After losing 5:1 to Bayern the English media have done everything to downplay the quality of Arsenal’s performance up to the 55th 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.
| ARSENAL | |
| David Ospina | £5.95m |
| Laurent Koscielny | £18.70m |
| Shkodran Mustafi | £25.50m |
| Nacho Monreal | £12.75m |
| Héctor Bellerín | £21.25m |
| Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | £17.00m |
| Aaron Ramsey | £29.75m |
| Francis Coquelin | £12.75m |
| Granit Xhaka | £29.75m |
| Olivier Giroud | £21.25m |
| Mesut Özil | £42.50m |
| Alexis Sánchez | £55.25m |
| Lucas Pérez | £14.45m |
| Theo Walcott | £18.70m |
| Total Market Value | £325.55m |
V.S.
| BAYERN | |
| Manuel Neuer | £38.25m |
| Mats Hummels | £32.30m |
| Javi Martínez | £21.25m |
| David Alaba | £34.00m |
| Rafinha | £4.25m |
| Thiago Alcántara | £25.50m |
| Joshua Kimmich | £21.25m |
| Arturo Vidal | £31.45m |
| Xabi Alonso | £2.98m |
| Robert Lewandowski | £68.00m |
| Franck Ribéry | £6.80m |
| Renato Sanches | £25.50m |
| Arjen Robben | £8.50m |
| Douglas Costa | £25.50m |
| Total Market Value | £345.53M |
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 9th 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!
Positively Arsenal 
I had the asbestos gloves on editing that !!
Cracking stuff.
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Excellent, Shotta.
I’ll return to this later. Thank you.
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Marvellous, Shotta.
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Our unbiased media exposed. Good job Shotta
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passenal @ March 13, 2017 at 11:04 am
Don’t forget our supposedly pro-Arsenal bloggers, podcasters and tweeters.
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It’s the way the media is now, not just in football. Of course they are going to attack something which a) is different, and b) brings in the clicks. The order is debatable there, depending on who is writing about what, but Arsenal get judged by a different standard, and this has become the new normal.
If we’re talking about the manager and Arsenal’s growth or lack thereof, when Arsene came to the club, we had less revenue than ManU’s commercial income alone, and less revenue than Liverpool, Villa, and….Spurs. (Everton and Newcastle were comparable too) When the likes of Henry and Ljungberg were facing Bayern and Juventus, I remember feeling awe and happy to see us sharing the same pitch as these exalted clubs. Is Wenger holding us back? Well, I certainly don’t claim to understand ‘tactics’ so it is possible, but in the larger picture, the worst Wenger has done is make par, and usually overachieved. If you can find a manager who will keep Wenger’s strengths (ignored though they are, they are substantial) and bridge his weaknesses, bring him in, no problem. But no way does that deserve a sacking, nor such uproar. But the media want the damn Frenchman out. As with anything, my general view remains that the media line should be taken to be wrong until I can make up my own mind about it.
Thank you Shotta. I am generally restrained about this whole thing and believe people have a right to want Wenger gone (a right to be wrong if you will) But I’ve about lost patience with this whole thing, and in any case, people do not have a right to force their agenda down the other fans’ or the board’s throats.
Now watch as they react preciously to being told they are ‘brainwashed’ despite the fact that Wenger never said that specifically in that context, thereby only proving him right.
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Maybe someone put this up earlier but I think it deserves another go if it has.
Mark J. Fine
@markjfine
Recommend if they really want fame, they hold onto the fucking banner while the plane’s flying..
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Yet another great read.
Cannot vouch for Mr Olley, but he does work for a publication that seems to quite like our neighbors,a bit like the rest of the media really so maybe an agenda at work.
Getting to the point where it is not worth reading the msm, and definitely worth watching Arsenal games with the sound off.
On a similar subject, I have put in a complaint over Chris Suttons lack of neutrality, and objectivity during the recent game. I refrained from mentioning the guy is clearly thick. Probably a waste of time, will probably not even get read, but, myself and very many others did the same against Stewart Robson when he worked at Arsenal…..they did ultimately get rid of this arch Wenger hater. and replace him with the far superior Adrian Clarke..I am sure they would have done without the complaints as he was clearly spouting nonsense
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Excellent shotts
We have a wally called Olly scribbling his gibberish for a loss making gr*trag whilst advising a successful and solvent multi million dollar business how to conduct their affairs.
And pontificating on such matters in the best tradition of Alan Partridge, on a podcast/radio show.
When you think about it, it’s hilarious!
If only he showed such “Pashun” following England’s humiliation against Iceland, as to why or how a bunch of indulged, spoiled, diving cloggers couldn’t “hack it” (I’ll get me coat!) against the mighty Iceland, Costa Rica etc.
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Applause for Sir Chips.
The stiff upper lip is often questioned by those of us understandably concerned at the level of bias against the club as exhibited by the prized exhibit Olly the Wally. but when you have the ability to combine that stiff lip with the occasional bull dog growl, well, I can see the advantages there. Not to say a stronger presence as in the mythical days of DD wouldn’t be helpful, but in a world where Risdale is lauded as the FUFA/FA benchmark (Lincoln didn’t beat AFC but Sutton beat Leeds, Leeds, Leeds….oh Olly, you truly are a stupid forgetful or dishonest wally…) it is what it is.
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What I dislike about most football writing in the mainstream media is how unbelievably the same it is. There is not any effort to provide a different ‘angle’ on any topic, to introduce anything new.
It is a great pity because I was brought up avidly reading the back pages every day, to be informed, to be entertained, and it added to the experience of football and being a fan. Ken Jones, Melling, Lovejoy are names that even now I can recall from 30 years back. They were not just good sports journalists, they were actually good writers. They did not just write about football but about SPORT, and the men and women who performed. Nowadays the only ones to hold a remote candle to them is Barclay and the now retired McIlvanney.
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if anyone is interested in what good sports journalism was (and perhaps could be again) then take a five minutes to read McIlvanney’s piece on the final bout of Johnny Owen in 1980;
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/05/hugh-mcilvanney-johnny-owen-last-fight-vault
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Great again Shotta,
If you read A5’s review of a game he actually mentions things that happens during the game. He talks about the football that happened during the 90 odd minutes, unfortunately the media have not picked up on this insightful way to review a game and so more often than not you get pages and pages of shit.
I think you can count on one hand the amount of journalists we have in all aspects of the media the rest are just hacks that are happy to write whatever their editor tells them.
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I would probably add Gabriel Marcotti to my very short list of currently interesting football writers, Matthew Syed is sometimes good, sometimes not so good. At least both can come up with an occasional new idea.
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Go Shotta!
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A5-theres an interesting( albeit disturbing) docu about the Matchstick man,have you seen it?His Dad( who is also dead now) goes over to meet the guy who he fought (Lupe Pintor?).That kid was really fit, he would run up the hills backwards where he lived, and could soak up a lot of punches– a very humble down to earth lad from what I recall in interviews, in a time when there wasn’t much opportunity in that area, and it was a way out.
But there’s some horrible stories around that fight,or the atmosphere inside the arena. According to the ref he was a truly humble polite guy even up to the last seconds. The fight should have been stopped though(imo), he had a terrible cut on the inside of his lip, and was swallowing a lot of blood-apologies for my hindsight).When you look at that last round he looks really white and knackered.
Of course it changed many things in boxing ( due to the thickness of his skull everyone was tested after that). I never watched that sport again, and find it terrifying. I think there’s a biography called “what if?” which comes from his last entry in his diary (or thereabouts,could be wrong its been a long time since I looked at it-Im not going to again).
Watching poor Johnny go down is as if a puppet had had its strings cut, truly shocked me for ages, a horrible image to see. people shouldn’t look unless they can tolerate such sad images.
RIP Johnny Owen(s)
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Shotta
there is a probably bigger disparity than you even suggest in squad value.
For a start – Arsenal could not afford a £350m team, without developing home grow cheap youth players. You can knock off the values of Bellerin, Coq right off the list. Kos cost us the equivalent of a packet of gitaines from ligue 2. Rambo, Ox and Theo were all got cheaply as youth players.
To be fair – we have to also do the same for Bayern Munich – only 2, David Alaba and Joshua Kimmich came all the way through their youth academy team. Hummels was too but went to Dortmund and was bought back. Renato Sanches was a youth from Benfica, and sold to Bayern for the highest price ever for a player direct from the Portuguese league.
I think you’ll agree, Bayern Munich are considerably richer than yaw.
Oh and Olley IS a Whisky soaked Thundercunt.
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Andy
Boxing writers are the cream of the crop in sports journalism.
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“…he Shott, he scored,and exposed media fraud”. Good piece Shotts! Some good posts here today too.
Quote form the weekend that caught my eye:
” if Wenger says hes going then we can support the team”. Eh? Seems like Arséne FC not AFC to me! The WOB dont even know what they are saying! The same bloke, when onto to say “Chips whateverhisname is”-such a big supporter of the club doesnt even know names to call?
Thanks again.
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Take £45m off Bayern’s squad value, and £115m off Arsenal’s to see a truer differential in spending power. Even then, Arsenal have had to shop around for some bargains – Giroud, Nacho, Ospina, Perez all from the 2nd top shelf, not the top shelf.
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anicoll
Thanks for that link. Sad story though it is, but you are right to highlight that as what sports writing should be about. I didn’t even read it with close attention and yet it was like the words were creating an image to tell the story, all the while clearly separating opinion (his own and others) from the facts.
Pity we don’t have similar reporting today. Even if they can’t write that well, I think journalists waste their time in press conferences. With access to managers you could ask them genuine questions around tactics, fitness, recruitment, training, and a whole host of things, while also keeping the ‘hot topics’ in mind. Instead they just regurgitate the same two line paragraphs they write and keep the cycle going.
And then they react to the lack of interest and popularity by using it as an excuse to lower the quality of their output further.
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A5-what made you think of Johnny Owens today?
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I was just meandering through some old sports journalism and Hugh McIlavanney’s piece on Owens stood out Mills
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Get a taste of this http://www.arsenalvision.co.uk/articles/5478-eternal-sunshine-of-the-trophy-filled-mind.html#.WMah6Hfkr_Y.twitter
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Good work on both fronts!
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Yummmm!!
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One thing that I did see and irritated me on Saturday was the Lincoln striker Rhead, the chubby one to put in neutrally.
Why was it, every time he went for he ball in the air, he ended up on the ground writhing around and clutching his head ?
Either he was extraordinarily unlucky, clumsy or he was cheating. As nothing ever came of these allegedly devastating injuries, other than a 5 minute drinks break, I assume the first two can be ruled out.
For the third option the player should not be so stupid. Players have been badly concussed ( as we know), had their skulls fractured and very occasionally been killed with head injuries. But you want to get your opponent a yellow card ? Because you are so so clever.
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We thought that the chubby one’s “injuries” were designed to eat (sorry!) up the clock, and to break up the rhythm and flow of the passing team (one of the sore knocks was probably genuine imo)
Essentially that old Allardician classic:
“Get a re-start”
To break up play. Which is the kind of gamesmanship that when not assisted is a part of the game I guess.
When assisted by the unable apprentice Taylor, with a strong desire to not make any errors IMO that explains why the Arsenal XI were content and patient in that first half
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Ozil’s first touch was a tackle but it was the unpunished dainty and considerate little push (not into a pit!) that drew the ire of the Partdriging Plundits that was definitely the highlight of the match (along with the five goals!).
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Andy: My biggest takeaway from Saturday was how we improved when Ozil took the field. With all due respect to AOC the German was the catalyst to our eventual dominance. For the first time we had someone who could pick a pass and create panic in the Lincoln box. Walcott’s 1st goal was because of a precision pass to Mustafi on which was hooked into the 6 yard box towards Giroud. After ping-balling it was smashed into the back of the net. It was not the 1st or the last of such passes. One minute before that there was a lofted ball to the back post by Ozil which the keeper had to claw out. Unfortunately in a PL match Ozil will never be allowed space and time to make such passes and there is nobody to take up the mantle. In the wake of the post-match euphoria all this seems to have been forgotten.
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You are quite right that Mesut enjoyed a half a second and half a yard more than he will generally ever get in a PL game. Lincoln players are not used to facing opponents who can cut teams open with such a precise pass, and to a player like Sanchez who knows exactly on which blade of grass the ball will land.
However even with less space and time Mesut can still execute a game changing pass or a clever flick to disorient the best defence. He looked fit and ready on Saturday. He has 13 games left until his first holiday in two years. I fancy he wont waste any of them.
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live on Arsenal.com now.
Arsenal FCVerified account @Arsenal 58m58 minutes ago
#AFCU23 team to play @ManCity: Huddart, Jenkinson, Sheaf, Holding, Bramall, Reine-Adelaide, Maitland-Niles, Malen, Nelson, C Willock, Sanogo
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was this Sir Chips very own “thank you for your interest in our business” moment
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15 minutes gone and city take the lead. a very open game.
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why should we expect the mainstream media to be even and balanced in their views on Arsenal FC and in Arsene Wenger, when so many Arsenal blogs, former Arsenal players who are now pundits, and big twitter accounts, the AST and even a fan group that claims it aims is to improve the atmosphere at home games (RedAction), are all so uneven and unbalanced in their anti Arsenal, anti Wenger spewings.
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city 2-0 up
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Ryan @RyanTomes 2m2 minutes ago
I couldn’t give a fucking shit who wins tonight as long as it isn’t United.
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a little bit of wengerball and malen pulls a goal back for arsenal
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HT: Arsenal u23’s 1-2 Man City U23’s
an open game with lots of attacking play from both sides
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2-2 now, reiss nelson
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Penalty to city, Bramhall with a silly challenge
3-2 city
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1886 @1886_blog 28m28 minutes ago
Commentator describing United’s away support as “dedicated”, after they made the long trip from London to London.
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They came by bus – not exactly top top quality but had their ticket punched.
Fancy a dead ball equaliser though – fate!
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in the last minute of stoppage time Carl Jenkinson has made it 3-3 with a fine left foot finish after good work by Nkeitah
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FT: Arsenal u23’s 3-3 Man City u23’s
Malen, Nelson, Jenkinson with our goals
a great game of attacking football, Arsenal getting no more than the deserved with a last minute leveller.
Sheaf, Holding, Maitland-Niles and Willcok the stand out performers for AFC, with Nelson, Malen and Reine-Adelaide also shining bright. Jenkinson found it tough in the first half, but stuck at it, and was the hero in the end. Bramhall kept losing his footing, and it cost us a penalty to city. Sanogo was lively, but was really blowing for last 20 minutes.
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Thanks for the link to that article on Johnny Owen.
Remember The Matchstick Mans sad death well, an incredibly brave fighter up against a bit of a beast. Tragic, but what an excellent article
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The Telegraph claim that Arsenal are searching for a Director of Football, the appointment would be to ease the work load of the manager, and also take some of the work Dick Law currently does.
Robert Pires recently said that he wants to be Arsenal’s Director of Football. The search should be short and sweet.
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That’s about three red cards Granit would have had
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xhaka must wish he played for man utd, he would have no red or yellow cards this season.
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ArsenalAndrew @ArsenalAndrew 14m14 minutes ago
ArsenalAndrew Retweeted Millie
‘Theatrical’ & ‘clever’ are the 2 sanitised words of choice for those desperately trying to avoid saying it how it is.
#simulation
#cheat
Millie @san_kappa
The use of the word ‘theatrical’ is only used for players of teams pundits like. ‘Dive’ for anyone else
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