Of Number Crunching and Joey Barton

It's that time of the weekend. Premier league games are going to be hitting our TV screens in a few hours. It's about now when Twitter time-lines start filling up with previous match-ups between teams, win-loss records, goals scored against this opponent, goals scored by Mr Soso etc. While a lot of these statistics are quite interesting and give us a way to use up some time before the actual games begin, this number crunching has gone way too far nowadays that sometimes I find that some of it, actually most of it, is just useless. 

Stats are good, but at the end of the day they're just stats. I'm not completely blind to suggest that all stats are useless, but the thing about this overdose is that now we have stats not based on actual events, but even on hypothetical situations, that are probably playing out in some parallel universe. The irritating part is that you can manipulate these numbers to make a good situation better, a bad situation worse or basically any way to prove a point that you want to prove. Now if you ask me why I'm coming up with this anti-stat rant it's because I started thinking about it when I saw this USELESS stat that I'm going to talk about.

Thoughts from inside the Emirates + Arsene still Knows Best

Walking into the Emirates yesterday, to watch the first home league game of the season, my emotions were a mix of cautious excitement and of course like a lot of Arsenal supporters, a feeling of anxiety which has surrounded the club over the last few months in particular. Wenger's dealings in the transfer market, or the lack of it, have left a lot of fans disgruntled, and this was evident as the match wore on or rather as Liverpool edged closer to sealing the three points at the end. 

It all started quite brightly, to be honest, and the atmosphere inside the stadium was great, although it wasn't extraordinary. The announcement of Nasri in the playing eleven invited a few boos (as expected), but I think the majority realized that the team needed him there (and he proved that with a very good performance), with the squad being stripped to its bare bones through injuries and suspensions. The first half didn't inspire a great deal, apart from a couple of chances on either side. Frimpong was having a great little spell and he seemed to be really up for it. He got a great shot on goal, then turned around to all of us in the stands and egged us on to make some noise. The crowd reacted and there was suddenly a wave of loud support. There was a genuine sense of appreciation for the Arsenal as they headed off into the tunnel at half-time, for the fight they had put up with the resources at their disposal. 

The red card for Frimpong in the second half of course changed what could have been a well deserved draw to an unlucky defeat. We were not shown replays of the tackle and to us it just looked like they had run into each other. I think most of those who watched the highlights on MOTD would have realized that it was in fact a bad challenge. The goals for Liverpool heightened the sense of frustration around the Emirates, and a section of the crowd broke into the "Spend some F***in money" chant. I don't see a place for this during a game, when you have 11 men playing their heart out for your club. Such chants while it might not affect the players too much doesn't help them either. The encouraging fact was that it didn't gain momentum and a couple of those in front of me who started chiming in, stopped as soon as they realized that most of us weren't interested in joining. Another section of the crowd then brought back the "We love you Arsenal" chant which garnered more support and that was good to see. It was a bit disheartening to see a number of people leave before the game ended but then for all of us who stayed back, it was a chance to applaud the team for putting up a spirited display and show them that we were behind them. 

While the defeat hurt, I liked what I saw of Arsenal's young guns. I know a lot of you might say we have to spend and the usual lets sign Cahill/Samba/whoever the media links us with. I too am not blind and do realize we need a few reinforcements but I have a lot of faith in the manager and at the end of the day I think he knows what he is doing. We can go on and on about what has to be done, but I'd rather have Wenger decide what's best for the club. The man is an absolute genius and immortal IN MY OPINION. 

I dream of a day when Arsene Wenger has his hands aloft with a trophy in hand, after having won it with a team that was made with his vision, and those who wrote him off running around the streets naked with their unmentionables covered (I don't want to see that bit) with print outs of all their criticisms of Wenger/Arsenal strung around their waist with a piece of thread. I really hope it can happen soon, not for the sake of Arsenal winning a trophy, but because I want to see that joy on Wenger's face for all that he has had to face in what has been his most challenging time at the club. Whether that day comes at the end of the current season or a few seasons later, I'm prepared to wait and continue to support this great club. If it does miraculously happen this season, remember, you heard it here first. 

Defence of the Arsenal Defence

In case you missed the CL qualifier, I just want to start off by saying that Arsenal actually won the match against a relatively fancied Italian opponent, clean sheet intact and all that, although some newspapers might have you believe that winning nowadays is not the point. The media have been banging about on how Arsenal just escaped, how SZCZ's saves barely rescued us from embarrassment, how frail the team was and so on. It seems to me that most of these nut-cases who wrote these reports had started with an already planned agenda before even watching the game. Now, while I acknowledge the fact that there is frustration in Gooner world around Arsene Wenger's reluctance to splash the cash in the transfer market, those wearing the Red and White on the pitch did a lot to lift our spirits and gave us a win.