By Tony Attwood
In the last 24 games, Arsenal have lost one, drawn four and won 19. So not surprising that in playing a club that is currently 16th in League One, the management did a bit of experimenting, in order to see how some younger players would react to the situation.
As a result, Arsenal made nine changes from their last Premier League game, and in response, some have decided to attack one of the youngsters who plays for Arsenal and is deemed to have had a bad game. What will be the result of that? At the very least, some highly talented young players will opt, if they have the choice, not to go to Arsenal. Why would you with supporters like that who jeer their own players? Not everyone is going to be like Dowman – whom on this occasion Sky Sports named as the best Arsenal player on the pitch.
So, Arsenal are through to the quarter finals, which are due to be played around the 4th and 5th of April. Meanwhiloe the next game, to be played this coming week, is away against [Bayer 04 Leverkusen](https://uk.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=AwrkOJisJ61psw0PIx53Bwx.;_ylu=Y29sbwMEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj?p=Bayer+04+Leverkusen&type=type80480-660471304¶m1=2996692419&hsimp=yhs-066&hspart=sz&gdpr=1&ei=UTF-8&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Asbsrp%2Cm%3AsbSportsTeamScore&d=%7B%22dn%22%3A%22sports%22%2C%22ykid%22%3A%22soccer.t.103%22%7D&fr=yhs-sz-066), and a quick preliminary look at their recent results shows them having had three draws, two wins and one defeat in their last six matches.
But what I am not sure they have, is other managers in their country currently hurling anger at the club for allegedly (but not in fact when the stats are looked at) wasting time, or their own fans hurling abuse at a youngster who was given a run out in the team.
And that seems to sum up Arsenal’s situation. They have to take on the opposition, obviously, but then also have to fight the media and then indeed, some of their own “fans” too, who have turned on a young player. It is quite amazing that any youngster (or indeed any youngster’s parents) will go near Arsenal, seeing the sort of “fans” the club now has.
Yet this is what it has turned into. The media run a constant assault on Arsenal, while very notably leaving Manchester City (remember 110 misdemeanours still pending) are given a free rein. Arsenal are of course, under constant attack from other managers such as the turnip at Brighton with his ludicrous claims about time wasting, and the media’s response is to give support to those claims without actually bothering to investigate how much time was wasted in that match, or in all the Arsenal matches in the season.
Other clubs don’t suffer in this way from the media, or indeed from their own fans (when it comes to turning on one of the youngsters). And so Untold Arsenal exists at least in part to try and counter the endless misreporting of matters relating to Arsenal that we see in the media every day. Last week we had to point out how factually incorrect the Brighton manager was in his tirade against Arsenal players. This week we find there are “fans” whose prime purpose seems to be to turn on a young player who has difficulty with a game when he has just stepped up to the top level.
So why are all these attacks happening? We know with journalists it is just sheer habit – if there is an anti-Arsenal story, they run it. But with supposed Arsenal fans railing against a young Arsenal player, why does that happen?
My guess is that it makes such fans feel big. They might (like me) not have any skill or ability at playing football, and so think iti s a great idea to hurl abuse at a young Arsenal player for doing what they have never had the chance to do.
And the reason? Presumably, to try to make themselves look like journalists. And I think that needs to be contemplated for a moment. Surely we all know what journalists do when it comes to writing about Arsenal, so why should anyone want to imitate one of those clowns? It beggars belief.
Anyway, just in case you have been distracted by the FA Cup, here’s the league table….
1
Arsenal
30
20
7
3
59
22
37
67
2
Manchester City
29
18
6
5
59
27
32
60
3
Manchester United
29
14
9
6
51
40
11
51
16
Tottenham Hotspur
29
7
8
14
39
46
\-7
29
17
Nottingham Forest
29
7
7
15
28
43
\-15
28
18
West Ham United
29
7
7
15
35
54
\-19
28