A guest post from shottagunna ( @shotta_gooner )
By now we are all familiar with the recent punditry of Thierry Henry, when, from the comfort of his perch at Sky Sports, he declared that for Arsenal to win the league again “I think they need to buy four players – they need that spine. They need a goalkeeper, they still need a centre back, they still need a holding midfielder…”
A visitor from Mars, scrutinizing the League table, may have cause to wonder if Henry is confused; is he mixing up the red of Arsenal with the free-falling Liverpool. The Gunners have been the best performing club in the top flight since January and in the last 6 games is ranked second only to Everton with 16 points compared to Chelsea’s 14.
In my opinion Henry’s punditry is not only a public declaration of no-confidence in this squad but a virtual flip flop from his opinion two weeks earlier when he was bigging-up Coquelin in particular, famously comparing him to the tv detective Columbo, extolling his ability to sniff out any attack. Henry is no regular TV blowhard, he is an Arsenal legend who is still connected to the club, often working out with the squad at London Colney. Surely he should be aware that he is undermining confidence in players who see him as a mentor and in Wenger, whose approach to squad building is signing talented players whom the lazy pundits have doubts and turning them into world class players, a policy which he personally benefitted.
In my opinion our greatest ever goal-scorer is just another hapless victim of a certain media narrative, echoed in blogs and on twitter until it becomes conventional wisdom with barely a shred of factual evidence. This is exemplified by the repeated nonsense that somehow David Ospina is inferior to all the top goalkeepers in the PL. But as footballrepublik.com observed:
“Comparing Ospina to arguably the other top 2 goalkeepers in the league, David de Gea and Thibaut Courtois, he has the best clean sheet ratio, makes more saves per game, more saves per goal & has conceded the least goals per game.
He also boasts the best win ratio out of the three and has the most successful punches per game. Comparing him to his Polish counterpart (Szczesny), Ospina concedes a goal every 150 mins compared to every 71 mins for Szczesny.”
Those statistics are pretty overwhelming but, no matter how well he does, Ospina’s performances are discounted and subject to thinly disguised skepticism. This is best reflected in a recent headline in a very popular blog which stated “David Ospina’s win ratio makes him the second largest oil producer in the Universe.” Admittedly that was a very funny headline, but certainly a perfect example of being damned by sarcasm, a technique which this particular blogger excels.
All of us with experience of the last 11 years know that at the core of this false narrative concerning Ospina are the following facts; he only cost the club a reported £4 million, he wasn’t signed from a big club and he is not the stereo-typical huge 6ft 6in plus European type goalkeeper. Too Almunia-esque in my opinion.
Hence the usual suspects went into overdrive in the last transfer window demanding Wenger sign Chelsea’s #2, Petr Cech. Ray Parlour, who like Henry is loved by the media for being a famous ex-player (get the pattern) stated in the London Evening Standard. “It is nothing against Ospina but when you look at the games Cech has played in and the trophies he has won, he’d be a great addition for Arsenal. If you are going to challenge for the league, you need a top quality goalkeeper which Cech is.” One very popular tweep who also writes for the Metro went so far as to suggest that “A move to Arsenal would keep Cech in London, a city that has been the home of his evolution into a world class goalkeeper.” Imagine that, Arsenal has a duty to keep him in London.
Look out for more of this guff in the silly season coming up in July, worse if Ospina proves he is only human and by making a big mistake in one of the four upcoming matches. The main thing that keeps us serene in this nonsense is the wise words of our manager who said of our players in a recent interview:
“Every moment is analysed of every event on television. Just after the game the players open the television and hear ‘Why did he move on the right and not on the left?’. That was not the case before. It is the price to pay for the popularity of the sport. We have the good sides and have to take the bad sides as well.”
Positively Arsenal 
• Ainsley Maitland-Niles seemed to hit Arsenal’s chief negotiator, Dick Law
Guess!
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for example
this situation with the young player and his mom…why is it in the media? its embarassing for the lad… where is ivan to protect the player, the club etc? obviously masterbating….
they called the police???? lol…..
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not Ainsley, his mum is the one said to have caused a bit of a stir. It was reported that she argued with Law and Ainsley’s agent, its being said that despite the lad only signing his first pro deal earlier in the season it seems his mum wants the club to give him a new deal.
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cannon you really are a knob if you think anyone can keep the likes of this out of the media, it happened in a public place, and why should this woman get treated differently just cos her son is a footballer.
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Just what is it with the media and Arsenal…..and why do our ex players seem to feel they have to go over the top in proliferating this narrative? Guess the answer is simple filthy lucre. Either that, or a desperation to be accepted amongst their new peers
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“A knob” ? !
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eduardo …have i ever called you anything? lets keep it at that yes? thank you ..its your second time…..
trust me fella if i start describing you or anyone else every time i see a comment of yours i dont agree with …well thats a jungle then not a blog 😉
the club should protect the players from media exposure …if not for he player ..for the club itself.
what do you mean it can get out you silly little boy? find out who was there ? what journalist first released it and send him to alaska…..
it has nothing to do with the woman you pisshead…lol..its about the player and the club’s reputation..fuck that bitch all shes worried about is getting her crack/cocaine/heroin….heh
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public place? what public place?? it was our fucking training ground..private premises…hallo?
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assuming it wasn’t all a bit of media bullshit to begin with.
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I dont know..im of the opinion that such things shouldnt come out in the open..then again im a knob to expect these matters stay within closed doors when even irrelevant tweets get retweeted …what hope for the niles scandal :p
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That nonsense made the newspapers over here in Ireland, any negative story about our club is always published.
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By reason of our enormous digital fan base the easiest way for a journo to get clicks is to put up a derogatory story about Arsenal football club. The story about Ainsley’s Mum headed “EXCUSIVE” by the Telegraph – not exactly Woodward and Bernstein was it ?
The easiest way for a ex-player, particularly an ex-Arsenal player, to get their name in a headline, their face on the TV or a spot on Talkshite is to criticise Arsene and/or the club.
Cheap clicks that require little or no imagination, and no effort of expenditure on the part of the journo.
And as we know it ain’t only journos who use the lever, the click dependent uber bloggers of our purview use exactly the same crude trawling device to keep numbers up and fees rolling in.
That is the name of the game, if you play it.
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ok anicoll and dc but that means either of two things
– either arsenal fans are easy bait…i.e desperate jealous mugs and media troll them. not nice to know about our fanbase
– we lack the figure who will instill fear and terror to any bastard journo or media outlet that choses arsenal fans as their trolling subject
i know i may come out a bit of a fascist …lol…..but i take my hat off to fergie for his relationship to media……you fucked with him or his team and you were history…..
wenger aint that type…but that dont mean we shoudlnt have one of that type at board level to keep everyone in check…
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hillwood woudl do it …..with a cigar in his mouth too..
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The boring Chelsea tag – and Mourinho’s reaction to it, reminds me of the scurrilous story involving the brilliant Welshman who felt his greatest achievements (designing and building a bridge, funding a state of the art teaching hospital etc) were overlooked and dwarfed by an unfortunate moment when he felt unable to resist the charms of the local ovine population.
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On the theme of interesting work by the mainstream media take a moment or two to read this piece from the Guardian about a fundamental change in the distribution of TV revenue in Spain due to come into force in 2016/2017.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/30/barcelona-real-madrid-la-liga-new-tv-rights-deal-spain
I suspect that Barca and Real will find some way to still enjoy a bigger slice of pie than the average, as big clubs in the EPL do including ours. The days of funding Galactico purchases with no apparent concern for FFP or cost may however be over.
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And it was only one sheep at that FH
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I think I would go with the “easy bait” diagnosis Hunter – that and there is precious little genuine news available from the club.
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I wouldn’t want Ivan to do any different to that which he does.
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ok not ivan…find someone else to do it. or do you think it is not necessary in th eindustry of football to have a figure to run things behind the scenes?
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when they were smashing eduardo diaby ramsey etc ……i was pissed off that the club would do nothing to protect their players/investments on the pitch and would let our players get savaged by refs, opponents and media. imo you need a strong figure for exactly those moments…so that others dont take advantage of you. if football was fair we wouldnt need this igure but we are all grown ups and maure enough to know that football is dirty business and if you dont have influence in the control centres of the game/industry then not much you can hope for….
its like…ok they have chosen their strategy against us…whats ours? sit and accept it all? wait for wenger to pull miracles out his arse all the time?
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I thought Ferguson’s falling out with the media, and years of refusing to be interviewed by BBC/Sky (?), were down to his rage because he and his son were accused of being dishonest in a documentary about football agents, and the strange case of Roy Carroll, Wigan keeper at the time, requiring an alleged £200k ‘bung’ to be paid to his agent or do I mean commission – ahem ( Darren Ferguson I think at the time ) before he would sign for Sir Alex and for ManYoo.
It had nothing to do with looking out for his club or his players, it had everything to do with the greedy little Scot’s ego and his petulance.
Instead of the rumbling Govan snarl we had to put up with the Mike Pheeble for the next X number of years ’til Ferguson reckoned we had all forgotten.
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Anyway i am confident AW has better things to do than try to buy another player from JM especially when it is not a priority at all! Our squad is quite balanced and except the likes of Bender or Reus become available we do not need additions to the squad!
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sure that was a big part but there was also the general fear of not crossing him.. do you see that in our case?
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ok ill put it this way …do you want to see Arsenal being shat upon for everything they do? transfers, trophies, tactics, youth, style, money, ambition etc etc etc
if you like that ….ok lets stop the discussion…but if you dont like it …what are we doing as a club to stop it other than waiting for wenger to sweep all titles ?
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should we accept that until we do the back to back treble we will have to put up with it?
i dont agree with that….you fight your corner.
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Hmmmm – He had a lot of good football qualities, great team builder, great tactician, but Ferguson is/was a spiteful man, as you see in his dealings with ex players and former coaches. A bully far too often.
As Magnier and MacManus showed he was a greedy little man who backed down when his bluff was called.
So no Hunter I will Ferguson approach a miss.
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ok forget ferguson for a minute …do we want a bastard behind the scenes to take care of f.as and media and ensure that noone fucks with us ?
its the simplest way i can put it.
i vote yes
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or do we prefer to describe apathy as class?
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Fantastic news for Arsenal, as European big boys finally have their wings clipped.
Now if only the EU would probe those illegal state subsidies as well.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32544471
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‘Many, many, many times,’ Wenger said. ‘You know you have to control yourself and remain in control and polite and respectful. But of course sometimes you feel that people are not respectful of you.’
so who protects him ?
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I would prefer we were transparent and honest in what we say and what we mean as a club, naive though that might be.
That seems to be Arsene’s approach with his unfailing willingness to answer (sometimes) idiotic questions. He is no-one’s mug and seems to know what he is doing.
Would we be better served by having some snarling, ostrich waving loon, a conspiracy nut, going off the deep end and sulking every time someone crosses him?
Joe Kinnear maybe ?
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Don’t bother with the full ten minutes – it does not get better
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Anicoll first to the breaking news.
It also looks like the changers of child trafficking by Atletico are serious enough, UEFA-FIFA are pursuing it; but Real, being Real as normal, might get away with it.
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Arsenal does not give the press corps monkeys the peanuts they want, so they throw their own faeces back at him.
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*Arsene,
you all knew that.
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heh i didnt say to do it out in the open ……… obviously thats handbags….
we dont get to hear/know what roman’s people do behind scenes to keep chelsea as ‘loveable’ ….
arsene can do what he likes ..arsene is the public face and thats why its hard for him to reply they way he would want to and tell them all to fuck off.
at the same time, having an ‘ivan’ who makes that call and the journalist or f.a official shits himself cant be that bad …..
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Roman’s backroom boys are doing a great job Hunter I admit it – – most of his contemporary oligarchs are dead, usually in unexplained circumstances, or sewing mailbags in the gulag.
Yes there is nothing like the threat of being bundled into a sack and thrown off a bridge at midnight to sharpen a man’s PR instincts.
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Saw that article too, Anicoll. Sounds like good news to me. Though it might be harder for us to poach the Monreal’s and Cazorlas of the future.
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anicoll5
May 1, 2015 at 12:46 pm
eeeexactly! …. you need a bit of that in an industry like football….. its not rosy.
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haaaaaaa hey lsg….enjoying the games??????
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True Limey, The Seville’s and the Valencia’s will have a bit more financial muscle in the market both as buyers and sellers. It will help them, Atleti, Bilbao etc, the chasing pack.
I suspect it may not be too ground shaking for Barca and Real though, as while the share out becomes fairer the top clubs in La Liga will be entitled to X 4 the amount that the bottom clubs receive.
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Back to my post for a moment. I just found another “Arsenal Needs….” (http://preview.tinyurl.com/n7gzq7d), this time by an 18 year old fan. You can only admire him for being so serious and well intentioned. The graphics alone tells you this was a serious effort. I am sure there are hundreds like him, scouring the media for the latest pearls of wisdom from pundits like Henry, subscribing to proprietary data from sqwawka and whoscored, and eventually thinking of themselves as founders of the holy grail in identifying talent and setting up a team to play. They remind me of all the young kids who were stock market experts prior to the bubble bursting in 2008, eventually decimated by the banksters and market pros who were pulling the strings. Aahh, the arrogance of youth. Who the hell needs an old geezer like Arsene who preaches patience, consistency, developing players, finding the right balance, etc. Just spend, Arsenal, spend!
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Allow me to put in a direct link to the young chap’s effort Shotts;
http://fanscorners.com/arsenal-need-to-make-a-controlling-midfielder-a-summer-priority/
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heh forget the 18 year olds..just listen to me and get that one guy .. the mean bastard noone knows off to protect the team’s/club’s interests on /off pitch…thats all we need
oh and organisation in the stands…fans who want to support and sing for arsenal to be put together.
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Blimey,
…………….and I thought all midfielders were able to control?
I’m so out of touch with the modern game.
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Anyways
Who’s around the Ems for Sunderland, 20th May?
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i will
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but i have to warn you …. bit of a knob here ….approach at your peril ….
if you dont get on your knees and sign the petition to bring in suarez casillas vidal reus and the ex director of juventus monzi …i wont let you in
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http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2015/03/24/10142072/ex-juventus-chief-moggi-a-free-man-following-final
🙂
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