After losing 5:1 to Bayern the English media have done everything to downplay the quality of Arsenal’s performance up to the 55^th minute, ignore the diabolical refereeing (Wenger described it as “unexplainable and scandalous“) and to ratchet up the hysteria for Arsene to be fired prior to renewal or conclusion of his contract.

Leading the charge of the English media is one James Olley, Chief Football Correspondent of the Evening Standard. Before PSG was screwed over by the same UEFA referees he was a man filled with certitude.

“Arsenal were simply not good enough to compete at the highest level and after more than £85million investment in a squad Wenger had huge faith in, it is a damning indictment of the manager and this group of players (My emphasis).”

Despite the Standard being a rag that is given away to evening commuters, Mr Olley’s views are of such import that the Sage of Dublin made him his guest of honor on his Friday podcast to spew his diatribe to his army of followers. So let us dissect Olley’s views.

Did the manager ever have any illusions about the gap in quality between his club and Bayern? Unlike Mr Olley’s bill of indictment, the manager in his pre-game presser did not have great “faith” in his team’s chances:

“Let’s not fool ourselves, we have a one or two-percent chance. But you never know. That’s why we have to focus on the quality of our performance and our commitment.”

But should Gooners or neutrals be expecting superiority over Bayern because Arsenal invested £85million in the squad last summer? Apparently Olley believes after one summer of big spending Arsenal should be beating one of the traditional powerhouses of Europe (2-times Champion League and 3-times European Cup winners) and 26-times Bundesliga winner. If one merely focused on the headline statistic, i.e. market value of both squads; £472.73m  for Bayern vs £418.20m for Arsenal (a 13% difference), and this is before making any adjustment to account  for the more inflated English market, one would think it is a small gap.

Don’t expect Mr. Olley and his interlocutor, the Sage of Dublin, to dig down into the data as this would expose the shallowness of their claim that Wenger is all to blame for Arsenal’s defeat. Unlike them, we at Positively Arsenal demand data and facts to form a conclusion rather than act hysterically and emotionally.

A deeper analysis of the market value of the players representing both teams show a £20 million edge to Bayern, according to transfermarkt.co.uk Again it must be emphasized that England suffers from significantly greater inflation than Germany where Bayern can pick up a player with more or less the same qualities as one in the English market at a lesser transfer fee. This applies to wages as well.

V.S.

The fact that the financial disparity, when 11 v 11, was only 6% goes somewhere in explaining why Arsenal was competitive for the first 55 minutes. But once the officials decided to tilt the tables in Bayern’s favor by not only granting a penalty for Lewandowski’s appalling imitation of Jamie Vardy’s favorite diving technique, but going further by sending off Arsenal’s best defender (Koscielny), the disparity became a gulf. Approximately £20 million in talent was sent to the showers.

By the way: I am no great fan of transfermarkt’s valuation as a source of unbiased data but it certainly goes somewhere in exposing the shallowness of Olley’s selective use of transfer spending to support a predetermined point of view. As usual, I publish my data so readers can do their own analysis and agree/disagree with my conclusions. If time allowed I would have researched age,  years as a professional, performance rating (Squawka), etc., to assess the qualitative difference between both starting XIs.

Back to Mr. Olley’s campaign to discredit Mr. Wenger. One day after Bayern his headline was Arsene Wenger cannot be allowed to decide his destiny – he is holding Arsenal back:

“It is difficult to imagine how bad things have to get at Arsenal before the offer of a two-year contract extension to Arsene Wenger is withdrawn.”

Apparently this provocative headline earned him the invitation to do that Arsenal podcast. Birds of a feather certainly flock together.

It took Sir Chips Keswick, chairman of the board, to put Olley and his cohorts in their place by letting them know who decides Arsene’s and Arsenal’s destiny. He issued an official statement on Thursday, March 9^th which stated:

 “Arsene has a contract until the end of the season. Any decisions will be made by us mutually and communicated at the right time in the right way.”

None of that dreaded statement of confidence, that platitudinous public relation puffery used by Board chairmen to assuage the media and incredulous fans to insulate themselves from criticism while they plot their options. It was a simple statement of fact; a big, polite “eff off”.

Olley was not dissuaded. During the Lincoln game, like so many in the English media, via a series of tweets, one could sense how desperate he was to have an upset and his ensuing disappointment.

Who had 24 minutes? Xhaka booked for a wild tackle on Matt Rhead. Lincoln may just be sensing an opportunity. 0-0.

— James Olley (@JamesOlley) March 11, 2017

Lincoln fans: “Arsene Wenger, we’re coming for you.”

— James Olley (@JamesOlley) March 11, 2017

Third injury delay here helping Lincoln gather their breath & composure. #afc lacklustre so far.

— James Olley (@JamesOlley) March 11, 2017

HT 1-0 #afc fortunate to be ahead after underwhelming first half. Lincoln, top of the NL, were matching them stride for stride until then.

— James Olley (@JamesOlley) March 11, 2017

#afc 2-0 #Lincoln Giroud converts from close range. Not much of a celebration. Looks like they just want to get out of here.

— James Olley (@JamesOlley) March 11, 2017

#afc 3-0 #Lincoln Waterfall turns Gibbs’ cross into his own net. Game over.

— James Olley (@JamesOlley) March 11, 2017

#afc 4-0 #Lincoln Sanchez curls home a fourth from the edge of the box. Job done.

— James Olley (@JamesOlley) March 11, 2017

FT 5-0 #afc Underwhelming start but in the end a comfortable win which will at least help morale. Lincoln (& their fans) can be proud.

— James Olley (@JamesOlley) March 11, 2017

In his post game report Olley came to the remarkable conclusion that a 5:0 trashing was underwhelming.

“The performance was underwhelming as Lincoln held their own in a fearless and well-organised display but Wenger got the result he desperately needed to avoid further discontent.”

My friends, this is the state of the English mainstream media and its profitable footballing division; a state of rank bias and mendacity. And colluding with them are bloggers and podcasters who pursue ambitions completely divorced from the hard facts and reality that affect the club they claim to support. Rather than trying to educate and inform the fans they are in it to promote hysteria and emotionalism. What a shame!