Arsenal vs Liverpool - Player ratings and Match Reaction

[IBK]

You think that the dislike is political?

Yes we may be based in Islington, but Arsenal has historically been known as the Bank of England club…until Porn Tache bought us…the board was full of Tory blue bloods blue chip business owners.

Plus you have to ask yourself why would they then favour Liverpool or either of the Manchester clubs which are clearly left wing Labour controlled areas….Liverpool especially is a hot bed of socialism.

I think there is a certain anti- Arsenal bias in the media, but this is not political. I think it's a hangover from the Wenger days when we were perceived as a foreign team in an English league. Conversely the Sp*ds have a perception of being an 'English' 'team. It is also down to the fact that amongst a certain generation of pundits and influencers there is a preponderance of Manure and Liverpool supporters.

But it is not as marked as we might believe subjectively, and we have to accept that some of our detractors have simply followed our trajectory in recent years. We are a 'big club' that has failed to win anything really major for nearly 2 decades. Of course this is likely to encourage criticism, and the only way to combat that is to improve league performances.

Success brings admiration and alters perceptions. People like to back winners, and join bandwagons that look like they are going places. It was interesting to see us get the rub of the green from the ref on Sunday. This is what happens when a team is clearly on the up, and plays effective and exciting football.

[selassie]

i hate to be in any way tin-foil-hat about this but actually i do think our players get put under more scrutiny by the media and refs than others, and much of the media have a hard time talking us up compared to Liverpool, Spuds and one or two other teams

for example if K**t played for us he'd be criticised more for his constant cheating and violent conduct - i know it's partly his England captain status but being Spuds captain also helps him

perhaps it's the general right-wing/underlying-racist bias of much the media that's also playing a part here - Arsenal are supported by lots of 'Islington lefties', also our fan base must be one of if not the most diverse in the country

Slightly off-topic but related. It's been interesting listening to the pundit views since our victory against the Scousers. The media love a story and are beginning to talk us up as the most credible challenger to City this season. I have noticed quite a few pundits such as Roy Keane, Carragher and Redknapp are talking us up as title challengers now. I guess this is born from us winning games against our top 4 rivals.

[Marc Overmars]

Arsenal just haven’t been relevant enough over the years to give any credence to. Whether there’s an anti-Arsenal agenda or not it’s hard to really argue against the doubters because it’s the same sentiment we’ve all shared since Wenger redefined what success was post 2006 and we descended into also rans.

The title talk isn’t helpful at this stage because it’s so early. 1 or 2 bum results for us and we could suddenly drop a few places. I suppose they’ve got to create their narrative somehow and a rejuvenated Arsenal does provide some intrigue.

[Mac76]

You think that the dislike is political?

Yes we may be based in Islington, but Arsenal has historically been known as the Bank of England club…until Porn Tache bought us…the board was full of Tory blue bloods blue chip business owners.

Plus you have to ask yourself why would they then favour Liverpool or either of the Manchester clubs which are clearly left wing Labour controlled areas….Liverpool especially is a hot bed of socialism.

sure, i only said 'perhaps', but the right-wing media are essentially London-based and i can't help feeling there's something there, i get your point about Liveprool but given the orthodoxy about Hillsborough adn Livepool are being victims etc they have no choice but to be fairly uncritical or at least balanced - as for Manchester again the orthodoxy is to go on about how brilliant it is

[Mac76]

Slightly off-topic but related. It's been interesting listening to the pundit views since our victory against the Scousers. The media love a story and are beginning to talk us up as the most credible challenger to City this season. I have noticed quite a few pundits such as Roy Keane, Carragher and Redknapp are talking us up as title challengers now. I guess this is born from us winning games against our top 4 rivals.

in terms of "the most credible challenger to City this season" then sure why not, we're doing better than anyone else - but "most credible" doesn't equal "likely" - it's extremely unlikely we'll trouble Citeh unless Haaland, De Bruyne and Foden all get injured

[Letters]

Arsenal just haven’t been relevant enough over the years to give any credence to. Whether there’s an anti-Arsenal agenda or not it’s hard to really argue against the doubters because it’s the same sentiment we’ve all shared since Wenger redefined what success was post 2006 and we descended into also rans.

The title talk isn’t helpful at this stage because it’s so early. 1 or 2 bum results for us and we could suddenly drop a few places. I suppose they’ve got to create their narrative somehow and a rejuvenated Arsenal does provide some intrigue.

Right. Remember after 3 games last year the media were sucking Spurs' cocks and declaring them serious contenders. 3 games in! And after our calamitous start the panic buttons were being well and truly pressed. 3 games later we were above Spurs and while we did end up below them it was only because of our late slip, there was nothing between the clubs last season.

[HCZ_Reborn]

sure, i only said 'perhaps', but the right-wing media are essentially London-based and i can't help feeling there's something there, i get your point about Liveprool but given the orthodoxy about Hillsborough adn Livepool are being victims etc they have no choice but to be fairly uncritical or at least balanced - as for Manchester again the orthodoxy is to go on about how brilliant it is

I think you’re boxing yourself into a corner a bit on that

I think IBK is a bit more accurate in his summation of it, even though the irony is that Chelsea and not us were the first team to put out a non English XI

The main bias against us I feel was always the repeated claim that Arsenal don’t like it up them or have a soft underbelly which had an underpinning of xenophobia which believes that English are stoic and stiff upper lipped and foreigners are spineless jellyfish. I think this has had an effect and whilst the term unconscious bias is over sold I think referees have absorbed this and have a tendency to be lenient to teams who’s behaviour towards us is similar to that of Don Revie’s Leeds towards any opponent.
I think the style of football we played especially at the zenith of the Wenger era was always actually admired, and often commentators would say “it’s no longer boring, boring Arsenal”

[HCZ_Reborn]

in terms of "the most credible challenger to City this season" then sure why not, we're doing better than anyone else - but "most credible" doesn't equal "likely" - it's extremely unlikely we'll trouble Citeh unless Haaland, De Bruyne and Foden all get injured

Yep

Sky sports especially have a vested interest in talking us up as challengers though, because the best league in the world which they frequently sell the premier league as being is going to be competitive and isn’t going to have one team canter to the title (and yes it’s far more likely City will do exactly that, than we pull off a Leicester City)

I think that comes down to Haaland, as good as De Bruyne is (and he is, still the best creative midfielder in the premier league by some distance) without a central focal point for attack…it was always possible to catch City on an off day. Now I just don’t see that happening….I’m not saying they will go the season unbeaten but I think they are definitely capable of it

[selassie]

in terms of "the most credible challenger to City this season" then sure why not, we're doing better than anyone else - but "most credible" doesn't equal "likely" - it's extremely unlikely we'll trouble Citeh unless Haaland, De Bruyne and Foden all get injured

We are so far based on results and performances too which have backed them up. I personally do not think we can continue this great form for numerous reasons, our squad depth being the main one.

Despite that, I think if we can keep a relatively healthy squad then we should definitely be aiming for a top 3 finish this season.

[fakeyank]

The standard here at goonersweb has really gone into the toilet.

Thanks for all the good reads over the year there have been some good posters but it’s no longer worth visit. (I know someone will come afterwards and give me grief and say I was a lurker and no loss etc but wanted to say thanks to the sensible posters, MO, GP, seals sir, letters, LDG, Mac etc, who’ve made it worthwhile)

You missed Fakeyank in that list tbf..