Arsenal and the secret of the yellow cards given for "other" reasons
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By Bulldog Drummond
I was struck this morning by an article in the Guardian which tackled the question of “what is wrong with Arsenal?” They put forward the argument that Arsenal is “pursued as ever by notions of the fatal flaw, the idea that something is fundamentally rotten in their season, with an ongoing debate among pundits and voices on the internet designed to establish the exact nature of this unarguable failure.”
And yes I think that is a fair description of the media’s attitude toward Arsenal. But what makes the piece rather interesting is the follow up line: ” What, exactly, has gone wrong with Arsenal? Maybe the answer is: nothing.” And indeed the follow-up to the follow-up, “Given the surrounding weather, this takes some getting used to as an idea.”
Of course the obvious point to make is that the media have successfully defined coming second as abject failure, and rather stupidly (in my view) a lot of fans have as ever hung onto the journalists’ coattails. Now if one says “second is not failure” the argument is turned around as if to suggest one doesn’t want the club to win the league.
But the obvious answer is yes, of course I want the league won, it is just that coming second for the last two seasons is better than anything in the last 20 years, This argument can just go on of course: if we win the league I would be happy, but I’d be happier if we had won the double. If we had won the double I would be happy, but happier if we had won the treble. If we were to win the league by one point I’d be happy, but happier if we had won it by 21, ManC had lost all 115 charges against them and been relegated to the National League, and … well, you get the idea.
So my view is second place in the league is not a trophy, but it is not a failure either. Just ask supporters of the clubs who came anywhere between 3rd and 20th for the last two seasons.
In fact if Arsenal came second again, then in terms of consistency we would be right there – being consistent even with a multiplicity of injuries through the season, having lost our entire first choice forward line, and very clearly not having done what all those journalists and hangers-on have demanded in buying another striker – any striker in fact.
Put another way, Arteta is not Wenger, but in terms of results he is heading toward Wenger at his prime and the thought that a bunch of people who have never successfully managed a football club, or quite possibly have never ever managed any football club, should be able to tell Arteta where he is going wrong, is so utterly daft it is unimaginable.
And here’s another thing. Chapman won the league with Arsenal – that’s true – and if you are interested you will, I hope, be enjoying our regular series on how Chapman came to Arsenal and what they happened. And I’m sure it won’t spoil your reading of that story if I tell you that in his opening seasons at Arsenal Chapman took his time in getting things right In fact he won nothing until the FA Cup in his fifth season at Highbury and the League in his sixth season. Sometimes things take a bit of time.
Ah, it is said, but Arsenal are going backward. Look at the comparison chart – we are only just above 2022. (Data from 11v11)
And on points that is true although even with all these injuries we have still got three more points than the club got in 2022, scored eight more goals and have the equal best defensive record across these past four seasons.
And all that has been done with a team totally taken apart by injuries.
Only ManC with its infinite financial resources has managed completely to overcome the issue of multiple injuries, and I suspect quite a few Arsenal fans, including those who are anti-Arteta, will be unhappy with some of the refereeing we have seen this season, which has resulted in the injuries. And indeed unhappy with Odegaard going to play for a team that had no chance of winning anything and getting himself totally crocked.
We’ll continue with this theme in the next article.
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Arsenal and the secret of the yellow cards given for "other" reasons
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