Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Would Bergkamp or Henry have survived the “Twitter era”

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Yesterday I wrote about “The mystifying criticism of Matteo Guendouzi”.

The jist of the article was simple.

19-year-old Matteo Guendouzi ran the game against Newcastle. No play had more touches, no player played more passes, and only Aaron Ramsey had a great pass accuracy. Despite this, and Arsenal winning 2-0, some fans went on Twitter to criticise him immediately after the final whistle.

https://twitter.com/OscarLindblad/status/1112807063787397121

https://twitter.com/GrimandiTweets_/status/1112821791133786125

Two responses to the Guendouzi blog got me thinking.

It is frustrating about how kick we get on the back of youngsters who are still making their way in the world. They are given no time to develop, to establish themselves in the first team. People, and mainly Arsenal fans, expect every teenager to already be as good as Cesc Fabregas. It is a high bar.

I can not think of any teenage midfielder to have been good as Cesc Fabregas when he first came through. And there will probably never be one. If we are using his ability as the bar to what is good enough, we are setting unrealistic expectations of these young lads coming through.

One of the reasons why fans get on these young lads backs quickly is Twitter.

https://twitter.com/gunnerrich/status/1113347102808125440

Again, absolutely spot on.

Twitter has changed the way fans view game. It has provided a platform of instant response, which in turn leads to an increase in expectation.

Every poor performance is Tweeted about thousands of times. Fans on the players backs the second the final whistle has blown.

Twitter, social media and 24 rolling news has put us in a “fast food era”. Everything has to be immediate, now, perfect. There is no room to develop, no room to progress, no time for someone to have a poor game.

It makes me wonder whether Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry would have survived the Twitter era.

Bergkamp joined Arsenal in 1995 on the back of a poor campaign with Inter Milan for a club record £7.5million. Inter Milan shipped him out, happy to get rid. Nearly 25-years-later, people would be moaning on Twitter that we had spent a club record on another sides reject. A flop.

The media were on Bergkamp’s back from the day he signed, with Alan Sugar quoted as saying “If Bergkamp thinks he’s gonna set the world alight he can forget it.”

The start of his Arsenal career would have gotten even more people on his back in the current era, as he failed to score in his 1st 6 games of the club.

At this point fans would have been all over social media calling him an expensive flop. Media outlets would be running stories of “the worst signing in the history of the game” and Sky would have spent an hour discussing his poor acquisition on the Sunday Supplement,

Bergkamp went on to become an Arsenal legend and is one of the greatest players to grace the English game.

Then we have Thierry Henry.

Like Bergkamp, Henry arrived from Italy after a poor season. This time for Juventus.

He only spent a year at Juventus, who dumped him after just 3 goals in his 19 appearances. Pace to burn, he struggled to defensively disciplined teams in Serie A.

He joined Arsenal for a club record fee (like Bergkamp).

If we bring his transfer into the modern era, fans would have been on Twitter moaning that we had spent a club record fee on an ineffectual winger. At 22-years-old, he certainly was not a youngster. What a waste of money, fans would have said.

And imagine the outrage when it transpired that Arsene Wenger was planning to use this average winger as a striker, as a replacement for Nicolas Anelka – the most exciting teenage striker on the planet.

And mirroring Bergkamp, he struggled in his opening games.

In 1999 blogging was a new thing. The internet was a new concept. But even back then there were Arsenal blogs. And I recall one slating Henry and Wenger. Bemoaning the fact that Arsenal had gone big on a failed winger and were not playing him upfront.

Had this happened in 2019 rather than 1999, this complaining would have been many times louder, many times more viscous. You would have had people offering to drive him back to France.

Henry’s first 8 games went by with 2 yellow cards and no goals. He finally broke his drought against Southampton – also the side that Bergkamp scored his first goal against.

Imagine in the current era, Arsenal spending a club record fee on a winger who had flopped in Italy, converting him to a striker and then watching him struggle to score in his first 8 games. There would be uproar.

Henry went on to become Arsenal’s record goal scorer and one of the greatest players the world has seen.

Both Bergkamp and Henry arrived at Arsenal having flopped in Italy. Both for club record fees. Both endured tough starts to their Arsenal career. I doubt either of them would have been given the chance to shine, to become the legends they are, if they were signed now.

Fans would have been on their back before they had even kicked a ball.

Keenos

1 down, 2 to go, 3 in the bag

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75 points is the magic number that Arsenal need to reach to secure top four.

When I said that 2 weeks ago, a few people felt it was a little light – ignoring the fact that only once in Premier League history had a side got above 75 points and finished outside the top 4.

They also ignored that Manchester United and Chelsea are not the Manchester United and Chelsea of old.

Since that 75 point prediction, only Arsenal and Manchester United have taken full points.

To have a chance of 75 points Arsenal had to win their 3 remaining home games. Last night we chalked off one of those wins by bagging 3 points against Newcastle.

The win moved Arsenal into 3rd place, 2 points ahead of Tottenham and Manchester United in 4th and 5th respectively.

With both sides and Chelsea set to play mid-week, Arsenal’s stay in the top 4 could last less than 48 hours. It is why we have to be careful of being too boastful on Twitter.

Arsenal now face two tough away trips to Everton and Watford, before returning to North London against Crystal Palace. You feel we have to win at least one of those two away games to keep us in the race.

The only frustrating thing about last night was not scoring more. It is so tight for top 4 that goal difference could be key. Those two disallowed goals could be crucial.

As it stands Arsenal lead the way on that, 2 ahead of Tottenham and 7 ahead of Manchester United.

If Wolves or Crystal Palace do us a favour midweek and take points against either Man U or Tottenham, it would leave Arsenal in the box seat for those Champions League places prior to the Everton game.

There will be plenty of twists and turns between now and the end of the season. How the top 6 sits this morning will not be how it sits after the 38th game.

Up The Arsenal.

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 2 – 0 Newcastle

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Arsenal (1) 2 Newcastle United (0) 0
Premier League
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Monday, 1st April 2019. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Leno; Mustafi, Sokratis, Monreal, Maitland-Niles; Ramsey, Guendouzi; Kolašinac, Özil, Iwobi; Lacazette.
Substitutes: Čech, Elneny, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang, Suárez, Jenkinson, Nketiah.
Scorers: Ramsey, Lacazette
Yellow Cards: Monreal, Kolašinac
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Attendance: circa 60,000

Great to have the Premiership back, and it’s even better to have our first match after the enforced international break here at The Emirates against Newcastle United. A good crowd with a buoyant atmosphere makes for a crackle in the air and a desire for the right result which should take us to third place in the table if everything goes the right way, of course.

Sure enough, right from the kick-off our intent was there for all to see. After just thirteen minutes, Aaron Ramsey’s goal was disallowed for a foul by Sokratis on Florian Lejeune; it has to be said that the Newcastle man didn’t even look like he was going to get close to getting the ball despite the foul. A bit harsh really, but all it did was harden our resolve to win the match. It was now becoming obvious that not only did we dominate this period of the match, we constantly and successfully pinned the Magpies back in their own half. Of course, on the half hour our skilled play and domination paid off. The movement started and finished with Aaron Ramsey; he flicked a clever ball over to Alexandre Lacazette with the outside of his right foot, and almost immediately received it back and elegantly swept it home past a nonplussed Martin Dúbravka for the first goal of the night. Although the visitors did come back into the match for the last quarter of an hour of the first half, it was Arsenal’s half from the very moment Anthony Taylor’s signal started the match to forty-five minutes later when the same whistle brought proceedings to a close.

Could the second half be any better for the Magpies? Not really. To be fair, although they did have some moments where it did look as if they could threaten our defence, in reality their general play was both flaccid and tiresome. It was becoming fairly obvious that Newcastle United decided to implement Plan B; basically, if we can’t get through Arsenal’s defence, and we are unable to adjust our system accordingly, then let’s stop them playing their brand of football instead. And that, in a nutshell, was what happened here in North London tonight. Arsenal then did, under Mr. Emery, what Arsenal does best, which is continue to play their own style of football and just simply wear Newcastle down. We did start to look rather frustrated, so it became a case of fresh legs and fresh ideas. In the space of just eight minutes, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang replaced Alex Iwobi, and Mohamed Elneny took the place of our goalscorer, Aaron Ramsey. Now the sparks started to fly, with the movement from midfield becoming crisper, the shots on the visitors’ goal more urgent.

Sure enough, we got the second goal that our play deserved. Seventeen minutes from time, Alexandre Lacazette got the ball to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who in turn headed it back, and Alexandre Lacazette cleverly lobbed the ball over Martin Dúbravka into the net for a well-taken goal. Our third and final substitute came a couple of minutes later when Henrikh Mkhitaryan replaced a tired Mesut Özil, and almost immediately we were off again. If the match had carried on another five minutes, we could have got a third, but it was not to be, and two-nil was the score of the night.

This is great stuff. Who would have thought it a few months ago? Ten home Premiership matches in a row undefeated, and after tonight’s win, we have simply leapfrogged Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur into third place in the Premiership. So many good things came from tonight’s match; the resolve of the defence, the sharpness of the attack, and hey, doesn’t Aaron Ramsey get better with every game? This is our only sadness, that our little Welsh wizard is to leave us in the summer. Let’s hope beyond hope that out there in the wild blue yonder there is a tailor made replacement for him. He’s out there somewhere! Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.