Perspective 101; or, let's beat this crisis thing to death!
by pdb on Jan 4, 2012 6:53 PM EST
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PrintAfter Arsenal's loss to Fulham earlier in the week, the wolves came out. These particular wolves had CLUB IN CRISIS written all over them (note to the good folks at PETA: this is a metaphor. A very bad one, too), and if you listened to certain quarters of the internet and the wider soccer media, Arsenal are on the verge of imploding and will become a chess club next season because they obviously can't compete at soccer any more.
Then something I read today caught my eye.
I just read a match report discussing Manchester United's 3-0 loss to Newcastle. This was a game that Newcastle won fairly easily, and while Newcastle (7th place) is arguably a better team than Fulham, it's still not a game that Manchester United should be losing, especially 3-0.
But nowhere in that match report, or in any other info about the match, did I get the sense that a loss to a "lesser" team would plunge Manchester United into CRISIS MODE, like it does at Arsenal, and I got to wondering why this is. The thing I kept coming back to is that Manchester United has obviously banked a lot of CRISIS goodwill because of their consistent top two finishing, but that can't be the whole story.
I then turned my gaze, however briefly, to the hoariest of all cliches, media bias. Are the media really biased against Arsenal? No, they're not. Nor are they biased against any other club. If there is a media bias in the sports world, it's against hard work and analysis; actually digging into issues, exploring and explaining them is soooooo much harder than sitting at your desk and screaming CLUB IN CRISIS because a club is underperforming on a particular day, and then stringing several of those days together to support the CLUB IN CRISIS hypothesis.
Do I have a grand, overarching conclusion here? No, I really don't. But as we head into yet another transfer window, what I keep coming back to is that when reading things about how Arsenal are on the verge of imploding, and how things are never going to be the same, and how failing to qualify for the CL is basically like relegation for a team like Arsenal, just take a step back. Read sources you trust, and - most importantly - ignore those you don't.
So no, there's no crisis. There's a team not playing up to its potential at the moment; but at any given moment there are many teams that fit that description. Today it's Manchester United, tomorrow it's Portsmouth, Friday it'll be another team. It may shock the younger readers here to hear this, but just because it's on the Internet doesn't mean it's true. I KNOW!!!!
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That picture is missing the necessary tag of #LOLMets
But, good piece. This crisis thing is silly. And also insulting to other fans.
Ask fans of Darlington and Portsmouth what they think of Arsenal’s “crisis”, and they’ll probably tell you to stick your crisis up your arse. Or words similar to that.
AAARRRRRRRSSSSSHHHHHHHHAAAAAAVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNN!
Dream goal!
#firstdivisionproblems
Chuck Norris doesn't need a bat.
he just roundhouse kicks the ball out of the park.
by bearcatcardfan on Jan 5, 2012 12:56 AM EST up reply actions
nah, Aidan's a Mets fan too
and FUCK THE WILPONS, seriously.
WRITTEN IN THE STAAAAARS, A MILLION MILES AWAAAAAAY
I write about the Arsenal for The Short Fuse.
by Thomas Wachtel on Jan 6, 2012 3:26 PM EST up reply actions
THE MEME IS DEAD
LONG LIVE THE MEME
WRITTEN IN THE STAAAAARS, A MILLION MILES AWAAAAAAY
I write about the Arsenal for The Short Fuse.
by Thomas Wachtel on Jan 6, 2012 3:26 PM EST up reply actions
You forget to mention...
Man United crashed out of the Champions League. It’s fun to beat that horse.
Great post
But these two paragraphs make me think back to the McCauley article that was on the front page here a few days ago…
I then turned my gaze, however briefly, to the hoariest of all cliches, media bias. Are the media really biased against Arsenal? No, they’re not. Nor are they biased against any other club. If there is a media bias in the sports world, it’s against hard work and analysis; actually digging into issues, exploring and explaining them is soooooo much harder than sitting at your desk and screaming CLUB IN CRISIS because a club is underperforming on a particular day, and then stringing several of those days together to support the CLUB IN CRISIS hypothesis.
Do I have a grand, overarching conclusion here? No, I really don’t. But as we head into yet another transfer window, what I keep coming back to is that when reading things about how Arsenal are on the verge of imploding, and how things are never going to be the same, and how failing to qualify for the CL is basically like relegation for a team like Arsenal, just take a step back. Read sources you trust, and – most importantly – ignore those you don’t.
…and maybe it’s not the best of ideas to promote an article a writer, who is a massive Spurs supporter, wrote about Arsenal’s future crisis to your front page. It doesn’t help your stance on sources and which ones to trust and read (which by the way I agree with 100%) when you allow an article written by a supporter of our most hated rival that further perpetuates the CLUB IN CRISIS meme to be prominently displayed at the top of your site.
Sorry if this offends any of the mods/editors here.
"I know you're from Middle America, and sometimes you feel like you're representing more than just a school or a conference, maybe an entire group of American citizens out there."
by Twin Cities Hawk on Jan 5, 2012 9:59 AM EST reply actions
Not offended at all
I understand where you’re coming from. That being said, Kevin wrote that for the dot com, and despite the fact that it’s not necessarily “on message” with most of our points of view here, I think it’s good to have different points of view, and I think he wrote it pretty neutrally, even if I disagree with some of his points.
I hear that
I also agree with reading different viewpoints; I’m just as tired of reading opinions regarding the “fragile” nature of Arsenal and the closeness in time regarding the posting of the two pieces in question made it appear a bit contradictory in my eyes.
"I know you're from Middle America, and sometimes you feel like you're representing more than just a school or a conference, maybe an entire group of American citizens out there."
by Twin Cities Hawk on Jan 5, 2012 11:07 AM EST up reply actions
It gives us an opportunity to say things like,
“Look how cute! Tottenham fans think half a decent season makes them a big club! Awwww.”
Captain, there are doubt''s...
by Match Day 5 on Jan 5, 2012 1:17 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs
Oh snap
I couldn’t see the forest through the trees. Spot on, sir.
"I know you're from Middle America, and sometimes you feel like you're representing more than just a school or a conference, maybe an entire group of American citizens out there."
by Twin Cities Hawk on Jan 5, 2012 1:21 PM EST up reply actions
It is like their best season ever.
I think that’s kind of sweet.
by Sabrina Dessipe on Jan 5, 2012 1:47 PM EST up reply actions
Ok what you're basically asking Ted to do is to select opinion for the reader, rather than let the reader decide.
That’s called biased journalism. You may not like what Kevin had to say (and I didn’t agree with a good portion of the article either). But saying it should not be displayed is you essentially trying to manipulate opinion towards what you believe. I don’t want The Short Fuse to turn into Fox News, thank you very much.
SBN Bloglist:
The Short Fuse (Arsenal, EPL)
Sactown Royalty (Kings, NBA)
Not at all
If you see my response to Ted, I stated I agree with reading different opinions.
"I know you're from Middle America, and sometimes you feel like you're representing more than just a school or a conference, maybe an entire group of American citizens out there."
by Twin Cities Hawk on Jan 5, 2012 12:58 PM EST up reply actions
To be fair to Kevin
it wasn’t a front page link when he wrote it – he posted it here as a FanShot. I read it, I thought it might provoke an interesting discussion, and I promoted it to the front page. Had it been blatantly pro-Spurs, or pro-any other team, I probably wouldn’t have done that. And it was one of the more mild ARSENAL IN CRISIS stories I’ve read in a while – his was more ARSENAL IN CRISIS MAYBE IN THE FUTURE, which is a fine distinction but a distinction nonetheless.
I’m a fan of things that are intelligently written, and Kevin’s piece was – there were parts that were wrong (the whole “Spurs way” of getting undervalued players thing in particular), but overall it was an interesting “outsider” perspective that avoided the knee-jerk panic mode writing of most journalistic sources these days.
Fair enough
I thought the first part of his article was OK, then it went off sharply after that towards a “doom-and-gloom” scenario if Arsenal fail to finish in the top 4 (and that whole “Spurs way to the top four” which was hilarious and wrong).
Looking back, I think what my first reaction was to this post was that it followed so closely after the McCauley article was posted on the front page, and that my reaction – and many other readers here – to his article was that he doesn’t completely grasp the level of financial fortitude Arsenal possesses to weather falling out of the UCL. I completely agree with your line " Read sources you trust, and – most importantly – ignore those you don’t" and I feel that a writer – normally a good one – who pens a piece that had so many things we as a whole disagreed with is something that I guess I wouldn’t hold up as a highlighted example of what should be promoted on this site.
My sole purpose wasn’t to cause a shit-storm, but I wanted to voice my opinion. You all are great writers, keep up the great work.
"I know you're from Middle America, and sometimes you feel like you're representing more than just a school or a conference, maybe an entire group of American citizens out there."
by Twin Cities Hawk on Jan 5, 2012 1:10 PM EST up reply actions
Most the stuff Kevin writes is pretty standard.
I don’t normally sense a “this is a Spurs fan” when reading his non-spurs material. Mainly because most Spurs fans don’t know anything about football.
Hey-oh!
So, apparently I can now be followed.. but no stalking. @alsonamedphil
Let's be honest about the "crisis"
It is media pandering. It isn’t simply about Arsenal but about the “Top Four” culture. Basically goes like this:
Team finishes in top four gets CL, attracts top players, makes more money, remains successful. Ergo, if team fails to make the top four, all that disappears and the team will spiral out of control and become mediocre, particularly if they don’t have a rich-uncle-moneybags to buy their way to the titles, which is perfectly fine with us because who cares if people spend BILLIONS on football players.
Which, we all can see is exactly how it works for Tottenham and Liverpool, right?
The truth of the matter is (and I believe Kevin pointed this out) the only times it really has happened that the top four haven’t been top four are the year Liverpool one the CL, causing a top five, and the past two season, ALL at the expense of Liverpool – who are back in the hunt for a top four position again.
The crisis mode journalism is completely based on a faulty premise that failure to attain CL will be the death of any strong Arsenal, or any other team, competition and they shall never see/attract good players and lose their spot among the English elite. Since it has never happened, Arsenal are regularly turning over players in efforts to resist the billionaire culture and that they are rarely favourites to EVER win the CL (which really makes me wonder why it is so prestigious – I’d rather win the League), I really can’t see how finishing fifth or sixth would spell the end of Arsenal. It is journalistic myth because they can’t possibly know what will happen.
So, apparently I can now be followed.. but no stalking. @alsonamedphil
It all comes from the false assumption that the Champions League is the natural pinnacle of the game
And that assumption comes from UEFA, who have a, shall we say, ve$ted interest in making it so.
by pdb on Jan 5, 2012 4:06 PM EST up reply actions
No, it's a boiling hot Tuesday afternoon in Dallas.
Managing Editor, OnceAMetro.com
by Ben Schneider on Jan 5, 2012 6:42 PM EST up reply actions
Completely off topic but it's Arsenal related for two months so hey
I don’t get to see Thierry Henry in Portland this year! Stupid unbalanced MLS schedule.
by pdb on Jan 5, 2012 6:57 PM EST up reply actions
I get to see him twice!
As long as I drive for two hours to Columbus. It looks like you can’t even go to Seattle to watch him.
Would like to say that Arsenal were the only team to beat Barca last year
I think we have a fighting chance in the CL if we don’t lose to them this year.
I don't think the media plays off Arsenal possibly not being in the CL as a crisis...
Because Liverpool hasn’t made it in three years and United and City just got dumped out and all three of those teams aren’t being considered a “club in crisis”. No, I think Arsenal are considered the “crisis” club because we haven’t won squat in nearly seven years, after winning three EPL titles, four FA cups, an undefeated season, and a CL final with Wenger prior to this streak. For the latter part of the 90’s and half of the ’00’s, Arsenal we’re basically today’s version of United, but now they aren’t thanks to a variety of factors (poor luck, billionaires buying teams and inflating the market, etc.). Honestly though, as much as we see Arsenal headlines as “crisis”, part of that is from selective reading, we read what we want to read, and that’s Arsenal articles. Every time Arsenal does poorly, their “losing streak” and “crisis” is naturally going to be brought up by writers. But go read a recent article about Chelsea, or United, and you’ll see almost the same thing, Chelsea is too old and can’t keep up, United is crashing out, etc. Truly, the only thing I care about is my own opinion, which is that Arsenal is still a top international club and always will be, they always will contend, and if they don’t, they find ways to get back up there, and we have the best god damn fans out there, enough said…
UMD Bulldogs: 2011 NCAA DI Men's Hockey Nat'l Champions; 2008 & 2010 NCAA DII Football Nat'l Champions
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