There are certain sections of the media and pundits who seem to get so riled up by anything Arsenal do, this goes in to overdrive when we’re doing well.
Today I’ve seen the decision to give Nwaneri 5 minutes described as awful and a complete egotistical self indulgent move by Arteta……and I’ve also seen people list reasons why Arsenal can’t sustain a title challenge (no Arsenal fan is saying we’re title challengers)….and one of those reasons is because Jesus is so brilliant - in other words what do we do without him, and we are told Jesus is the difference and it is absolutely nothing to do with Arteta and anything he’s done!

I know many will disagree but it’s out there so often that to me it is clear as day. There is still something about Arsenal that many in the media can’t stand. The only team that comes close is Man U who take plenty of stick when they’re bad but are quickly lauded when they’re good. Liverpool and Spurs are totally idolised by the majority of the media. Man City barely get reported on and Chelsea are a bit up and down.

Have you considered counselling Rich?

That is the purpose of the forum.

I’m a cynic but I think there is more to the Nwaneri thing than meets the eye.

Playing him seems weird. They could have brought on any player in that minute rather than a 15 year old

Pure hunch but I think it’s evidence in the event a football tribunal takes place he was held in esteem ie they know he’s going to sign terms with another club before march. See Harvey Elliott

He’s just abolished the top rate of tax.

I’m thousands better off from April.

This is mental. This is just not normal.

They are literally trying to buy votes now. How does this help the poorest in society? Why are we obsessed in this country with the notion of paying tax as being a bad thing? They are burning everything as quickly as they can, regulations, workers rights. They're essentially trying to turn this country into a tax haven, which of course is what they wanted all along with the concept of Brexit.

Don't know if you've been watching The Capture on iPlayer? The second season is very pertinent. Features a company who are using data to infiltrate politics. Clearly based on Cambridge Analytica and their Brexit work. Really good series btw.

https://twitter.com/talksport/status/1572622442148790277?s=46&t=hkY4nrvC-1ZXuogshNb1pQ

Here’s another one. Massive furore in the media over Gabriel mimicking Toney’s tweet from when they beat us. I get the idea that Brentford are the smaller club but people were absolutely lining up for Brentford to beat us last weekend, all the headlines were written they were desperate for it. So if Brentford can take the mick when they beat us and Toney’s tweet was widely laughed at at the time, why can’t Arsenal have a little pop back. It’s all so harmless but some people have lost their sh*t over it.

You could make a very long list of the things we’ve been criticised for even just this season, where other clubs are given a free pass.

Of course we’re a massive club so we’ll naturally generate more interest and headlines but that doesn’t explain why this scrutiny doesn’t land on the other very big clubs.

Honestly Rich, who cares? Media will write stories to generate clicks and generate income. That's it. The fact that Arsenal are more of a topic of news headlines is because there are more people that want to click that mouse button to see us either winning or losing and any other topic that generates a "those tossers from Arsenal" response. It's all mathematics and bots.

Don’t get me wrong I love a nice tax break, I’ll get the kitchen done next year now

It’s basically a bribe. They are doing this for votes and it’s amazing how they are doing stuff they know damages the country for the retention of power.

I’ll check out that series

I don’t care that much, it doesn’t keep me up at night….just something to talk about during the slow international break.
I completely get that Arsenal generate responses and clicks- but so would Liverpool and to a lesser degree Spurs, Liverpool have more fans than us in the UK and they can be quite a precious bunch as can we. So when they over celebrate, or play 16 year old Harvey Elliot we hear not a peep?
I think we got more criticism for actually beating Fulham than Liverpool did drawing with them.

Parties are a figurative element in populist politics. There is a dying allegiance to one side or the other but there also is a huge number of people that have become overfed on confirmation bias and are being so battered by facebook and youtube that they've lost the ability to think objectively or with any sense of fact based reasoning.

There will always be people that support one another but politicians are a bunch of self serving arseholes who will never have the greater good as front of mind.

Parties are a figurative element in populist politics. There is a dying allegiance to one side or the other but there also is a huge number of people that have become overfed on confirmation bias and are being so battered by facebook and youtube that they've lost the ability to think objectively or with any sense of fact based reasoning.

There will always be people that support one another but politicians are a bunch of self serving arseholes who will never have the greater good as front of mind.

This is what Cambridge Analytica did in the US elections, Brexit and other elections around the world (Kenya was one they trialed, I think off the top of my head). They used algorithms to see how people's political allegiances tended to sway towards one side. They then used these algorithms to feed stories, videos, adverts to those people. Much of it was misinformation - Turkey joining the EU for example - but they didn't care as long as it played on the fears, prejudices and biases of huge numbers of people to manipulate their feeds, hence reinforcing a particular political persuasion. Absolutely terrifying yet amazing in equal measures. I remember many years ago hearing someone explain to me how data is king and will be one of the most valuable commodities in the future. I didn't understand how or why. Now I do.

I don't know about that. If a company hires a plumber who blames foreigners for the state of the drains, and promises to fix them while actually doing nothing and handing over the money to his rich friends ... the company is going to look at the idiot that hired the plumber as hard as the plumber himself. Particularly if he keeps hiring that plumber.

Politicians only get away with it because people don't even take the time to do a little bit of genuine research, or overlook obvious character flaws because they think their guys have 'owned the libs' (a bizarre goal to have in life). These are educated adults, who are unable to understand what would be blinding obvious to a 9 year old child.

No, the problem isn't with the politicians.

This is what Cambridge Analytica did in the US elections, Brexit and other elections around the world (Kenya was one they trialed, I think off the top of my head). They used algorithms to see how people's political allegiances tended to sway towards one side. They then used these algorithms to feed stories, videos, adverts to those people. Much of it was misinformation - Turkey joining the EU for example - but they didn't care as long as it played on the fears, prejudices and biases of huge numbers of people to manipulate their feeds, hence reinforcing a particular political persuasion. Absolutely terrifying yet amazing in equal measures. I remember many years ago hearing someone explain to me how data is king and will be one of the most valuable commodities in the future. I didn't understand how or why. Now I do.

I don't know about that. If a company hires a plumber who blames foreigners for the state of the drains, and promises to fix them while actually doing nothing and handing over the money to his rich friends ... the company is going to look at the idiot that hired the plumber as hard as the plumber himself. Particularly if he keeps hiring that plumber.

Politicians only get away with it because people don't even take the time to do a little bit of genuine research, or overlook obvious character flaws because they think their guys have 'owned the libs' (a bizarre goal to have in life). These are educated adults, who are unable to understand what would be blinding obvious to a 9 year old child.

No, the problem isn't with the politicians.

Serial killers aren’t all mentally ill. Many just enjoy killing people. That makes them unusual but not mentally ill. Money laundering (if that’s what you mean by organised crime) routinely does nothing remotely comparable to what serial killers do and it’s silly to claim anything else. Remember the negative consequences of money laundering is spread so widely, possibly even across entire populations, to an almost marginal extent it often makes a negligible difference to the individuals within those populations or groups.

Serial killers end the lives of their victims, added to which are the often extremely negative consequences for their relatives. I wouldn’t want to be the victim of money laundering. But I would much, much prefer being a victim of money laundering than the victim of a serial killer, as being a direct victim of the latter would end my life.

It’s two fold really.

They know voters are passive and pander to their obvious character flaws. The obsession with immigration for example.

The problem is also the politicians though they can’t be excused. As a patriotic British citizen would you honestly hand on heart do things you knew vandalised the country financially & diplomatically to progress your career. I wouldn’t. What about your kids futures

Funnily enough I think it's because the pollies know that they can be excused. If I was to lie outrageously in my job I'd be sacked. If I did it in society I could be prosecuted / persecuted. In politics it seems to have become a badge of honour to see who can lie the most while generating poll-based support and there seem to be minimal repercussions.

That my point exactly. People who are responsible, nice, and smart in their own jobs and families, tend to be the opposite in the economic and political views. It is because there are no consequence for the latter.

If people don't understand that it is their civic duty to at least try to understand both side of a debate, then we are screwed. We'll get the leader we deserve.

We'll also get the leader that we've been told to believe is the best one. This is where the media / social media is corrupting / screening / validating the truth for most people and also where Corporations like Facebook, Amazon and Google are now taking it to the next level in the same way that Murdoch did.

Facebook ... yes I tried that ... until I realised that Chocolate Gooner was nowhere near as much of an outlier as I had imagined. What a mess!

Lol yep no Facebook for me either. Full of nutters so I retreat to the safe haven of the Gleiber forum.

Funnily enough I think it's because the pollies know that they can be excused. If I was to lie outrageously in my job I'd be sacked. If I did it in society I could be prosecuted / persecuted. In politics it seems to have become a badge of honour to see who can lie the most while generating poll-based support and there seem to be minimal repercussions.

The best analysis I’ve seen on xhakas transformation

https://twitter.com/jj_bull/status/1572 ... fS9mBfNGkA

It’s quite strange. The new formation seems to protect the side from his weaknesses and exploit his strengths. He has a manager that understands him for the first time. He was literally allergic to going in the penalty area under wenger and always used to stop his run forward.

Doesn’t mean he’s amazing now and wasn’t before and neither does it mean he’s always been incredible. Doesn’t always have to be one thing or another.

What certainly is the case is for the first time he’s adding real value and consistency in performance

100% they know there’s no consequences

Mogg telling everyone they would get cheaper trainers after brexit. Boris saying no checks on the Irish Sea and now the issue with the NI protocol.

I mean in the private sector you would unceremoniously fired in a heartbeat.

Only yesterday mogg suggested in parliament people who are againest fracking are likely connected to Putin. He actually said this with a straight face. It’s dire, just dire

My point is that in the private sector you would be fired if you bought this nonsense, not once, but over and over again. There'd be a memo to procurements about the company not needing more snake oil, accompanied by a directive to HR to start issuing pink slips.

100% they know there’s no consequences

Mogg telling everyone they would get cheaper trainers after brexit. Boris saying no checks on the Irish Sea and now the issue with the NI protocol.

I mean in the private sector you would unceremoniously fired in a heartbeat.

Only yesterday mogg suggested in parliament people who are againest fracking are likely connected to Putin. He actually said this with a straight face. It’s dire, just dire

Sorry Bernard, but that is completely incorrect.

Corruption undermines development and is responsible for mass misery. The life expectancy of least developed countries is typically more than 10 years less than middle income countries. Look at a place like Zimbabwe. Fairly well educated, wonderful climate and resources, etc. But appallingly corrupt government.

You are looking millions of excess deaths (with unfortunate consequence for relatives, indeed!), caused not just by disease but by higher murder rates (corrupt law enforcement), political instability, and natural disasters (corrupt politician don't look after storm drains or prevent people living on floodplains, or both with fire safety) .. compared to a few hundred, admittedly luridly awful, deaths caused by serial killers.

And sorry, serial killers are nuts, albeit not necessary in a barking at the moon manner.

My point is that in the private sector you would be fired if you bought this nonsense, not once, but over and over again. There'd be a memo to procurements about the company not needing more snake oil, accompanied by a directive to HR to start issuing pink slips.

Bernard, have you ever asked yourself why you're fascinated with serial killers? Or more importantly, has your wife?

It's cyclical though. Liverpool have had blips like that in the past and then come roaring back. So a jouro isnt going to go all in on a blip and then be embarrassed a week later. Arsenal on the other hand were expected to beat them so the journo can't lose if they're critical.

Look there may be a "I hate Arsenal" bias but it is also because we're still one of the biggest clubs in the world and 80% want to see the big clubs lose.

Probably it’s being normal. My interest is fairly limited anyway. It’s Uk serial killers, and narrowing it down further, those from the UK and female. I’m way less interested in serial killers than you are with politics anyway.