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 
Paddy PowerVerified account @paddypower 1h1 hour ago
Eden Hazard playing particularly well tonight, just to make 100% sure Mourinho knows that he stopped trying last year because he hates him.
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Pádraig 〽️ @VintageOzil 32m32 minutes ago
Bellerín & Oxlade-Chamberlain both taking time out to watch the Arsenal U23s game but the media thinks they’ll leave. They love Arsenal.
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so by time the semi finals are played it could very well be the top 4 in the league, but the media and idiots like the phone tapper say the big clubs don’t take the FA Cup seriously
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Ryan @RyanTomes 1m1 minute ago
I wanna hear the pundits go after Pogba here, sadly that won’t happen.
there will be no stealing a living articles for him
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Jose may be correct about needing another £300 million to get into the CL places – all a bit shambolic at the Bridge. I fancy Chelsea in the semi final – they look ripe for picking.
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FA Cup Semi Final Draw
Chelsea v Spurs
Arsenal v Man City
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According to the MSM, Wenger is reinventing himself, whatever that means.
And, we play city in the semis
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Bring on the Oilers !!
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Mandy, last week in an interview Wenger said it was part of his job to reinvent himself.
I suppose he means develop himself, and update his skills etc. Like how he now used Data massively
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afcstuff @afcstuff 1h1 hour ago
Photo: Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis in attendance at the Emirates tonight. #afc
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Paddy @VieiraPaddy 48m48 minutes ago
Mourinho is so weird
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Joe Mardon @TheArsenal_ 1h1 hour ago
Will they still show the semi’s on the telly even though United aren’t involved ?
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We have City, who can blow either hot or cold,
and Chelsea will do over the Spuds.
Shame, i’d have loved to have seen Big Weng do one on Jose’s team in Wembley.
If Arsene wins the Cup again, no one can claim it was easy.
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Well, as long as it doesn’t mean Wenger reinventing himself into the bus parking long ball, counter attacking shit kicking merchant the MSM/WOB want him to be…..not that’s very likely.
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While describing the team performance as “outstanding” Adrian Clarke in “The Breakdown” made special mention of Mesut Ozil’s influence as part of a midfield-three in the Lincoln City game. Begs the question: How important is a playmaker in a possession-oriented team?
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170313/the-breakdown-lincoln-h-
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Shotta, the playmakers are the keys in a possession oriented team, and a playmaker like Santi , in a deeper position is vital. Great teams have more than one playmaker,
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Thanks PG. If PL teams are going to aggressively deny Ozil th ball, in the absence of Santi, how does AFC compensate?
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We compete at a lower level. Its that simple.
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I would say we seen how Arsenal intend to compensate v Lincoln on Saturday, Ramsey’s runs into the box, means the hard press can’t be applied easily on Ozil and Xhaka, as Rambo has to be covered, and with our fullbacks in full attacking flow, and both alexis and giroud already up there, opponents midfield have to drop deeper to protect.
of course that was only v lincoln, and we will have to see if the principle works v bigger and better teams.
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not two fucks do Arsenal care, ha ha ha
afcstuff @afcstuff
Official: Arsenal will play Bayern Munich in a pre-season friendly in Shanghai, China on Wednesday 19 July. #afc
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I love that Bayern Munich play plan… hopefully the refs will not be fraudulent since it is a friendly.
AW should stick to what he knows and not listen to the whiners… we the silent majority love him just fine…
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no doubt Santi and Rambo have been missed. they have been out for a while… the team will pick up tempo as the wounded hopefully come back,
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I intend to blog on this sometime in the future but I have data showing that AFC this season is the joint 3rd best team in the PL in terms of possession. This is contrary to the conventional wisdom of journos, pundits, bloggers and their ilk who claim we are Barcelona-lite. Yup. Other teams in the PL have caught up and surpass us.
Again the data that suggests we need to strengthen in the quality of our midfielders. Unfortunately several people on this blog get a hissy fit suggesting this is evidence of being negative and pissing on the squad. My view is if we don’t do an objective analysis of the players Arsene has to work with then we fall for the negative nonsense of James Olley and his cohorts (whose names will go unmentioned).
This is the “inconvenient truth” about data; it is unemotional, it carries no bias, no headlines but the reality is there if you care to see.
PS: George is right; we are now competing at a secondary level.
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Anicoll
You ever read the book The Football Man by Arthur Hopcraft? Read it a few years back and it was very good. Think most of the material was originally journalism. May well have been before your time and was well before mine but that guy could write.
He wrote some acclaimed adaptations for television,too. Dickens and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I’m not sure the current bunch could write an episode of Teletubbies.
As for everyone being the same- absolutely. There’s a few rare exceptions (guy who stuck it to Barca last week, for instance), which always come as a big shock when it should be quite normal, but even they I suspect are subject to some mental or editorial constraints.
I thought that second leg with Bayern emphatically showed how extremely limited and inaccurate journalism now is. The story, unanimously, was that we ‘gave up’ in disgraceful fashion. Nothing of the sort happened.
Instead, we strained every sinew and took the remarkably unusual step of still making serious efforts, backed with numbers, to score, while 6-2 or more down, with a man less against a ruthless top class Bayern side.
I didn’t agree with it personally, as I felt that meant at each stage they were more likely to score again than us, and very likely to score…and I felt when we couldn’t win we’d be better giving everything to try keep the score down, mostly because I knew the media and many fans would feast on every extra goal conceded. I’m a lot more conservative and conflicted, at heart, than Wenger when it comes to football, is also the truth of it
The point is, we absolutely didn’t give up and we in fact presented them with a great opportunity to discuss whether a team should chase an absolute miracle, million-to-one shot, or accept defeat, with zero possibility of victory, and focus on trying to make that defeat less resounding.
Wenger obliged by giving them a firm set of numbers to work with. Before the game he said it was a 1-2 per cent chance; after the sending off, a million to one. He went for that where perhaps no other manager in world football would.
So there was this chance for them to discuss something real- positivity against negativity, optimism against pragmatism; image consciousness versus not giving a flying fuck about anything apart from what you think is right; common perceptions versus reality; the difference between 6-2, 7-2, 10-2; how does the decision we made in that specific game scenario relate to our wider approach, if at all? etc.
You could write something about the whole sport with that, while also having plenty to say about us specifically. But instead, to a person, they went with the abundantly false narrative that we gave up and stopped trying. With many not even emphasising the effect of the sending off on the game.
Why it has to be like that I haven’t a clue? Though I haven’t read Wenger’s comments about ‘brainwashing’, my guess is that they relate to this false story presented about the Bayern game, and perhaps the way some fans buy into it.
I see no excuse for them doing so, for not seeing that we didn’t give up disgracefully,etc, but it’s a strange/funny old game/world
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shotta
I happen to agree with you that we need to upgrade in our quality. I happen to think that the transfer market is not the only, and sometimes not the best way to do it. But in this case, provided we are able to find and procure suitable candidates, I think we must.
However, we are likely to have a squad already stocked with 25 players (or more) next season, as Bellerin and Holding both need to be registered next year, as well as Chambers (if he returns)
So any additions will mean someone needs to go. Just something to keep in mind.
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just look at ribery, robben, alonso and martinez valuations
judging a squad purely by ‘market value’ is a sure way to admit lack of education
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I had not read it Rich but as it is only 256 pages and a snip at £6.17 on Amazon I have collected a copy.
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Anicoll
Good stuff. Let me know what you think.
My memories bad but I remember a good bit on George Best, an eye watering account of a Sheffield Wed player who got a terrible injury when treatment was shoddy, and some entertaining stuff on refs (though unfortunately for me nothing usable in my quest against em )
Memories returning, that might be structure of it : fans, players, media, managers, chairmen, refs. Whole caboodle but not in that order.
Also think there might be an excellent little piece on Arsenal in there.
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See that PSG have put in a formal complaint over the shocking refereeing at Barca.
An interesting precedent…..are you taking note Mr Gazidis
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Reports saying first team coach Primorac leaving…not sure how reliable, but he and Wenger have been inseparable for years.
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Ben DinneryVerified account @BenDinnery 13m13 minutes ago
Danny Welbeck, Mo Elneny and David Ospina have all returned to full training and the trio could make the squad to face WBA on Saturday
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so Everton have been saying for weeks that a new contract agreement with Lukaku was 99.9% done, and now its being reported that Lukaku says he will not sign a new contract and all contract talks are off.
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Turkish Football @Turkish_Futbol1
Reports in Turkey claim Boro Primorac is set to takeover Konyaspor at the end of the season which would end over 20 years of being Wenger’s man
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If that Primorac stuff is true…..well…..ok, stopping myself reading anything too much into that……though him and Wenger have been in cahoots for a very long time, through good times and bad…. maybe, like Jonkers he just wants to manage a team in his own right.
But it does feel like there is change in the air….just how much remains to be seen.
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this article has not gone down well with the WOB
http://www.thenonleaguefootballpaper.com/latest-news/conference-premier-step-one/18610/david-preece-its-time-for-a-reality-check-protestors-have-no-grasp-of-failure/
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If things stay the same, Leicester City will again become a stick to beat Wenger with.
Does help when you don’t draw Bayern/Barca so often though
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No worries, Shotta, no more “hissy fits” from me. Knock yourself out.
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Strange, in their rush to use Leicester As a stick to beat Arsenal, the usual suspects have forgotten that There is an English team who have done worse than Arsenal in the Champions League this year, a team most of them seem quite fond of.
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When Leicester get into the quarter finals by beating the referee-assisted Bayern and Barca teams we have faced with some key players missing through injury or dodgy red cards, then they might have something worth talking about.
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Well, well, well. The knives are out. Do people think that getting angry at data that doesn’t fit a personal narrative will help our understanding of the challenges facing Arsenal Football Club?
Do we at PA not understand that the fake news media and their blog cousins would like to smash Wenger’s legacy? I wrote 4 months ago they would demand a WEXIT. Wasn’t that the slogan at Saturday’s poor ass demonstration?
Why do they want to remove Wenger? Not because he is competitive with the resources he has at his disposal or else they would praise him for hanging-in there without Santi. No they want him out because they hope another manager will turn AFC into another United, City or Chelsea; clubs who have sold out for the money at the expense of their English soul, their traditions, their links to the community. First it is the manager, next the owner. They hope if the owner decides he can’t compete on a self-sustaining basis then he may be forced to sell up to the highest bidder. In the present climate AFC would likely fall in the hands of Chinese. They have the capital and are buying clubs. Just surf the net to confirm. Is that what we want?
I will be blunt as is my nature. Throwing a fit and trying to undermine credible unbiased data is not carrying us forward. It may lose me a couple of followers on twitter but popularity was never my goal. Revealing the truth from the data is my ambition. It makes us stronger in the fight vs the John Olley’s of the mainstream media, his blogging cousins and that ignorant band of malcontents who have been trying to get our greatest ever manager fired. If that means I am not a cheerleader for someone’s favorite player then so be it.
At different times I was guilty, like many, of simply being a cheerleader for Henry, Vierra, Fabregas, Nasri and Van Persie. Fat lot of good that did for us when those characters up sticks and left the club or had to be sold. A word to the wise.
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“The concept of Arsenal is different to other clubs in the prem”
Wrote the football player.
A sentence that provides anyone reading more information and insight then from any of these gallant and selfless podcastateers and bloggeristas. Nervermind the plundits.
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It was a compatriot of Shotta who used the term “RICO enterprise” to describe the preferred business model of FUFA/UEFA/FA.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2017/mar/14/david-squires-on-fa-cup-quarter-finals
the Wexit bus based upon the infamous Brexit bus made me laugh.
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Emma Pooley on Sir Dave Brailsford and British Cycling:
“A fish rots from its head”
“It doesn’t mean that everyone in British Cycling is flawed like that. I’m sure some of them would have liked to have done things differently, but were fearful of doing so.”
https://mobile.twitter.com/VeloSister/status/841545238724378624
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While we are in the Leicester media agenda, news report on Absolute Radio this am reported that ‘Former Arsenal Player Samir Nasri’ was sent off on the second half. FFS
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The Arsesphere is quiet today, no outrages committed in the civil war by either side apparently?
I expect George will stir up a little action later.
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No sooner said than done. I had a dig at the famous back five, it worked a treat. I’ve still got it.
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Hi Anicoll,
There is no place in the Arsesphere for the likes of moi.
Bored and sickened, yet firmly stuck between the relentless sharp speared attacks on AW, and the club on the one side, and the puritanical, quasi-religious, supposedly data driven, non-questioning obeisance of the distaff side.
Inside the kernel of the disparate tranches there are good, decent, worthwhile individuals – such as your good self – [tho you will no doubt wish I had not said that – so sorry] – those who make conversing worthwhile – I enjoy chatting to you – [after all – the middle-ground ‘nobodies’ are also entitled to say ‘Yes, but – No but ….. both sides are talking bollocks, your majesty, and marmalade is tasty very thinly spread!”
[For my fellow yankee doodles, ‘marmalade’ is a type of jam/jello made with the peel of orange citrus fruit]. lol
OK — as the Brits say — I’ll get me coat!! lol
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“the puritanical, quasi-religious, supposedly data driven, non-questioning obeisance of the distaff side.”
Where are these deluded fuckers. we could do with a few here.
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It’s football h – it is – in spite of the existential, I’m-peering-over-the-edge-of-the-abyss bollocks – entertainment.
Call me entirely selfish but I saw some sweet skilful football on Saturday. The opposition put their 100% into the game. That is football.
The rest is background noise. If your tied into the nonsense then disengage. ( banned winkey thing)
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