Dead Lines

Football, as Rodney Marsh frequently reminds us, is ‘all about opinions’ – but clearly some opinions are more convincing than others.

Take Bolton Wanderers’ F.A. Cup clash with Arsenal at the Reebok Stadium for instance. The ‘Verdict’ of News of the World journalist James Fletcher was that “Neither side seemed particularly up for this battle – but Bolton deserved to win it.” Leaving on one side for a moment the effect that the suggestion that his side weren’t ‘up’ for it might have on Sam Allardyce’s blood pressure, the unfortunate thing is that Fletcher seemed to get about as much wrong in his judgement of this encounter as it is possible to imagine – particularly where Arsenal are concerned.

To begin with, having observed that Arsenal had recently been “dumped out of the Carling Cup”, Fletcher concludes on the basis of their performance against Bolton that the “Gunners seem to be hurtling towards a New Ice Age.” Highly melodramatic. Totally meaningless. And sadly it tells us much more about the journalist than it does about the game.

It transpires that according to Fletcher, Arsene Wenger “entrusted youth but they struggled to make any real impact against a tough resolute Bolton side” – scarcely a perceptive appraisal of the contributions of Abou Diaby, Gilbert and Djourou for example but it sets the tone.

Fletcher goes on to assert that: “Arsenal’s only real first half opening came just after 33 minutes”, which is quite remarkable since his next paragraph begins: “Seconds before the break, Arsenal worked another neat chance.” Well, at least he got the punctuation right and it sets the reader up nicely for his comments on the second half, when his claim that “Bolton were easily the better team” is followed swiftly by: “but Van Persie almost caught them napping”, then: “Van Persie had another chance seconds later”, then: “Ljungberg had a chance to break Bolton hearts after 72 minutes”. Pausing only to refer briefly to Bolton’s winner, Fletcher clearly must have departed the press box in search of another Ice Age without having the opportunity to refer to Arsenal’s late chances to save the game. Deadlines. Dead lines.

In the light of all this, his considered ‘Player Ratings’ for Arsenal can only be regarded as comic relief. Abou Diaby, for instance, merited only a grudging 5, while poor Alexander Hleb, producing one of his best performances for Arsenal, could only scrape a 4. Enough said.