. Find your own ‘evidence’. Prove me wrong.
But nobody did or could.
This is what you said about Eddie, which to be fair was pretty kind compared to some others:
“It tells us that, (The Juventus friendly) although Eddie is a good player and on his day an exceptional player, he is, sadly, not good enough consistently enough to lead the attack for Arsenal”.
Okay, fair enough but the stats said otherwise. So I said so. That’s all.
Others weren’t quite so diplomatic.
There was Mr Robert Bradshaw who said:
“Nketiah will never be good enough and nor will Balogun. End of”.
Yes, an opinion, but totally unsupported by any facts at all. And just putting ‘end of’ doesn’t change that.
And Silentstan, who sadly wasn’t said:
“All 3 friendlies have simply reinforced what was clearly obvious even to Stevie Wonder.
2) Nketiah is not PL standard”
No supporting evidence supplied for this comment either.
In response to these ‘opinions’ I gave my ‘opinion’ that Nketiah was indeed premier league standard. The key difference being I supplied evidence.
I am obviously pleased I have been proved right, as are you. But really, and this is the point, It’s not me that’s been proved right, it’s the statistics. All the evidence was there if anyone was prepared to go and find it.
This is what I concluded with at the time:
“Personally I have absolutely no doubt that Eddie will step up to the plate. The rest of the guys will continue to chip in. Therefore we have nothing to be concerned about”.
And this was why I said that:
……… he is currently Arsenals most efficient goal scorer. He scores at a rate of a goal every 164 Minutes. Jesus is every 245, Martinelli every 290 and Saka every 386. So he’s not only the most efficient in front of goal, he’s by far the most efficient.
A couple of foot notes:
1: Of course I can and have been wrong. But very rarely on here. Now you may think that sounds arrogant but it’s not. It’s because when I have an opinion, say for example that player x is a better passer than player Y, I do some research first. If the stats don’t support what I think I concede (to myself obviously) that I’m wrong. The difference is I do it before I say anything on here. If I cant support my ‘opinion’ with stats I say nothing, because the thing is my opinion about players means very little, if anything at the end of the day.
2: And the fact is, when it comes to signing players I doubt Artetas ‘opinion’ counts for much either. I’d bet you any money you like that the over riding factor in signing a player will be his stats. it’s just how it is.
Thanks again
Nitram,
I read your post last evening, but was so incensed by it that I decided to ‘sleep on it’. This morning I am just as incensed.
So allow me to respond to your points.
1 Statistics is a tool for people to use in analysis and interpretation. It is not an infallible bible for people to slavishly adhere to; if it were we would have no need for scouts, we would simply have to go to the statistician and ask for him or her to point their divining rod at the next most suitable acquisition. We don’t do that because there is more to the assessment of ability and potential than a wall chart.
Allow me to paraphrase a few words from a novel by Michael Patrick Clark. . .
‘Statisticians consistently neglect to factor in the individualistic and idiosyncratic nature of mankind, because statistical analysis requires no experience of life outside those dank recesses of institutionalized stagnation that are the statisticians’ breeding grounds. They conduct their pseudo-intellectual experiments in clean-air environments and then pronounce their facile and unpolluted interpretations with all the humility of the burning bush.’
In short, if statistics were as infallible as you appear to claim, we would not have bought Pepe and Real Madrid would not have bought Eden Hazard. Not only that but many of the young prodigies we sign up possess no statistics of any value to accompany them; it comes down to gut feel, experience, and our impressions.
2 On the subject of the statistical nature of this platform and its activity and governance. . .
This is a platform for the exchange of ideas and opinions. It is not an esoteric boys club for statistical analysis. Robert Bradshaw’s opinions are just as credible and just as important to the platform as your statistics and my, somewhat verbose, opinions. He and we should be welcome to voice them and – with certain caveats for good taste and libel – no one individual should ever be vilified for their stated opinions.
3 Do not ever interpret magnanimity for submission. When I posted that you are being proved right by the recent performances of Eddie Nketiah the qualifier was the word ‘being’. There is a way to go before either point of view is entirely proven or disproven. This assessment of Eddie Nketiah is a work in progress, not a fait accompli.
4 I did not make my judgement of Eddie on the basis of him missing a sitter in one friendly game. I made it on a raft of performances going back to before the Leeds loan period which, incidentally, saw Patrick Bamford preferred to Eddie for much of the time.
5 Arrogance and patronisation are not by-products of perceived victory. It is not legitimate to be arrogant because you feel that you have been proven right. Magnanimity is a far more palatable position to take when arguing with the vast majority of contributors; irrespective of your perception of their stated opinion’s foolishness or validity.
In other words, Nitram, don’t metaphorically look down your nose at me when I contribute a magnanimous post. It pisses me off!