Managers, the media, and more

Morning.

A little later Mikel Arteta will meet the press ahead of the first of three away games before the next Interlull. Tomorrow we go to Turf Moor to face a Burnley side who have won their last two games, and I can almost guarantee you that if/when he’s asked about the opposition, he will talk about them being a tough opponent and the fantastic work that Scott Parker and his coaching staff have done there.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard Arteta say anything about upcoming opposition that is anything other than complimentary. We could be playing a team of one-legged nuns from the Outer Hebrides, and he’d say something like, ‘Well, they’ve got a lot of quality, and player-manager Sister Agnes has a hell of a left foot’.

It’s pretty obvious why he does that. He does not want to give them any further motivation ahead of the game. It’s common sense, really. Why wind up the opposition when there’s no need? In the past, we’ve seen him use stuff other people have said about Arsenal as a way to galvanise his team. ‘A nice kickabout with the lads’ was a Tweet Ivan Toney was made to regret the next time we played Brentford, for example.

I suspect it’s probably the way most managers do it these days, in part because we’re in an era when they have to be super conscious of the way things are presented in the media. I recall very early in Arteta’s tenure, we were about to play a North London derby when Jose Mourinho was in charge of that lot. The old trick of a question in one press conference then being put to the opposition manager in a slightly out of context way was a guaranteed headline jackpot when it was Arsene Wenger and Mournino. It didn’t work with Arteta though, he just played it all with a straight bat.

Media savvy, yes, but that’s also his personality. I think we’re also in an era where the big personalities of yesteryear don’t really exist in Premier League management anymore, but that’s a discussion for another day. Anyway, to get to the point, it was interesting to see Scott Parker asked about Arsenal’s style and ‘reliance’ on set-pieces in his press conference yesterday.

I think it’s a reasonable topic to ask him about, given his side will have to deal with our threat tomorrow, but the way it was presented left it open for fuel to be added to the absurd ‘Arsenal are killing football with set-pieces’ fire. He was having none of though, saying:

I’m not sure I see it like that. When I’m watching them, to be honest with you, I see a fluid team, really. I see an unbelievably well-coached team, a team that solves situations. This is definitely not a team that just rely on set plays.

And when it was put to him that this Arsenal was more George Graham than Arsene Wenger, he wasn’t falling for that either, saying:

No, I wouldn’t say that, but maybe I see it a little bit different. When you’re watching teams and you see the level of detail that’s obviously gone into certain parts of their game, it’s very, very evident of where those details are. Full credit to Mikel, because, like I said, there’s a lot of facets to a game of football.

Fair play. I think part of his reply is linked to the way managers deal with the media: don’t make unnecessary headlines. But, for all the narrative, discussion, debate, however you want to frame it, the bottom line is that this Arsenal team is really, really good. The team at the top of the table is in the spotlight, which is absolutely normal, and the reality of the media landscape we exist in is that praise is essentially quite boring.

What kind of traction does your outlet get if the discussion is:

Presenter 1: Arsenal are good, aren’t they?

Presenter 2: Yes, yes they are.

Presenter 1: I agree.

Presenter 2: Indubitably.

So something we’re good at becomes a stick to beat us with. The same way if we were weak at something, they’d use that too. I know I’ve written about this before, and spoken about it on the podcasts, but as long as we remain competitive, this is stuff we’re going to have to deal with in the wider media. The thing to point out though is that consumption of said media is not mandatory, even in a second hand way.

You might not actively listen to some ex-Sp*rs chump whose IQ is lower than his shoe size, but nor do you have to watch the clips when they crop up on social media. I do get it, it’s quite amusing to see the lads who have the receipts, who can call them out and provide the evidence of their hypocrisy, but it doesn’t change their fundamental dishonesty. And I think part of the problem – not just in football – is that we are bombarded with dishonesty on a daily basis, and it’s becoming normalised.

Even with the take-downs, it’s far too prevalent. It used to be a case that lying and bullshit was dismissed out of hand, and the perpetrator considered a crackpot not worth paying attention to. Now it’s often the primary means of communication. I don’t think it’s healthy, in football or otherwise, and as I said above, fair play to Scott Parker for not rising to the bait.

Ok, I’ll leave it there for now. We have an Arsecast for you below if you didn’t get a chance to listen yesterday, and later on we’ll look ahead to the Burnley game on Patreon. For just $6 a month you get exclusive content, and help support everything we do on Arseblog. Sign up here.

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