No Partey among Arsenal’s reasons to be positive…
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Reasons for optimism
I would rather almost anything than watching Arsenal play right now. Willian is completely pointless and is keeping more exciting players (Nelson) out. Xhaka is terrible and by AMN own admission, lacks the athleticism to play at this level. The system is predictable and our world class striker (and most of the players) has lost his mojo.
But, as its Christmas I thought I would dig deep and try and find some positives for us as I don’t see this turning round anytime soon on current evidence but there’s always hope.
*Our only consistently good players are young. Of the current first XI, Gabriel (22), Saka (19) and Tierney (23) are by far the best and are all on nice long contracts
*One of our best wingers last season, Martinelli, is nearly back in business from his long term injury. Something to get excited about
*We have a range of young, exciting talents (AMN, Willock, Smith-Rowe, Nelson, Nketiah, Azeez, Cottrell, Saliba, Patino, and potentially Balogun) coming through the youth team who could all, given the chance, be first team level
*We can still do well in the cup competitions and continue our silverware gathering. We could even win Europa and get champions league football
*Pepe has looked a different player after his red. Is it because of Europa League opposition? We will see
*We are 7 points off the top 4. teams have won the league chasing bigger gaps
*Partey injured hopefully means more of AMN in midfield which could be the making of him hopefully and maybe Arteta’s missing piece
*We literally can’t get any worse…
Rob A, AFC (whatever Arteta thinks is working, surely he can see it isn’t working. Surely?)
Hell’s Bells
Just finishing Winners & Losers (enjoyable as always, thanks). I’m frankly in shock.
‘Hector Bellerin is responsible for 5 of the 16 foul throws in the premier league this season’.
I just can’t quite get over that one. Professional footballer with FIVE foul throws. In ELEVEN games. I mean what a fundamentally damning statistic.
I can forgive the occasional one, or not beating the first man from a corner from time to time.
But that’s criminal. FIVE in ELEVEN. A brief google search reveals he earns £110,000 a week.
Indefensible.
I’m going to need a minute.
Marc
Pogba and Mourinho
Paul Pogba shouldn’t play another game for United. United is too big a club to be held ransom by Mino Raiola; just never work with him again.
Also do you think Mourinho is benefitting from a lack of crowds? Without the supporters urging their team forward or asking them to attack, the players can carry out Jose’s plan.
The assertion that the players would be unhappy playing like that was rebutted with the fact of a 2-0 victory in a Derby but as a United fan who has suffered through Mourinho, these victories are still special when they are against big teams but watching this week in and week out gets dour. Even the Europa League final victory didn’t feel great because it was a “Jose masterclass ” against Ajax.
Having a full stadium would mean fans would start booing and the usual Jose negative spiral would start. Without the fans, that negative atmosphere doesn’t trigger and if the players buy into the philosophy, its Jose all the way but if the fans are back and one of Kane or Son is injured, expect the title talk to go away.
Shehzad Ghias, mufc, Karachi
Liverpool’s best signing
Great letter Mikey, CFC – who is the best at offloading ?
My gut immediately said Liverpool, as their last 5 year record involved a combination of “spit take” fees and a resulting improvement in the LFC squad. Southampton on the other hand were a (dull) CFOs dream – turning base-metals to pure gold, however at the impoverishment of their squad. Then I thought – but does impoverishment matter – if like the ever-dividing brooms in Fantasia, the Saints produce another crop to plunder ?
Hmmn. Tough call. However I was pushed into a marginal decision by the following roll call
Sergi Canos – Norwich – £4.5m (me neither)
Joe “new Pirlo” Allen – Stoke – £13m
Christian Benteke – Palace – £32m
Luis Alberto -Lazio – £7m
Kevin Stewart – Hull – £8m (and Robbo in return !!)
M Sakho – Palace – £26m
Coutinho – Barca – £142m (!)
Danny Ward – Leicester – £12.5m
Solanke – Bournemouth- £19m
Hoever- Wolves – £13m
Rhian Brewster (with first refusal) – Sheffield Utd – £23m
The facts speak for themselves – Michael Edwards was one of LFCs best signings – we’ll forgive you the loss on Markovic !!
Stuart
Taking a knee
Who would have thought that booing a symbolic gesture designed as a protest against racism would cause such trouble? Clearly not millwall fans or the people defending them.
It can only be one of two things –
Either these people are ill educated on this gesture and it’s meaning, in which case you shouldn’t boo it because you don’t understand it and therefore have no right to boo it.
Or you do understand the meaning and are in fact booing the idea of protest against racism.
A bit of history, the image of a black man kneeling began on an 18th century coin (if memory serves) with an inscription regarding racial equality. You might notice this is quite a bit before BLM existed. It was an image that abolishinists often used in promotional material (I believe Lincoln had one of these coins ). This image was used again when MLK took a knee as a peaceful protest against racism during a prayer outside a courthouse (again well before BLM). Now when Kapaernick took a knee this was an outright protest to US racism. Now BLM did exist at this point but had zero history of using this gesture.
So now that you know all that you can see it’s literally impossible for Millwall fans to be booing BLM (unless they want to admit to being dumb morons that have never opened a book or typed in Google ) because that gesture predates BLM by a couple of hundred years.
I’ll you choose for yourself – did you boo it because you’re some of the dumbest uneducated fools in the world? Or did you boo it because you’re racist?
Lee
READ MORE: Millwall muddle shows taking the knee may have run its course
…I was fascinated by the sheer volume of people who responded in the afternoon mailbox to my mail who… didn’t appear to have actually read my mail. I’m not defending racists here. I’m doing the opposite.
Let’s try to make it as clear as possible to the knee-jerkers:
1) BLM is a political organisation. This is a fact. They have raised millions of dollars. They have very clear and defined political objectives, official websites, mouthpieces who speak for them, chapters in various cities, even merchandise. Claiming that there is no organisation or leaders is so laughable I can only assume you haven’t even attempted to inform yourself on the matter of racism and attempts to combat it.
2) BLM is not the same thing as being anti-racism. That’s not me saying that BLM people aren’t anti-racist activists, or wild accusations that they are racists themselves or anything like that. That’s simply me saying that there is a lot more tied up in the BLM movement than just one solitary position on one solitary subject.
3) It is possible to be critical of and even vehemently dislike BLM without being racist. Personally, I would have been a lot more comfortable with BLM as an organisation had all of these people who have been accepting donations, organising the protests, promoting them as a group, etc. come out and in no uncertain terms denounced those individuals who turned peaceful demonstrations into riots, violence and even a few killings. (Honestly, my biggest criticism of them stems from the fact I feel they have made it harder to actually combat racism through their actions! The stats don’t lie: people in America now support BLM less than they did before George Floyd’s death. If you care about combating racism that should make you pause and think.)
4) Because it is possible to criticise BLM without being racist, racists now have cover because anyone with even a shred of intellectual honesty has a far harder time telling them apart from people who just don’t like the actions of the BLM movement when they express criticism for BLM. Genuine grievances are the lifeblood of any bigot, because they allow them to express their bigotry in a manner that hides the real reason for their position. Currently those people who abuse Black people for the colour of their skin are being gifted this. I don’t like that – hence this mail and my last one.
Let’s imagine – for a second – that all the broadcasters had followed the Premier League’s example when they quietly dropped the BLM movement at the end of last season and changed their anti-racism message to ‘No Room for Racism’. Do you think for a second that people would have been as likely to boo? Had Sky, BT et al put the tagline ‘No Room For Racism’ rather than ‘Black Lives Matter’ visibly on everything they cover? Hell, if they had just put ‘Kick It Out’ there? (Even if those people are Millwall fans which – being non-bigots as we all are – we know is only made up of racists.)
I’m literally doing the opposite of defending the racists here: I’m complaining about people making it harder for me to tell who the racists are! I like knowing who the racists are – it means I’m able to spend my time with other people.
Greg, Taunton.
P.S. If you still don’t get it, try reading Johnny Nicholson’s piece. Although I’m more centrist than he is (which I find hilarious because any political test I’ve ever taken puts me on the centre left of what I fondly consider the ‘hippy left’ – or left wing, anti-authoritarian, anti-war… you know stereotypical treehugger stuff) he at least is aware of the muddy waters that now exist that Millwall’s nuanced statement points out, even if he does admit that he just wants to assume the worst of the people involved rather than allow any benefit of the doubt.
Unsung heroes
The topic of unsung heroes once again reared its head in the mailbox, so here’s mine for Liverpool.
Gini Wijnaldum – not the flashiest, but an integral part of the team and club. An ever-present in midfield alongside a rotating cast of partners in recent weeks and thoroughly deserved a smashing goal yesterday for his efforts, though it was typical of the man he dedicated it to his injured mate Virg. One of four players in the leadership group (with captain Henderson, vice-captain Milner and Van Dijk) shows his personality and importance to his team-mates and Klopp alike. A big game player, often saving his best performances and rare goals for the biggest occasions (Barcelona anyone?) he’s also from the Milner school of putting the team first. I can’t think of many other midfielders to have played centre-back and centre-forward (away at Barcelona no less) in the same season. Might not score as many as he does for Netherlands, nor do the flashy work, but his work-rate in closing off passing options and wriggling out of tight situations is absolutely invaluable, and a sign of fantastic technique. There’s a reason he rarely misses a game when fit. I hope to Fowler he signs a new deal (and shame on those fans wishing him away last summer in favour of a shiny new Thiago-shaped trinket), but if he does go then he leaves as a bona fide club legend in my eyes. The modern-day Ronnie Whelan.
An honourable mention for Jordan Henderson, who is vastly under-rated by far too many people.
Jonny (obligatory three paragraphs, yadda yadda yadda) Dance
Harry Kane-d
Hilarious emails from salty fans about Kane. If anything Kane gets dissected way more than other players in the media because he is English, and doesn’t play for Man U or Liverpool.
He has been asked, twice, to explain incidents to tv reporters about ‘dark arts’ including showing him a video replay after the game. Who else has? Players regularly shot by the sniper rifle have not. Who do they play for?
When Man United and Liverpool lose, the winners are mentioned only in passing. Look at who the pundits are! There was an advert for a Liverpool game on Sky last season where the opponents didn’t even feature.
It’s one rule for Sky and BT’s biggest audiences and another for the rest. Added to that the media go for English players in every way possible, build them up and tear them down.
Dave (apologies in advance if this bumps one of the 427 emails about Ole) Winchester Spurs
…I see that fans of certain clubs have found a new pet thing to moan about when it comes to Harry Kane, the latest being his alleged habit of backing into aerial challenges. Let’s ignore the fact that strikers have been doing this since time immemorial, and move onto whether this is the heinous offence it is being made out to be.
The most common line of attack is to point out that challenging someone in the air is banned in rugby, but this isn’t a like for like comparison. In rugby, the challenging player is usually running towards the player in the air. This is not what Kane (or the many other strikers who do the same thing) are doing. Looking at the Lallana one as the most blatant, Kane was right where the ball was going to land, it literally would have hit his head. Lallana came flying in and caused the collision. It’s reckless, and just because you go airborne doesn’t give you carte Blanche to do whatever you want. In rugby, if a player was standing directly under a box kick and another player threw themselves at it from yards away, they wouldn’t receive a penalty and rightly so. In fact, pretty much exactly that happened in the recent wales England game and was not penalised even after review. Strikers (or anyone else) are allowed to be on the pitch, and the player on the ground and the one in the air both have some responsibility for ensuring players are safe. If a player backs in past where the ball is going to land, it should be dangerous play. If they get to where the ball will be first and stay there, the challenging player has to remain in control of their actions. The laws are reasonable, and Kane isn’t breaking them.
Phil, London
What is violent conduct?
It seems Ed may QuoththeRaven, but he’s not so good at quoting the laws of football.
He handily states that violent conduct requires the use or attempted us of “excessive force or brutality”, but doesn’t tell us what part of what Pereira did he considers to fall under that definition?
So prey tell, what exactly was excessive or brutal about the actions of Pereira in his opinion??
From what I saw, a guy who fell on his back and thus naturally had his feet in the air either accidentally caught a player from the opposition with minimal force or was actually bracing for the fact said player may be about to fall on top of him. Neither of those sound or look like “excessive force or brutality” to me…
Just because studs went into a player’s stomach doesn’t in and of itself make it an excessively forceful or brutal act in my eyes; you have to take context into the situation, same as we do with players touching other player’s heads – it is not a case that every action of “raising his hands” should lead to a sending off, despite the oft spouted mantra of lazy pundits!! A ruffling of the opponent’s hair is both a raising of hands and manifestly unexcessive or brutal – so precedent exists context of the action being taken into regard.
Paul (Spurs) T.Wells
Rugby and Redknapp
“That’s a red card in Rugby”
Couple of quick points, as a Spurs fan, agree not overly chuffed with Kane playing for a foul but there’s probably 5 worst fouls a game conducted that will go unnoticed.
But can we please stop the “that’s a red card in rugby” chat? It’s probably a red card in Snooker too, you know, on the basis it’s an entirely different sport with different rules and laws.
Next time Rugby is on, would you turn to a friend and say “not allowed to pick the ball up and run 50 yards down the pitch in football”.
Secondly, not seen much in Mailbox made of Redknapp’s comments along the lines of “Spurs fans can’t be happy with watching this”. Yes Jamie, you’re right. 7 points and 3 consecutive clean sheets against City, Arsenal and Chelsea whilst being top of the league. Awful.
As a United fan wrote in earlier in week, I’d rather watch Ole’s football and lose than Mourinho masterclass and win… (i’m being sarcastic btw, what sort of comment is that?).
Regards
Dip
F365 FEATURE: The ten biggest one-man teams in PL history
Funny old game
I wrote in after the Brighton – Liverpool game to make the point that it was us Liverpool fans feeling hard done by today and it would be someone else tomorrow.
Well ain’t life grand. Having been awarded the softest of penalties against us, Brighton have now been done themselves by the morons in charge of the game in England in their very next match.
At least VAR is consistently crap for everyone I suppose.
Jon Cardy
…There was only one reason the Brighton fans were upset by the VAR decision.
They missed out on the majesty of a Ward Prowse free kick.
Martin (brackets fan) Ansell
Make it simple, stupid
DJ, MUFC raises an interesting point on the application of the rules. I totally agree that if we are making the rules equitable, it would make sense to put sensors along the touchline to flag when the ball crosses it, similar to how goal line technology works.
In my humble opinion, the rules of the game should be kept as simple as possible and promote progressive (I.e. attacking play). If a ball goes out of play due to the swerve of the flight path but returns to the field of play without touching any object (human or otherwise) then wouldnt it be far simpler and less controversial to let play carry on? You could even apply it to corners as well. Surely such a rule is in the spirit of the game?
When it comes to technical aspects of the game, as opposed to safety, then there should be a mentality to reduce stops, checks, reviews and whistle blows as much as possible. Let play go on is the motto.
Are there any other rules that be stripped back to its simplest in order to declutter the game?
Samwise, MUFC
…Is it too simple to suggest a time limit on VAR decisions? The idea is it’s there to correct the ‘clear and obvious’ mistakes. Anything that takes longer than, say, 10 seconds to decide on definitively isn’t clear and/or obvious and therefore the on-field decision stands?
It’s getting to the point where you say, either every decision gets looked at and games take 3 hours to play, or something such as the time limit decision comes into play, with the acceptance that perhaps a fingernail was offside but as it took 14 minutes to be sure then the original decision stands. Maybe not 100% perfect but it’s a subjective game on so many levels, and VAR is slowly killing that.
While I’m writing, can we not just all agree that offsides should be measured by the involved player’s foot which is closest to the goal? Consistent, easy to work out and spares us from all this armpit/arm sleeve bollocks.
Don’t get me started on frames per second and the subsequent inaccuracies of those poxy lines on the screen…
Sorting these issues appears quite simple, no?
Chris, Cardiff
