Author Archives: keenosafc

How many Twitter followers does your club have?

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In November 2013, I did a little analysis to see who was the most followed football club on twitter. Arsenal came out on top, but what was surprising was that, at the time, Mesut Ozil had more followers than any Premier League football club.

As it is quite at work in my industry with the lead up to Christmas, I have decided to review the blog and update the figures.

To get a proper provisional analysis, the above is a list of teams who were in the Premier League in 2013, and are in it now.

The first interesting analysis is just how much Twitter has grown over the last 4 years. On average, Premier League sides have increased their following by 552%.

Secondly, Manchester United, who in 2013 were the 4th most followed side in the Premier League, are now topping the table.

In 2013, I noted that I was surprised to see Man U in 4th place as they are easily the most supported club in the UK, and one of the most supported in the world. It shows how poor their media team probably were back in 2013.

The growth of Manchester United aside, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool have shown a similar growth pattern.

With regards to Liverpool and Arsenal, it shows how strong and historic the clubs are, that they have been able to continue to grow their support without league titles at a quicker rate than the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea who have won league titles. It shows success is not everything.

Saying that, Spurs now languish a long way behind Manchester City. I wonder how many of those fans that follow City had heard of the club when Twitter was first launched back in 2006?

City’s growth over Spurs does highlight that success is very important, especially when it comes to gaining new fans, and foreign fans.

Spurs have not much bigger a following than Everton, an equally unsuccessful side over the last 20 years. It perhaps shows that Spurs fans claim that there has been a power shift, and that they are a massive club, are false.

In terms of Twitter following, Spurs are the 6th most followed in England. They are probably also the 6th biggest club in the country.

It probably also shows the brand of the Premier League that the biggest growers (bar Manchester United) were smaller clubs, lower down the table. I feel a lot of their followers are general fans of the Premier League, rather than fans of the clubs they follow.

The second table is the clubs who were not in the Premier League in 2013, so I have no original data on them. What is interesting is Leicester City.

At 1.1million followers, they would be placed just behind Newcastle. It would have been interesting to see their 2013 data in comparison. I imagine it would have been not too much higher than Southampton. Leicester’s does show just how much success can increase support.

Like success has boasted Leicester, relegation is also clearly damaging.

Those clubs who went down have still grown their twitter following, but at a slower rate than those who stayed in the Premier League.

The 6 teams who are no longer in the Premier League have increased their Twitter following by, on average, 398%. The bottom 6 teams in the Premier League by followers have increased by 557%.

And finally we come on to how the Premier League sides compare to the rest of the world

The first observation is that Real Madrid have overtaken Barcelona since 2013. Although by the time you include alternative languages for both, Barcelona are still ahead.

One interesting thing to note is the Spanish version of Real Madrid’s twitter is followed by more than the English version, but the English version of Barcelona is followed by more than the Spanish version.

Perhaps this indicates that Real Madrid are more popular in Spain, whilst Barcelona are followed more by foreign fans. I know what I would prefer.

Another interesting thing to note is once you remove the English sides, the rest of the world has only grown by 293%. That against the Premier League’s growth of 522%. It shows that in terms of leagues, the Premier League is still the most popular in the world, even if Barcelona and Real Madrid are streaks ahead in terms of individual club.

The last thing to note is how small Celtic are.

With just 551,000 followers, they are not much bigger than Norwich City, and are well behind the likes of Crystal Palace, WBA and Swansea. They might be a big side in Scotland, but it certainly shows they are a big fish in a small pond. And if they ever did join the Premier League, they would be a very small fish in a big pond.

Until next time

Keenos

Average Arsenal 3 – 3 Average Liverpool

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I am writing this on the train up north to see some family before settling down for some Christmas festivities. It will be the last blog I write before Christmas (unless I have one scheduled for tomorrow that I have forgotten about), so before I start, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and thanks for making this a record breaking blog this year.

Yesterday’s game highlighted what I have been saying all season. That there is not much between Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs.

Last year, Liverpool finished a single point above Arsenal. This season, after 19 games, there is still just one point in it. So after 57 games, 2 points split the two club.

As always, it is interesting to see how the media react to both clubs. Liverpool are awesome, Arsenal are not, according to some in the media, despite there being next to nothing between the two clubs.

In fact, both share the same strengths (attacking) and share the same weaknesses (defending). You could see yesterday why both are so far behind Manchester City.

Man City are vastly superior when it comes to both attacking and defending.

I also do not think there is too much between Jurgen Klopp and Arsene Wenger.

It must be remembered, in the 3 years Klopp has been in England, Wenger’s Arsenal have finished above Liverpool 2 from 3 times and won the FA Cup twice. Liverpool have been trophyless.

I have said for a while, Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino get away with it in the press. They are not as analysed as Wenger. Yet for both of their perceived brilliance, neither has won a trophy in England yet.

Klopp is praised in the media because after his side loses, he tells a joke. But the pressure caught up with him after the Merseyside Derby when he snapped a journalist.

As for his touchline antics, it is for the fans, it is for the cameras. Ian Wright on Match if the Day said as much last night.

Gary Neville once said that players can not even hear managers a lot of the time when they are screaming and shouting, and that the majority of professionals prefer managers who sit and analyse the game rather than make a show of themselves on the touchline.

So if you are calling Wenger to act like Klopp, ask yourself why? Is it to benefit the team? Probably not. It’s probably because you want Wenger to show some passion, to show that he cares. You want him to jump up and down for 90 minutes for your benefit. Not the benefit of the team.

Liverpool have the “fab 4”, and they are a frightening front line at times. They are also one of the lost overrated forward lines in football. Theo Walcott, for example, has a better goals to games ratio than Coutinho in the Premier League.

On Walcott, if we are going to continue with 4 at the back, he needs to start.

It is not because he is a top player, but because he is better than Alex Iwobi.

For Liverpool’s fab 4, read Arsenal’s bad 4.

Alex Iwobi

Granit Xhaka

Hector Bellerin

Alexis Sanchez

Starting with Iwobi, he is not currently good enough to play week in week out for Arsenal. He was not last season, and he was not this season. He needs to be dropped. He provides no attacking threat and is lazy in defence. Walcott must come in for him next game.

Iwobi’s lack of ability and Sanchez’s lack of form shows how important it was last summer to sign another attacking midfielder.

I wanted in someone like Thomas Lemar, Julian Draxler or Isco regardless as to whether or not Sanchez or Mesut Ozil left.

Look at Manchester City’s attacking attacking options, then look at Arsenal’s, then look back at Manchester City’s.

The difference is vast.

The fact the Iwobi is playing, despite being average, and Sanchez is playing, despite being horrendously out of form, shows how short we are.

It is the same scenario in central midfield.

We have no other viable options to play defensive midfield other than Grant Xhaka, and he is not a natural defensive midfield.

Last night Coutinho got the jump on him. Xhaka did well to get back, but once he got back he just stopped. He froze. Coutinho jump and floated a header in to send Liverpool 1-0 up. He was unchallenged.

A top defensive midfielder has been top of the shopping list for about a decade. Wenger needs to admit he got it wrong with Xhaka and sign someone else. In this day and age, a £35m mistake is not actually that much.

Look at Man City again. They are going to sign another centre back in January. This despite having spent over £200m on the centre backs in their squad. Yes, they have a lot more money to spend then Arsenal, but if they make a mistake i. The transfer market, they cut their losses and move on.

Arsenal need to do the same with Xhaka. Or at least play him in the right position.

As for Hector Bellerin, he hasn’t been the same player since Barcelona sniffed around.

Personally, I would like to see him dropped and Ainsley (as I am now going to call him) move over to right back. Drop Bellerin. He is out of form.

Anyway, with Arsenal not having a game until next Thursday, we can all turn off from football, turn off social media, and enjoy time with our families.

Merry Christmas

Keenos

Young defenders benefit from Arsenal’s formation switch

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Against West Ham on Tuesday, Arsenal stuck with the 4 at the back system that has seen them now keep 3 clean sheets on the spin.

The move, which happened before the bore draw against West Ham in the league and was kept for the 1-0 win over Newcastle, was also rolled out to the cup team for the 1-0 win over West Ham.

Whilst the move does seem to have shored us up at the back, it is also a huge positive for rob Holding and Calum Chambers.

The move to 3 at the back never really suited the English pair.

Despite the theory being that 3 at the back would mean more of a chance for central defenders to get a game, Nacho Monreal was played on the left hand side. This meant that the natural centre backs – Koscileny, Mustafi, Mertesacker, Chambers & Holding – were still fighting for just one place.

Chambers would have been a natural on the right hand side of the 3, but struggled for game time. And when he did play in the cup team, he often found himself at wing back.

Meanwhile, Rob Holding found himself out of position.

Holding is a dominating figure who should have been played in the middle of the 3, but when playing in the first team, he often found himself on the left or right. Then in the cup team, Mertesacker was the middle man so he found himself on the left of the 3. An unnatural position.

Against West Ham in the League Cup, Arsenal played Chambers and Holding as a defensive two – and they excelled.

We were not up against a West Ham reserve team. Many of the players featured the week before. Chambers and Holding had the likes of Javier Hernandez, Andrew Ayew and, for 35 minutes, Andy Carroll to deal with. And they did so brilliantly.

Restricting West Ham to no shots on target, and no corners, highlights the defensive masterclass that Holding and Chambers put on.

They were helped by having Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny ahead of them. Two players who are more defensive than attacking. It was a good all round defensive performance.

Chambers, who has struggled to get a chance and spent last season on loan to Middlesbrough, put in a man of the match performance which showed he is ready to stop up.

Against Liverpool, it will be interesting to see whether Arsene Wenger sticks with Nacho Monreal at centre back, or puts Holding or Chambers in next to Koscielny.

What is for certain is both still have a future at the club.

Both players are still just 22 and, with Mertesacker retiring in the summer, will have an opportunity to put themselves forward as (at a minimum) second choice centre backs for the 2018/19 season.

I would expect us to go big in the summer for a new centre back. I also would not be surprised if either Mustafi or Koscileny leave us. This will leave Holding and Chambers as 3rd and 4th choice centre backs. I am comfortable with that.

The return to 4 at the back is a positive for the pair.

Keenos