DEFENDING THE BOYS
WHY ADDRESSING REALITY AND OWNING THE TRUE NARRATIVE IS A SMART PR MOVE
Mikel Arteta doubled down on our Champions League credentials again and it’s made the media—and some fans—angry.
‘IT’S JUST EXCUSES’
I really can’t stand this way of looking at managerial commentary, like the only acceptable analysis after a loss is ‘the boys were shit, total reboot needed.’
That’s not how you deal with problems in the real world. To get to the truth, you need to analyse how you landed there.
PSG didn’t create better chances than Arsenal. They didn’t defend our quality of chances better. They didn’t press better than Arsenal.
They had X Factor on the night—and that came in the form of an inspired keeper and some players scoring highly improbable chances.
That’s the game, people. If you can’t accept that as the reality as a coach, then you can’t fix the issues moving forward.
Paris had 13 attempts at CL glory before Arsenal this week, and this is only their second final. They have the biggest wage bill in the world. They threw 600 million euros at one player. And we’re the team with fans calling for the sacking of Arteta after his second attempt at this competition failing? Get out of here. As a Reminder, Arsene Wenger didn’t make a CL semi-final until after the Invincibles were in the process of being broken down.
Pep Guardiola took seven attempts to win it with Man City. I don’t think he even reached a semi-final until try four.
These are two teams that have basically done whatever they wanted with unlimited cash. The Kvarasckelia deal that happened with PSG was so crazy with agents fees that only one club in Europe would go near it. But PSG can do that. I’m telling you that because this idea that they’re a plucky upstart team doesn’t quite align with the reality that they have a £645m wage bill. Arsenal spend £327m on wages for context.
And let’s talk about the realities of being PSG. They don’t play games like Premier League teams do every week. Paris are monstrously dominant in their league. They’re playing Ligue 2 sides most of the time. They don’t get monstered fitness-wise. We know how bad the non-Champions League teams are in Europe because in the second-tier competition, two of the very worst teams in the Premier League this season made the final.
Paris beat Arsenal. They did what was needed. Arsenal did not. But don’t tell me a manager can’t speak to the manner of the result or stick up for his players in the media. I think Scott over at Cannon Stats pulled a graph that showed over the whole Champions League tournament, there’s a very fair argument to say—based on non-penalty xG for and against—Arsenal were the better team.
These things are important for fans to know because you have a lot of journalists rushing to tell everyone that the Arsenal project is in danger, that Arteta has hit a plateau, and that our season was a massive failure. Those sorts of comments tend to wound our fans, and perception is reality. Arteta is just setting the record straight.
Arsenal are really fucking good.
Arsenal have very clear problems that we will solve this summer.
Goal scorers.
Load management.
Once those problems are solved, Arsenal will win major trophies.
Get me to the end of the season as soon as possible. Let the work on the final build of this squad begin. And let’s pray that at the end of the window, we’re looking at the finished product.
Then salivate. We’ll have Odegaard, Rice, Saka, Saliba, Gabriel, Raya, and Timber all in their prime, about to give us their best five years.
Then look at MLS, Ethan, and Dowman all about to start their journey as future star boys.
Then imagine Sesko or Gyokeres monstering as our main number nine.
Then add Zubimendi to the base of midfield.
Then get yourself an explosive winger that can bully teams and do to the left what Saka does to the right.
Imagine rolling into town knowing you have to deal with Kai Havertz and Declan Rice as the 8s.
Imagine going up against our fully fit back five.
If we can get to a Champions League semi with a depleted team, imagine how good we’ll be if Arteta learns to keep players fresh like Arne Slot did this season.
That’s the narrative, people. If you want to listen to people tell you the project is over, be my guest. They’ve been saying it every year for five years—and each year, we make progress somewhere.
Next year, we need a trophy. The players, the fans, the club. To crystalise the work that has been done, that trophy cabinet needs a Premier League or a Champions League trophy. Those will come under Arteta.
When they land, just remember the folk in the media that poured cold water on Arsenal. Remember the people in the group chat calling for wholesale sackings. Remember the weak-kneed commenters on blog platforms that whittered on and on about how bad things are.
They can have their moment now. They don’t appreciate the journey. Those who do will be rewarded in this life or the next. Sorry, I mean, next season.
Chin up. Glory is coming. We’re on the right path, and this summer will address all your pain. Next season will be special.
Big love. x
P.S. End of season special offer for those that want all the HOT transfer content this summer. x
Arsenal have very clear problems that we will solve this summer.
Goal scorers.
Load management.
So it takes our Genius and brilliant Manager 5 years to figure this out? Something everybody knows.
All of your arguments about PSG finances Fall to the ground considering that Inter are in the final with much less wage bill and money spent than us.
Pedro, you don't half go over the top, again. You have already anointed Arteta as the chosen one, the Messiah, the Pope and Cruyff rolled into one. So by default, you have to treat with disdain any counterbalancing arguments as stupid, ungrateful know nothing fans. By going to one extreme, you characterise everybody as part of the opposite extreme, as if the niche sack Arteta hysterics represents all the fans who disagree with you.
The truth is, of course, the vast majority of fans, and commentators, bloggers etc, certainly all the people I speak to, subscribe to neither extremity but are enjoying the ride, even if we don't know the destination yet. In other words, Arteta deserves the credit for dragging us up from 8th and into contention on the two major fronts of English football. But it is completely natural, and normal, to be critical where is is valid, and wonder if we could have done things differently, and better, over the last few years. It hardly needs to be said, since it has been covered ad nauseam, but we all know the areas of weakness in the squad and the overall strategy.
So everybody knows that the summer signings are critical to taking those final steps towards actual success, and not nearly rans. It is tantalising, and at the same time, fraught with booby traps, based on our patchy signings record. So let's see.
But harping on about xG, as if that 'proves' we were the better team, is just utter nonsense, as you and Arteta are inclined to do. I get it, losing hurts and looking for straws to clutch is tempting. But Arteta makes himself just look either arrogant or hopelessly one-sided when he makes extravagant claims, like Pool's points total,, or we were the best team in the CL. There is no need for that kind of absurd vanity. We gave it a great shot, had periods of domination, and came close, but in the end they were better, whatever the stupidity of one single metric which was never designed to be used in the way you constantly do. It's a poor substitute for actually watching the game and the tactics. It's only a guide to chances, but tells you nothing about tactics, strategy, defensive excellence - thus Arteta's absurd whining about their keeper, as if there was something unfair about good he was. It's not a reflection of the overall game, the timing, the fatigue, the subs the game management etc etc. The statisticians will tell you that it was never designed to be used for a single game, but as a trend over time, ie an averaging metric. But it has become the be-all and end-all of excuses and get-out clauses in order to ignore what most people can see simply by watching the game. It is the gamification of football into a computer analysis, by people who want 'scientific proof' of what happened. Put it this way, you have been campaigning against VAR all season - what is the difference between VAR and xG? They are both attempts to make football subject to geometry and algebra. But in your world , one is heinous, the other is gospel. Go figure.
All the consequences of Arteta's decision-making strategies were on display over the CL ties - the sporadic brilliance and the gaps and holes in his approach. Next season is going to be fascinating, but the number one question has to be who is he going to sign up front. That is by far the most overdue and essential move, one which he has neglected for too long. The pressure must be intense, let's hope Berta proves his worth. Won't be dull, though.