It’s hard being a contrarian on Arsenal Twitter these days. Like any strict, self-regulated community, there is a stridency among a majority of posters that demands and enforces conformity. It punishes dissent via the block, unfollow and mute buttons for committing any of the following heresies:
- Not vocally supporting the new manager
- Criticizing any of the mooted new signings
Instead of summer hostilities between the former WOBs and AKBs, which usually reach boiling point during transfer season, both sides for their own reasons are currently wishing and hoping for the new manager, Unai Emery, to succeed, bigly. Obviously the ex-WOBs are delighted that their bête noir, the cheapskate, deluded, out of touch, omnipotent (choose your epithet) Arsene Wenger is now gone. Should Emery succeed, it will be a ringing endorsement of their long-held claim that the club was being held back by the former manager.
On the other hand, it seems to me, the so-called AKBs are on the defensive, not wanting to be seen as mindless acolytes of the old gaffer, fearing they will give credence to the years of repeated taunts by the anti-Wenger crowd that they support Arsene FC rather than Arsenal FC. They too are just as wishful and hopeful that the new manager, who seems to be as modern and progressive as the old, will be able to overcome all the external and internal obstacles that held the club back.
WOBs, AKBs and the Middle-Of-the-Roaders
Strange and as incongruous as it may seem, former WOBs and AKBs are now locked together, singing the same tune; leave Emery alone and he will succeed.
Let us not fool ourselves. While there appears to be two extremist camps in the Arsenal fanbase, there is definitely a large, if not larger, middle-of-the-road contingent which often takes one side or the other depending on results. It wasn’t that long ago, for example, we had the experience on the opening day of a new season at the Arsenal stadium, with the transfer window still open, that a majority were in uproar demanding the club spend some “facking” money as the club was losing to Aston Villa. The fact that Arsenal eventually came 3rd or 4th that year, qualifying for the Champion’s League, at a time when it was still struggling under the stadium-related austerity, stands in sharp contrast to the £200 million spent on transfers these past two years while coming 5th and lately 6th in the Premier League.
So conventional thinking has concluded that leaving Emery alone, rather than the relentless attention to the every move and statement made by Arsene Wenger, is now a guarantor of success. The underlying assumption is the belief that the Wenger years, particularly the most recent, were a failure which Emery must avoid. The problem is this hypothesis is not fully supported by the facts.
Note the “unbiased data”, on which we should rely, is diligently avoided by the mainstream media and most of its cohorts on twitter and in the blogsphere, who are now bloviating with optimism and goodwill towards Emery.
Take a gander, below, on some key performance metrics for the last 11 years of the Wenger era.
| Year | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GF | GA | Win % | Loss % |
| 07/08 | 58 | 36 | 15 | 7 | 113 | 52 | 62.1% | 12% |
| 08/09 | 61 | 33 | 16 | 12 | 113 | 55 | 54.1% | 20% |
| 09/10 | 55 | 33 | 8 | 14 | 116 | 63 | 60.0% | 25% |
| 10/11 | 58 | 31 | 13 | 14 | 113 | 55 | 53.5% | 24% |
| 11/12 | 54 | 31 | 9 | 14 | 96 | 67 | 57.4% | 26% |
| 12/13 | 53 | 29 | 12 | 12 | 105 | 60 | 54.7% | 23% |
| 13/14 | 56 | 37 | 8 | 11 | 99 | 57 | 66.1% | 20% |
| 14/15 | 56 | 35 | 11 | 10 | 109 | 53 | 62.5% | 18% |
| 15/16 | 54 | 28 | 12 | 14 | 91 | 59 | 51.9% | 26% |
| 16/17 | 55 | 35 | 8 | 12 | 121 | 65 | 63.4% | 22% |
| 17/18 | 57 | 30 | 10 | 17 | 108 | 70 | 52.6% | 30% |
| Mean | 56 | 33 | 11 | 12 | 108 | 60 | 58.0% | 22% |
Main points:
- Wenger achieved an average win percentage of 58% across all competitions never falling below 51.9% and going as high as 66.1%.
- 52% was good enough to qualify for the champions league up to 15/16. But in 16-17 a 63.4% win rate and a FA cup was apparently not good enough for some in the club hierarchy as evident in Wenger’s 2-year contract, which in retrospect was putting him on notice.
- In 17-18, the win percentage was 52.6, not the lowest historically, but it was marked by the highest ever GA, a total of 70, compared to an average of 60 GA over the 11-year period.
- Wenger’s loss percentage while averaging 22% increased by a dramatic 8 percentage points between 16-17 and 17-18 coinciding with the highest ever GA of 70 in the latter year.
The GA seems to be the key. As Finsbury, a long-standing and frequent contributor to Positively Arsenal has repeatedly argued, Wenger’s biggest challenge in 17/18 was maintaining or recreating the defensive stability he had achieved during the four year reign of Mertsacker-Koscielny, which was one of the premier central defensive partnerships in club football. The 2016-17 season-long loss of the BFG and his subsequent relegation in 17-18 to a mere squad player combined with Koscielny’s well publicized chronic Achilles injury coincided with a growth in GAs from 59 in 15-16 to an unheard of 70 last season and the dramatic increase in losses from the average of 22% to 30% over the last two seasons.
Based on the facts as presented, surely it is reasonable and necessary for us to ask Mr. Gazidis and his rising number of busy-bodies (Mislintat, Sanllehi and a Marcel Lucassen who is to become Director of Football Operations on August 1st) the following questions:
- How will the signing of Lichsteiner, a 34 year-old injury-prone right back, improve and stabilize Arsenal’s central defensive partnership?
- In a world where a Virgil Van Dijk costs £70 million, how do Arsenal plan to replace the retired Mertsacker and an ageing injury-prone Koscielny?
At a time when mainstream media, Twitter, Facebook and Google are doing their best to censor and block non-conforming points of view, it is frightening the level to which Arsenal-twitter has engaged in self-censorship to not rock the boat during this transition to new management. Apparently Ivan and his team are now omniscient and omnipotent. They have free reign, without any challenge by fans, to give Emery any players they deem necessary, because, to paraphrase managerial genius Tony Adams, coaching is over-rated, what matters is the director of football and those who do player recruitment.
So “keep schtum”. Don’t rock the boat. It will all work out in the end. Hmm.
Positively Arsenal 
Arsenal’s first year scholars started full time training yesterday, and some older players came back today, including 2 of our keepers, Emmi Martinez and Matt Macey
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Josh daSilva back in training too, which hopefully means he has signed his new contract.
Stephy Mavididi back too, and he has been given no.46 for this season.
Kelechi Nwakali in training too, but its not clear if he will get a work permit this summer, its likely he will go out on loan again, probably to Holland again. He did play and score for Nigeria in a friendly v Atletico Madrid earlier this summer, but he is likely to need to be a regular in the Nigeria squad before he will be awarded a work permit
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no word yet on exciting goalkeeping prospect Arthur Okonkwo, AFC offered him a scholarship but several other clubs have tried to poach him from us and it was reported that some of the offers put to him were much bigger than what AFC have offereed him.
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Brazil staying with two CMs.
Coutinho in the Ozil role?
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Probably a foul and a dive against Neymar Jr
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Rich
June 21, 2018 at 11:17 pm
So true in all respects!
Explains why AW always had an eye for a midfielder in his day.
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Brilliant game
Brazil was frustrated ,but stayed believing in their supieror quality and showed patience
Costa Rica was obdurate and tenacious
The big players decided the game in the big moments
Classic World Cup football
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I fuckin love VAR. It evens the teams out a bit and minimise players being “smart and clever”, also show few up for their embarrassing antics. Not making it so easy for refs to put their “game management” skills on display either.
Now why wouldn’t anybody be pro VAR, even if it is still beta?
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Some unseemly scenes in this game. This has to be the weakest referee I’ve seen so far, he let a bit too much go and should really have dished out a few more cards
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Some drama in that game.
Ref went from hero (strong reluctance to reward players, Neymar especially, for theatrical falls) to villain to absolute hero for me real quick, with a little help from his friends, on the pen.
As if to illustrate football really isn’t a place for good guys, soon after there was some ridiculous double-rolling around from Costa Rica. One guy got a clump on head but the other put in some diabolical theatrics after a gentle hand in face.
But the drama! Rest of game wasn’t bad at all on that front but it went into overdrive in last part after pen.
A deserved win for Brazil, on play, chances, intent. There’s only so much you can do against a team that organised and determined in defence, and Brazil did nearly all of it well: variation, skill, creativity, numbers, speeding game up. Brought a few very good chances and a number more nearly moments.
P.S I might apply to join Anicol in the RDL (Refs’ Defence League) * after the last couple of games and world cup generally. What a hard job, which they often do well at under immense pressure and with players generally doing anything they can, whenever they remember to, or instinctively, to make their life harder.
*Until prem begins again, anyway
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Fantastic goal for Nigeria
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This game is on fire!
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Having been a vocal supporter of VARs, not being a fan of one or two on the roster, whilst appreciating the friendly mr.friend etc repetively so, just to be clear in case anyone gets confuse befuddled and lost in their own objections to critique:
that does not mean one cannot be critical of the unprofessional method of the pgMOB who if hey get the same statiscal improvement to their decisions as the current FIFA refs with this Noel of VARs, then that would take them above 100%.
Unless you all agree you feel the need to censor such comments and data?
RDL
EDL
Has a nice ring to it?
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Gylfi Sigurdsson missed his pen!
Any player stepping up to take a penalty in the WC also deserve some respect, same as any player / manager / refs etc.
I always thought that such simple straightforward hard to misunderstand common sense was widely accepted and understood on this forum, I apologise for being mistaken.
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I just can’t help but love
Granit Xhaka
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FIFA World Cup
🏆
Verified account @FIFAWorldCup
55m55 minutes ago
Granit Xhaka is the only player who’s surname begins with an “X” to score at a #WorldCup
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Woof. Loved that last game.
One of first this world cup where I spent hardly any time thinking about limitations of one or both teams in a match.
Evenly balanced teams, quality in each side, points situation beforehand just about perfect to encourage a good game.
Pretty sure vast majority of games so far have been match-ups where one team is significantly ‘bigger’ than the other, which largely justifies one team being cautious or going bus or thereabouts.
Croatia Argentina one exception I can think of, though that one didn’t pan out like tonight’s.
Just loved it. The ebb and flow, the way the Swiss pushed themesleves second half and were playing at near their maximum potential to get the equaliser.
The great tension and balance in game thereafter, with both sides having spells in the ascendancy, both calculating at all times the various permutations of different results, and both deciding that while a draw wouldn’t be deadly (Swiss) or would be quite decent (Serb), a win would be much better (Serb) or a hell of a lot better (Swiss) and playing accordingly.
Ha, and don’t get me started on how I love ole Xhaka and how happy that goal made me.
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Ok, on Xhaka. Had a very good game (one big thing is that he is always willing to turn a 2/10 difficulty level pass into a 5-or 6- /10 by doing it with a bit of extra speed; Swiss team rely heavily on him for it and it can be vital in a game; he also selects well when and where to try harder passes altogether), and I’m afraid any blind viewer reliant on Kilbane commentary would have no clue about it and would think he was poor with one good strike of ball.
I’ve no reason to suspect Kilbane has the sort of antipathy towards Arsenal players some pundits have, but i have to think the endless knocking of the player has firmly got into the man’s head.
The slightest mistake was almost guaranteed to be mentioned; not a single one of the countless sound, good or very good passes were. In this way countless schlubs have been influenced into thinking Xhaka is a poor, unreliable footballer, including, it seems, Kilbane. *
Seems far fetched, for an ex-pro and now pro-pundit, but it’s hard to explain otherwise. If the good stuff is near invisible unless the ball ends in the net, and the bad stuff looms gigantic to you, yep, a good footballer can presumably look a bad one to you.
Meanwhile, the rest can enjoy a very good footballer.
*In part, I believe that’s just how it works when you have ‘decided’ on a player. So it could be I’m the polar opposite of Kilbane on Xhaka- looking to play down or minimise any error; talk up every good thing.
But no, in this case, I’m bloody confident he’s a cracking player and we are lucky to have him.
Think of the dozens of times you’ve watched an England held back by inhibited midfield play, everyone scared to make a mistake, taking extra time and touches before painstakingly playing a safe pass in a non dangerous area to a teammate who will likely do the same. Wasted time. Or then desperately trying to do better than that but promptly losing the ball. No flow. No ability to up the tempo and push it when chips are down.
Maybe this is the tournament they find a way around that, or maybe Henderson or Dier (both good players, effective in the right conditions, but…) can pass and play it like Xhaka. We’ll see.
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I only managed to see the first half, so thanks for the update Rich. I’m really glad to hear that Xhaka scored the winner
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Xhaka got equaliser, passenal, but played a nice, typically bold pass at start of move for late winner.
Gotta be honest, I’m not sure at this point how good the first half was, so swept up was i with second.
Definitely decent, I think, but also little doubt second was better by considerable distance, so a shame you missed out on it.
Our other man Lichtsteiner nearly blew the good work, mind. He and another defender took desperate measures on the near unstoppable (in air) Mitrovic by clamping themselves around him in pretty bizarre fashion as cross came in. Crazy move in VAR age, but somehow got away with it.
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Whoops, not the winner, but the important equaliser!
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Is that celebration new, Ed?
Ah, question answered- googled it and as suspected it has something to do with players’ backgrounds in Kosovo/Albania and therefor might lead to a fine, apparently.
My geopolitical knowledge is ropey, but I’m guessing game may have meant a hell of a lot to Xhaka, then?
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No great fan of Fifas tournament these days , but always glad when out players do well, nice one Xhaka, a player who is growing into something special me thinks
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Rich
June 22, 2018 at 11:42 pm
Kilblaine could not see a pass as a player
Could not see one good pass from Xhaka
His mind was made up before a ball was kicked ,Xhaka always get sent off.
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Wwwb
Yeah, can’t remember much about Kilbane the player but no way was he a patch on Xhaka.
As well as infuriating me, think I may have found it useful as a true example of confirmation bias (?) in action.
As you say, his mind was made up before, and it was a serious case. Said nothing when Xhaka’s passing was instrumental in Swiss upping things start of second half, but then first misplaced pass he’s on about him being ‘loose’ with his passing again.
It’s been a world cup with a hell of a lot of safe, careful passing whenever there is a threat of losing the ball dangerously, with a lot of teams very reluctant and presumably thoroughly drilled to look for low risk or no risk options in own half and just beyond. Understandable and effective, up to a point, but it puts a pretty big limitation on a team.
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Kilbane was a good whole hearted player but in a very different position. He could never play either of Xhaka’s roles and therein lies the problem, not only misunderstanding of position but also a different type of football.
That’s one of the problems with getting players from a different era to comment on games they become dinosaurs very quickly an often forget the limitations to their own abilities.
It’s like Bullard or the Welsh bloke with blond locks, both average players who would never make it at big clubs thinking they were good.
Most pundits and journos commentate with their egos rather than humility.
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Some great comments on here. As an unapologetic advocate of VAR, I can agree that it is not perfect but in my opinion, for those who seek more fairness and accuracy in refereeing decisions especially on penalties and offsides, it is a revolutionary improvement on what currently exists especially by the PGMO.
One think I observed which is very concerning; if the referee makes no penalty call on a clear, unquestionable foul in the box such as Lichsteiner’s and his co-defenders double rugby tackle on Mitrovic, the VAR team does not intervene. This is a big loophole for the crooks in the game. Some of you may recall my concern that the PGMO and the PL are delaying VAR so they can figure how to reduce its effectiveness. Clearly my concern is well-founded unless you believe the PGMO has no bias and is doing the best job possible under adverse circumstances. Any amateur student of history would have learned; every revolution is followed by a counter revolution by those who have lost power. Like it or not some counter-revolutions are successful.
Meanwhile, over on Twitter, as I promote my data on Penaties-Against there is the predictable reaction. One defender of the status quo is making a major effort to undermine my findings, questioning the use of percentages to highlight a trend of an inordinate increase of penalties-against Arsenal. Apparently if I am not validated by the mainstream media, which has a vested, material interest in selling the integrity of the PL to the worldwide public, then something must be wrong with actual data. Once again we are learning from first hand experience that facts don’t matter to those who have an agenda and a narrative.
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Testing
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Eddy – June 23, 2018 at 12:08 am: That hand signage by Xhaka and Shaqiri is a political statement of their support for Kosovo. For those who may have forgotten; western countries led by America and NATO supported the Kosovars in their civil war vs Serbia and recognized their unilateral referendum making Kosovo a separate country, something which is illegal by international law. I noticed the English press was quick to say it was a victory for Switzerland and Kosovo. So much for keeping politics out of football.
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Brilliant news from the academy with Arthur Okonkwo signing a new deal at ARSENAL after being offered more money at several other clubs. Many thought he would go elsewhere so this a great deal that he has stayed on.
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great news Ian, oddly enough that means this season’s first year scholar intake has, unusually, 3 goal keepers
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Unless he’s injured I think it’s foolish of Germany to drop Mesut, how is he at fault for his team mates not scoring from the chances he created in the last game?
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And the very VAR point you made (among significantly many) has been shown in this match where German defenders bundled over a Swedish attacker as though he was an Arsenal player. VAR saw it but didn’t tell the ref to give it. Why oh why oh why…. smiley
Tell it Shotta.
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Ozil been invisible for Germany so far this game
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I’m sure they’ll find a way to make this Ozil’s fault eduardo!
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Germany’s problem is that since the last world cup they have lost a colossus in defence in the form of the BFG and just do not have a good enough set-up at the back. I’ll be very surprised if they find a way out this this one
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That 2nd yellow seemed harsh when you consider what Argentina and Uruguay have got away with
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****ing hell…
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My only pleasure in this result is that Larsson will be disappointed. Not nearly as disappointed as I am about his kicking the shit out of Arsenal players throughout his non Arsenal career.
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Germans
Fokker Fighters
Last minute
Bomb!
Our chip shop
Need I say more?
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I cannot believe my eyes! I never thought they could do it. The Swedes must be absolutely gutted!
What a day of football though. All 3 games today were very entertaining and full of skill and drama.
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Nat. Football Museum
Verified account @FootballMuseum
Many happy returns to @OfficialVieira. The midfield powerhouse behind @Arsenal’s invincibles, and a @FIFAWorldCup winner to boot. #NFMHallOfFame 🏆
http://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/halloffame/patrick-vieira …
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I must say Julian Brandt has hit two of the best shots I have seen technically, with little or no chance to prepare for taking the shot when he recieved the ball.
That is a rare talent.
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World cup delivering with the drama once more. To hit that shot so perfectly in the dying seconds with near certain elimination after 2 games- for Germany, this Germany- beckoning….unbelievable.
Decent day, I thought, for Ozil’s chances of reclaiming his place. Absence made no difference to their defending and there was a long crucial period near end when they weren’t circulating ball as well nor looking as dangerous as in similar stages vs Mexico. Chance creation maybe close overall, in fairness.
Agree on the strikes Wwwb. Both stunning.
No doubt for me that a good match ball can make a huge difference and it seems this one is very good. From Russia’s finishes first day, Isco’s scorcher off woodwork second, the free kicks, Xhaka, that sensational Shaquiri effort yesterday, even Musa’s close range half volley- seems clear it is a great ball to strike.
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When we were Boring
June 17, 2018 at 4:15 pm
I’m Toni ‘Fucking’ Kroos!
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Pretty disappointed with how VAR process worked for the potential Swedish pen and red vs Germany.
Watching live, I thought I saw a push. Don’t know, of course, what ref saw, and didn’t note his angle, but i can understand how hard * it would be to give a pen and a red at that moment, and that a ref shouldn’t unless he feels very confident in the decision.
But then they look upstairs. For me the replays showed it was a foul, with an un-balancing push and a leg coming across the player. Was it absolutely 100% clear that it was a pen? Maybe not, because, I believe, not every touch in back like that has to be penalised by the letter of law, and certainly plenty of pushes or touches don’t yield pens.
Was there enough there to say ‘you really should look at this one again- it looks like a pen; there is a touch in the back; it’s very close, etc’- surely yes.
I’d nearly convinced myself that a large part of the rationale for VAR was to give refs a chance, via the monitor and after VAR team had seen it, the chance to look again at big incidents, with the benefit of a replay or replays ,which may provide a better angle than he had first time, and which give him the precious extra time to think it over.
Alas, we don’t know if the VAR team, led by the impressive French ref Turpin, wholly made the decision it didn’t deserve that pitch-side look, or if it was the referee who drove the decision not to look again, either by being adamant in his dialogue with them he was sure of his call, or by actually rejecting a recommendation to look again.
That was the grim little discovery I made afterwards. A ref apparently has the option to turn down the VAR recommendation to look at it again on the monitors. That is really not what I want in the prem. We wouldn’t even know when it happened either.
*obviously it ,ideally, wouldn’t be harder to give that call against Germany ten mins in than it would at other end of pitch or,say, in a friendly between the teams, or in a game between,say, South korea and Australia, but when it’s Germany, one of the largest football nations, and you would be delivering a hammer blow to their world cup chances 10 mins into their second game at world cup, I’d say that psychologically that is clearly a tougher call to make than elsewhere.
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I would just like to say in this cynical world please don’t be glass half empty with VAR
I was a sceptic
Mainly I am concerned on how it is implimented
So far it has been positive
I await for the review report and check in with other sites who normally run balanced assements then check in with the ‘Wild-bunch’ on both sides , then see how the authorities take it forward.
I am hopeful in fact, that as the improvements in VAR continue it will expose the Pgml (or whatever they are called) and force them into correct practise .
I a sceptic am hoping for success
Cheers
yours faithfully
Glass Half Full
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Rich
June 23, 2018 at 10:15 pm
About the match ball
That is a brilliant shout
The ball seems to be compliant , it seems like a ball that is used more by players in the German and Spanish leagues as they are the players that seem to be hitting it best.
I suspect it is the ball (type) that was being used in the Russian league this year, it is something I have sitting in my ear.
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WwwB
I saved up as a kid two months pocket money for the Italia 90 match ball. Not replica but real thing. Only time I ever forked out for one of those.
Probably best purchase I ever made as a kid. Really was beautiful and a cut above anything I’d known. Lasted years of heavy use in the park.
Odd postscript but years later saw a segment of players complaining about poor matchballs and pretty sure i saw Chris Waddle saying he didn’t like the 90 ball. The swine.
Couldn’t believe it, given my memories and the fact Waddle hit an unbelievably nice lofted effort from miles out that tournament, semi against Germany I’m pretty sure, which hit bar.
2.40 onwards on clip
Watcha talking bout, Chris- it was a beauty I tell you.
Maybe he blamed it for the pen.
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