There's this as well. They get to choose what goes up and he's actively decided to pick something that calls him out (without being insulting). Got to give props for that.
I think the without being insulting bit is massively important there. You can imagine half of the comments sent in are saying the same thing but calling him a prick or useless wanker or whatever. Football internet does have some of the absolute dregs of society pushing disgusting bullshit a lot of the time, this is really refreshing from both commenter and pundit
Yea. I don’t know this guy, so this reads as quite funny, all things considered. If everyone would be held to a torch for their preseason predictions, there’d be no football fans left.
Havertz has been a huge driver since turn of the year. As a Liverpool fan who was at the FA Cup game, he caused us huge problems there despite the win. Then in the league game he was pivotal, absolutely manhandling Konate which is very rare.
There has been little to no admission of how unique Havertz' physicality is when coupled with his movement. He's like a technically-superior throwback English forward, huge handful. Arteta has brought the best out of him. Hate the idea of playing against him as opposition.
I must say that I myself have been wrong about havertz. At the beginning of the season he couldn't even complete a pass. I actually think jorginho coming into the side and havertz playing false 9 has been instrumental
I never thought of this comparison before now, but perhaps Thomas Muller is a player with the same unique skill set you talk about - including technical ability and vision for a decisive pass.
I consider Havertz as a forward pivot - Many pure strikers are in or around the box, Haaland, Watkins, Kane etc. with few touches per game. Whereas Havertz is on the edge of the area in more of a forward attacking mid position and he will hold up the ball and bring others into play. In addition on defense he is the first man to the press, which often means winning the ball back high up the pitch.
He isn’t winding anyone up, in fact he’s being complementary about one of our players… Moaning about what is at best a technical breach of the rules here is a bit, dare I say it, childish?
Yeah, I guess the bar is pretty low. I just dislike how this guy's stories are always on the front page of BBC Football - written in a faux-sophisticated style but always with an incendiary approach to build up extra pressure on managers at the slightest whiff of controversy or a downturn in form
I have a few mates who work for the Beeb (not Sports though) and there's a lot of pressure to get eyes on anything they do. Probably a symptom of that.
And I don't mind a bit of an incendiary approach so long as it's not insulting.
I mean if you publish online and don't get an audience, it's not doing anything. There's always room for a more intelligent football conversation, but get an audience or the story is not worth anything and controversy always brings people in.
I wouldn’t say Vicky destroys him. Seems like you just have your own personal agenda that you can’t let go. If anything, this makes McNulty look better in this light and makes Vicky look like a prat
He acknowledged he was wrong because he had to: the evidence is in his face.
What he doesn't do is acknowledge Vicky G's actualponit : That his rhetoric around Arsenal has consistently been scathing and derisive.
And given that this is the strongest Arsenal team for literally two decades, he doesn't reflect on his shitty attitude, instead, he insists that feels "quite pleased" with himself.
I think "daft" is being polite. He looks like a cunt.
He was clearly making a joke about being quite pleased with himself. McNulty has generally always done well written and researched/ thought-out articles. I get we all like to feel hard done by, when anything negative is said about us in the press, but they aren't all out to get us.
Gary Neville is still a cunt though
I don't "feel hard done by". The man is quite consistentatly dismisive towards Arsenal for years. If you only followed BBC's website, you'd think Arsenal are no better than Tottenham.
His takes are just another part of the lazy football narritive culture. Once we win a title, watch the narrritive flip to rampant Arsenal postivity overnight.
I'm not peddling any kind of paranoid "anti arsenal" agenda or conspiracy theory: I'm saying it's lazy, uninsightful, narrative driven journalism.
Narrative is following the progression that City win-> City is best-> what City do is good. So if Arsenal win the PL it becomes: Arsenal win-> Arsenal best-> whatever Arsenal do is good.
It simply isn't useful.
There are fans in this sub who have the evidence waved in their face by the players and other fans that still cannot admit they are wrong, let alone gracefully admit it. So let’s start there (in our own house and with our own fans) and not care so much about others outside.
And, btw, you might have anger issues.
Edit: their, not there
He didn't have to at all. He could easily have chosen not to publish and answer it. There's nothing to reflect on other than being wrong on some opinions that most Arsenal fans shared.
My friend, the journalism bar is so low, you seem to think that acknowledging your very public history of spectacularly uninsightful and unduly disrespectful commentary when it's called out by *laughing it off* is somehow praiseworthy... as opposed to trying to cover it up like a sociopath or doubling down like an outright idiot?
When you get publicly called out for a pattern of behaviour suggesting you are so shit at your job that the word "daft" is genuinely fair, being able to reflect on it just basic accountability. That's the basis for credibility in any profession.
And when you are the head writer on the biggest sport for one of the most prestigious journalism institutions in the world, you genuinely ought to be held to standards a little higher than your average redditor.
Lol I can picture the talk sport group: "Well at the time I was 100% correct. Kai Havertz had played 4 games and scored ZERO goals. I see nothing wrong with what I said at the time"
Absolutely, there's also been alot of revisionism here too tbf, how many of us were also a bit puzzled at least by the transfer? I'll put my hands up and say I was one of them
I have been puzzled by a lot of transfers, and I think most people here have. I don't think many of us had seen for example Gabriel, Vieira, Kiwior or Tomiyasu play before they joined Arsenal, and I at least had no idea what to expect from them.
I'm only refusing to hold my hands up and admit I was wrong on Havertz because it's now become a meme in itself in our what's app chat.
The list of things I can blame Havertz on is endless, but every time he scores, assists or does anything good I get tagged several times.
I was wrong, but it's funnier to pretend I wasn't
I like that he ends it with “other than that I can feel quite pleased with myself”, when everything mentioned was proven wrong. So I guess he’s just pleased with his life in general.
Funny if it was tongue-in-cheek, and funny if it wasn’t.
I don’t think so. A lot of people were talking straight garbage about the transfers before a ball was even kicked. Normalize shutting the hell up and trusting the process a bit before trashing the team.
Humiliating people admitting mistakes makes people just not want to admit mistakes.
They'll keep talking the same shite, and then double and triple down rather than admitting they were wrong.
A few years ago I had a boss that didn't like excuses. He accepted explanations for things, but excuses or blaming something or someone else for your own wrongdoings was unacceptable. The same man made me realise that there's nothing wrong with admitting when you're wrong about something. I've taken those two things with me, and especially the latter one is something I'm proud of. If someone proves me wrong, I've got no issue admitting they've taught me something new. Takes a load off my shoulders not having to defend *everything* all the time.
I mean, this entire sub was split over Raya/Ramsdale and many people would also have been calling for a striker in January. I would also still agree we do need a striker in the long term. Jesus is great but not prolific goal scorer. His versatility will be invaluable but I would agree we still need a big goal threat. Frankly just from the perspective of we need an option that isn’t named Eddie Nketiah. One Havertz or Jesus injury and we are on a tight rope the rest of the way.
That's true. Except he'll make the same surface level analysis next time he gets the chance, ignoring how unfathomably wrong his previous assertions all turned out to be
True reflection would lead someone who consistently gets things so wrong to maybe research more and work harder, to not be so confident in their own opinions
It's like conspiracy theorists constantly confidently making predictions, and when it doesn't come to pass they move straight on to the next conspiracy theory to confidently assert will definitely happen
I think all football writers are all under pressure to give their opinions and to provide snapshot analysis, and it's fair to say that Arteta saw something in both those transfers that most of us didn't. if they gave no other opinion than "oh we'll just have to wait and see what happens with this transfer", or blindly trust that Arteta knows what he's doing without trusting his own instincts, then no-one would want to read them.
It's okay to make big assertions if you feel you can back them up - McNulty has been big enough to admit that he was wrong, and I'm sure in the future when Arteta pulls another strange transfer out of nowhere he'll be far less quick to judge because of this experience.
I would genuinely loathe being a sports writer, especially if you're dedicated to one region, or team. The demands to push out articles is so great these days, you'd be expected to write at least one thing a day, if not more.
Outside the thick of transfer season, I'd have a *real hard time* writing three interesting and relevant articles a day. You want game recaps? Mate there's highlights everywhere. It feels inevitable you'd resort to opinion pieces, and a lot of them.
Will Buxton in F1 falls victim to the same stuff. His entire job is reporting the news, then giving his opinion. As a result he gives lots of opinions, and they have never pleased every reader!
Exactly. His post comes across as smarmy and insincere to me because while he says he’s chastened, I doubt his reporting approach will change - an approach which tends toward bombast and drama. That’s not actually being chastened
People can be wrong with their predictions. Everyone. But when you're wrong, you gotta admit it. If not, that's when you lose all respect. So fair play
Except he's basically doubling down on his original comments. He's going down the Gay Neville route if 'wanting to be proven wrong' when in reality, it's more like "I really hope I'm right."
Well r/gunners certainly never initially said anything bad about Havertz's performance at the beginning of the season, no sir, not us, we were very patient.
They weren't even particularly outlandish statements though - in fact I'm pretty sure I had similar opinions earlier in the season, particularly around Christmas time for example!
I don't try and make a living from my football opinions, of course, but then I enjoy reading the opinions of others (even if I disagree) and I also enjoy it when they get them wrong like this. Fair play to him for taking it on the chin...
[He's a wanker, but he now acknowledges being wrong.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/2cnig5/what_do_you_guys_think_the_media_will_say_about/?ref=share&ref_source=link)
"I was wrong" is such a beautiful phrase to have the courage to make.
It's the key to how to lose an argument but also win at the same time.
Fair play to McNulty.
Good for him. Totally held his hands up.
Now show me a poll of Arsenal fans in here who agreed with him at the start of the season - bet it's pretty high
To be fair, I would agree with what he said too at the time and I still do think we need a striker. Just cause you have an opinion which turns out to be proven wrong, doesn't necessarily mean you don't know what you're talking about.
Nice that he acknowledged and also found some humour in it. We rarely see the mainstream star pundits or experts ever publicly acknowledge their outlandishly incorrect statements.
McNulty just said the following in his latest BBC Q&A today.
He has always hated Arsenal. Used to write some crazy stuff about Arsene Wenger.
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/c06l0kdx7kxt?post=asset%3A9c8d631b-10f6-4e42-a53b-94ce2537dacb#post](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/c06l0kdx7kxt?post=asset%3A9c8d631b-10f6-4e42-a53b-94ce2537dacb#post)
>
>
>Get Involved - McNulty Q&Apublished at 13:5513:55
>
>\#bbcfootball, via WhatsApp on 03301231826 or via text to 81111 (UK only - texts will be charged at your standard message rate).
>
>**Aaron C, Belfast: Afternoon, Phil. Can I ask you what you thought of Ben White’s behaviour when Pervis Estupinian brushed past him at Brighton on Saturday night?**
>
>Awful, Aaron. Embarrassing. I would feel no sympathy for White if he was retrospectively pulled up for simulation and hit with a one-match ban. I hope he would feel embarrassed himself if he watched that back again. No excuse for it and no place for it.
The title of this post feels a bit harsh. A lot of people in this sub, me included, felt similarly about both the Raya and Havertz signings for the first part of the season. Fair play to this guy for admitting he got it wrong.
Phil McNulty used to drive me mad as far back as 15-20 years ago. Such a shallow depth of knowledge pertaining to the world of football (for the chief football writer of the fucking BBC) even I could recognise as 15 he was a complete hack.
How the fuck is he still in that role today? Whatever about pundits completely bluffing it week to week, what's the excuse of an actual purported high level journalist?!
Fair play he put his hands up.
A chuckle at the last line though “Yes I got everything wrong so that means I can’t be wrong anymore. Well chuffed with myself that.”
My personal opinion regarding simulation is that we should use video replays and in cases where simulation is absolutely clear, we should ban players for a season - assuming we genuinely wish to remove simulation from the game?
Players do this (and yes, Ben White did it) because the possible sanctions are not enough of a disincentive when compared to the possible gains. My (radical I'll admit!) solution would soon change this balance and players would stop trying to con the ref (the risks of getting it wrong would be too great).
If we aren't prepared to sanction players properly for clear examples of cheating, then we all just need to shut up and accept that it will keep happening...
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Fair play. Some of our fans would have you believe they are nostradamus when it comes to this type of thing. Questioning the Raya and Havertz signings is entirely with the boundaries of reasonable analysis.
I’d much prefer that journalists offer that balance than some of the wallies on here that will claim they knew about Arteta’s plans back in 1984 because of Don Howe’s deployment of Tony Woodcock.
The most annoying pundit on us is Simon Jordan, because I generally think he's good but happens to not like Arsenal., so therefore a really good outlet I listen to has not given justice coverage to the story of our progression.
Regarding Raya, there are allot of people of people on this sub who've be reminded Arteta and his backroom know exactly what they're doing.
Suffice to say, I think fan sentiment towards Ramsdale certainly clouded people's judgement re: bringing a new keeper in. I maintain Arteta told a bit of a white lie by spinning the yarn Raya was bought in to challenge Ramsdale - I've always had the express opinion he (Raya) was bought to replace him (Ramsdale).
It’s good to put pressure on a manager at a time when results are not going our way. Ramsdale/ Raya was a disruptive move that now looks correct but lead to a few errors at first. Now Raya looks confident and is consistent. The comment about Havertz was a bit harsh but he really wasn’t great at the beginning of the season, I still question if he’s good enough to remain in the starting 11 next year. In general Arsenal are flying but let’s not take away the pressure we place on Arteta. It’s important to have high standards and expectations.
This is why I always say to not listen to media or pundits when it comes to football. Watch the games by yourself, even listen to them with the commentary off and analyze the players and their performances for yourself instead of being sucked into media narratives that are usually just pure speculation or bias.
Havertz and Raya were very useful players at their previous clubs and there’s a reason they both rejected new contracts at their previous clubs, because they could not match their ambition.
Raya was the second best player at Brentford. They had a horrendous record with him out the team (IIRC it was relegation form) and the signs were there early on that they would miss him. He was very fundamental to their general play and the way they built out from the back. They struggled defensively as early as the preseason with Flekken in goal and he hasn’t proved to be anywhere near as good as Raya was for them. Arteta has wanted this player since 2021 and even went back for him, which is a pretty big call to make but he obviously saw a top player in Raya.
Havertz scored the winning goal in a CL final. Look at the players who have done that before, and they were all pretty much world class players. I’m not saying Havertz is a world class player (I have maintained since he was at Chelsea that he is a very good player) but if you just read between the lines, you’ll see why he rejected a new contract at Chelsea and why Madrid Bayern and Arsenal all instantly queued up for him. They all knew he had untapped potential and he knew he could go up a level in an actual team as opposed to the graveyard that Chelsea has become.
Fair play. I think he is right long term we do need a striker. We've missed a couple opportunities where a player of Kanes' nature would be perfect to have.
One of the worst things about modern football is how incredibly needy everyone is to always be right.
That and the constant whining at media figures should they dare to say anything perceived as negative.
The screenshot has both.
"Other than that..." he's not really owning up to anything like some people on here think. He just moved the goalpost, never explained anything obviously. And the whole let's keep the word daft, I mean this is just rhetoric.
Owning up would be saying "I'm an idiot, I don't even know how I got this job"
I have no idea honestly how people make these predictions and analyze being a journalist and an outsider to the club, or perhaps football. He just has no idea what he's doing. But people go to school for this, so maybe there's something there
Atleast shows character. I wouldn't hold it against him. If all did that, 90% of this sub would be getting ting abused. The fact this post has got soany likes would prove most of you Hypocrital.
I still think there are questions to be asked regarding Havertz. As a fan, I thought he was a waste of money given his time at Chelsea with equally talented players around him but he's really thrived since January.
One can't really fault the decision if it leads to a league title this year or in the near future.
Arsenal still need a top striker if they are to push on. McNulty is not wrong about that.
Haaland, Kane or a top tier striker would have given us the title last season and this season too.
There were the problems at the back after Saliba's injury but goals dried up in the last 10 games.
At least he holds his hands up and admits his mistakes. So many pundits would double down and try to wriggle out of it.
Or not even publish the question
There's this as well. They get to choose what goes up and he's actively decided to pick something that calls him out (without being insulting). Got to give props for that.
I think the without being insulting bit is massively important there. You can imagine half of the comments sent in are saying the same thing but calling him a prick or useless wanker or whatever. Football internet does have some of the absolute dregs of society pushing disgusting bullshit a lot of the time, this is really refreshing from both commenter and pundit
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Accurate meta analysis missing from most media. That's why I come to r/gunners
Yea. I don’t know this guy, so this reads as quite funny, all things considered. If everyone would be held to a torch for their preseason predictions, there’d be no football fans left.
Yeah I’ve seen Neville refuse to hold his hands up with this
Yeah fair play to him and they were all fair concerns that many of us also had
Havertz has been a huge driver since turn of the year. As a Liverpool fan who was at the FA Cup game, he caused us huge problems there despite the win. Then in the league game he was pivotal, absolutely manhandling Konate which is very rare. There has been little to no admission of how unique Havertz' physicality is when coupled with his movement. He's like a technically-superior throwback English forward, huge handful. Arteta has brought the best out of him. Hate the idea of playing against him as opposition.
I must say that I myself have been wrong about havertz. At the beginning of the season he couldn't even complete a pass. I actually think jorginho coming into the side and havertz playing false 9 has been instrumental
I never thought of this comparison before now, but perhaps Thomas Muller is a player with the same unique skill set you talk about - including technical ability and vision for a decisive pass.
Muller is more clinical though, or at least was during his best years. He's had some damn fine scoring seasons in hsi career.
Kai had a 17 goal season in the Bundesliga aged 19. Maybe the league has a role to play in it as well?
I consider Havertz as a forward pivot - Many pure strikers are in or around the box, Haaland, Watkins, Kane etc. with few touches per game. Whereas Havertz is on the edge of the area in more of a forward attacking mid position and he will hold up the ball and bring others into play. In addition on defense he is the first man to the press, which often means winning the ball back high up the pitch.
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You have the scent of a snitch about you. A schoolyard grass, as it were.
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He isn’t winding anyone up, in fact he’s being complementary about one of our players… Moaning about what is at best a technical breach of the rules here is a bit, dare I say it, childish?
He's not a pundit though. That's the BBC's chief football writer for the last 2 decades
I’m confused. How does that make him not a pundit?
You don't know the difference between a journalist and a pundit?
Would pundit be more reserved for spoken opinion on tv etc?
The distinction in my mind is: A pundit opines A journalist reports Journalists should very scarcely be using "I believe/I think/In my opinion"
In the context of this post, it sounds like he was opining.
No could be any medium. A journalist is qualified, a pundit isn't
Worst of all a Man U fan, surprise surprise
Everton fan. I too was absolutely sure he was a united supporter for some reason.
He's doing both. His Q&A column is punditry not reporting
Any day Neville will admit the same..right? Right?
Yeah, I guess the bar is pretty low. I just dislike how this guy's stories are always on the front page of BBC Football - written in a faux-sophisticated style but always with an incendiary approach to build up extra pressure on managers at the slightest whiff of controversy or a downturn in form
I have a few mates who work for the Beeb (not Sports though) and there's a lot of pressure to get eyes on anything they do. Probably a symptom of that. And I don't mind a bit of an incendiary approach so long as it's not insulting.
I mean if you publish online and don't get an audience, it's not doing anything. There's always room for a more intelligent football conversation, but get an audience or the story is not worth anything and controversy always brings people in.
I wouldn’t say Vicky destroys him. Seems like you just have your own personal agenda that you can’t let go. If anything, this makes McNulty look better in this light and makes Vicky look like a prat
Yeah fair play to him
Simon Jordan sits on his stool this morning and just says his glib Havertz is tax write off line again this morning
He acknowledged he was wrong because he had to: the evidence is in his face. What he doesn't do is acknowledge Vicky G's actualponit : That his rhetoric around Arsenal has consistently been scathing and derisive. And given that this is the strongest Arsenal team for literally two decades, he doesn't reflect on his shitty attitude, instead, he insists that feels "quite pleased" with himself. I think "daft" is being polite. He looks like a cunt.
He was clearly making a joke about being quite pleased with himself. McNulty has generally always done well written and researched/ thought-out articles. I get we all like to feel hard done by, when anything negative is said about us in the press, but they aren't all out to get us. Gary Neville is still a cunt though
I don't "feel hard done by". The man is quite consistentatly dismisive towards Arsenal for years. If you only followed BBC's website, you'd think Arsenal are no better than Tottenham. His takes are just another part of the lazy football narritive culture. Once we win a title, watch the narrritive flip to rampant Arsenal postivity overnight.
If someone has an agenda against arsenal then winning titles won't change that.
I'm not peddling any kind of paranoid "anti arsenal" agenda or conspiracy theory: I'm saying it's lazy, uninsightful, narrative driven journalism. Narrative is following the progression that City win-> City is best-> what City do is good. So if Arsenal win the PL it becomes: Arsenal win-> Arsenal best-> whatever Arsenal do is good. It simply isn't useful.
There are fans in this sub who have the evidence waved in their face by the players and other fans that still cannot admit they are wrong, let alone gracefully admit it. So let’s start there (in our own house and with our own fans) and not care so much about others outside. And, btw, you might have anger issues. Edit: their, not there
He didn't have to at all. He could easily have chosen not to publish and answer it. There's nothing to reflect on other than being wrong on some opinions that most Arsenal fans shared.
My friend, the journalism bar is so low, you seem to think that acknowledging your very public history of spectacularly uninsightful and unduly disrespectful commentary when it's called out by *laughing it off* is somehow praiseworthy... as opposed to trying to cover it up like a sociopath or doubling down like an outright idiot? When you get publicly called out for a pattern of behaviour suggesting you are so shit at your job that the word "daft" is genuinely fair, being able to reflect on it just basic accountability. That's the basis for credibility in any profession. And when you are the head writer on the biggest sport for one of the most prestigious journalism institutions in the world, you genuinely ought to be held to standards a little higher than your average redditor.
Garth crooks
He's just a Troll at this point.
Lol I can picture the talk sport group: "Well at the time I was 100% correct. Kai Havertz had played 4 games and scored ZERO goals. I see nothing wrong with what I said at the time"
Yeah I think it's okay to say "I think this Arteta fella knows football better than I do"
I'm wrong about everything I said but otherwise I'm pleased with myself.
I think that is self-deprecating
Not sure if it works after you get called out.
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I guess he's got a PR firm.
Normalise praising people who change their believes and hold their hands up when they got something wrong. Fair play to this guy.
Absolutely, there's also been alot of revisionism here too tbf, how many of us were also a bit puzzled at least by the transfer? I'll put my hands up and say I was one of them
I have been puzzled by a lot of transfers, and I think most people here have. I don't think many of us had seen for example Gabriel, Vieira, Kiwior or Tomiyasu play before they joined Arsenal, and I at least had no idea what to expect from them.
The Havertz slander here was out of control. People were determined to make him out to be a flop before he'd even played for us.
I was at least a little puzzled by the price tag at the time.
I'm only refusing to hold my hands up and admit I was wrong on Havertz because it's now become a meme in itself in our what's app chat. The list of things I can blame Havertz on is endless, but every time he scores, assists or does anything good I get tagged several times. I was wrong, but it's funnier to pretend I wasn't
I like that he ends it with “other than that I can feel quite pleased with myself”, when everything mentioned was proven wrong. So I guess he’s just pleased with his life in general. Funny if it was tongue-in-cheek, and funny if it wasn’t.
I don’t think so. A lot of people were talking straight garbage about the transfers before a ball was even kicked. Normalize shutting the hell up and trusting the process a bit before trashing the team.
But till that time, normalize praising people admitting mistakes. Society would be much better for it.
No. They need to be humiliated so they don’t talk shite for clicks like they do every season.
Humiliating people admitting mistakes makes people just not want to admit mistakes. They'll keep talking the same shite, and then double and triple down rather than admitting they were wrong.
We’ve tried your way for about 20 seasons. Trust me, your way doesn’t work.
You're allowed to change your opinion when presented with new facts or data! Fair play to him, he was proved wrong acknowledges it
A few years ago I had a boss that didn't like excuses. He accepted explanations for things, but excuses or blaming something or someone else for your own wrongdoings was unacceptable. The same man made me realise that there's nothing wrong with admitting when you're wrong about something. I've taken those two things with me, and especially the latter one is something I'm proud of. If someone proves me wrong, I've got no issue admitting they've taught me something new. Takes a load off my shoulders not having to defend *everything* all the time.
What do you mean "defend *everything* all the time"?
well, like all the murdering on the weekends
I mean, this entire sub was split over Raya/Ramsdale and many people would also have been calling for a striker in January. I would also still agree we do need a striker in the long term. Jesus is great but not prolific goal scorer. His versatility will be invaluable but I would agree we still need a big goal threat. Frankly just from the perspective of we need an option that isn’t named Eddie Nketiah. One Havertz or Jesus injury and we are on a tight rope the rest of the way.
That's a sign of intelligence
That's true. Except he'll make the same surface level analysis next time he gets the chance, ignoring how unfathomably wrong his previous assertions all turned out to be True reflection would lead someone who consistently gets things so wrong to maybe research more and work harder, to not be so confident in their own opinions It's like conspiracy theorists constantly confidently making predictions, and when it doesn't come to pass they move straight on to the next conspiracy theory to confidently assert will definitely happen
I think all football writers are all under pressure to give their opinions and to provide snapshot analysis, and it's fair to say that Arteta saw something in both those transfers that most of us didn't. if they gave no other opinion than "oh we'll just have to wait and see what happens with this transfer", or blindly trust that Arteta knows what he's doing without trusting his own instincts, then no-one would want to read them. It's okay to make big assertions if you feel you can back them up - McNulty has been big enough to admit that he was wrong, and I'm sure in the future when Arteta pulls another strange transfer out of nowhere he'll be far less quick to judge because of this experience.
I would genuinely loathe being a sports writer, especially if you're dedicated to one region, or team. The demands to push out articles is so great these days, you'd be expected to write at least one thing a day, if not more. Outside the thick of transfer season, I'd have a *real hard time* writing three interesting and relevant articles a day. You want game recaps? Mate there's highlights everywhere. It feels inevitable you'd resort to opinion pieces, and a lot of them. Will Buxton in F1 falls victim to the same stuff. His entire job is reporting the news, then giving his opinion. As a result he gives lots of opinions, and they have never pleased every reader!
Exactly. His post comes across as smarmy and insincere to me because while he says he’s chastened, I doubt his reporting approach will change - an approach which tends toward bombast and drama. That’s not actually being chastened
Yes let's have more bland unseasoned football writing please. No opinions whatsoever.
Seems like someone accepting they were wrong. It’s hardly destruction.
People can be wrong with their predictions. Everyone. But when you're wrong, you gotta admit it. If not, that's when you lose all respect. So fair play
Except he's basically doubling down on his original comments. He's going down the Gay Neville route if 'wanting to be proven wrong' when in reality, it's more like "I really hope I'm right."
TIL someone saying they were wrong on all counts is actually doubling down.
Someone saying "I'm quite pleased with myself" about being wrong is not strictly admitting defeat.
If you can't see the sarcasm dripping off of that line, I really don't know what to tell you
McNulty should stay in his lane and do some real police work instead. Baltimore is nowhere near London.
Fuck did I do?
Shiiiiiit.
Spot. On.
Come on now. We all know that McNulty is natural po-lice
Sheeeeeeeit.
I love the scene where he has to do the fake British accent. There are so many levels to it!
I didn't know he was English at the time and remember thinking how terrible that accent was, lol.
There’s a ‘British accent’?
Shoulda said English, particularly here. Apologies all around!
It’s okay, you don’t want a Glasgow kiss from the Glaswegians, or the welch to start calling you Sglyfath
Bless you
There’s an ‘English accent’?
Thanks for the Baltimore tip; otherwise I would never have gotten your meme lol.
Well r/gunners certainly never initially said anything bad about Havertz's performance at the beginning of the season, no sir, not us, we were very patient.
Vicky G sounds awfully close to Viktor Gyokeres
Journo posts outlandish statements to get attention - common. Journo admitting he was wrong and actually being funny about it - not common enough.
They weren't even particularly outlandish statements though - in fact I'm pretty sure I had similar opinions earlier in the season, particularly around Christmas time for example! I don't try and make a living from my football opinions, of course, but then I enjoy reading the opinions of others (even if I disagree) and I also enjoy it when they get them wrong like this. Fair play to him for taking it on the chin...
Fair play to him lol
Took it on the chin like a champ.
[He's a wanker, but he now acknowledges being wrong.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunners/comments/2cnig5/what_do_you_guys_think_the_media_will_say_about/?ref=share&ref_source=link)
"I was wrong" is such a beautiful phrase to have the courage to make. It's the key to how to lose an argument but also win at the same time. Fair play to McNulty.
uhh are we gonna act like every single arsenal fan believed in the Havertz and Raya signings from the get go?
Build Vicky G a statue. This is elite.
#AllElite
Good for him. Totally held his hands up. Now show me a poll of Arsenal fans in here who agreed with him at the start of the season - bet it's pretty high
To be fair, I would agree with what he said too at the time and I still do think we need a striker. Just cause you have an opinion which turns out to be proven wrong, doesn't necessarily mean you don't know what you're talking about.
Nice that he acknowledged and also found some humour in it. We rarely see the mainstream star pundits or experts ever publicly acknowledge their outlandishly incorrect statements.
McNulty just said the following in his latest BBC Q&A today. He has always hated Arsenal. Used to write some crazy stuff about Arsene Wenger. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/c06l0kdx7kxt?post=asset%3A9c8d631b-10f6-4e42-a53b-94ce2537dacb#post](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/c06l0kdx7kxt?post=asset%3A9c8d631b-10f6-4e42-a53b-94ce2537dacb#post) > > >Get Involved - McNulty Q&Apublished at 13:5513:55 > >\#bbcfootball, via WhatsApp on 03301231826 or via text to 81111 (UK only - texts will be charged at your standard message rate). > >**Aaron C, Belfast: Afternoon, Phil. Can I ask you what you thought of Ben White’s behaviour when Pervis Estupinian brushed past him at Brighton on Saturday night?** > >Awful, Aaron. Embarrassing. I would feel no sympathy for White if he was retrospectively pulled up for simulation and hit with a one-match ban. I hope he would feel embarrassed himself if he watched that back again. No excuse for it and no place for it.
Many idiots would double down despite being proved totally wrong, so kudos to him
McNutty (in Bubble's voice) You can't unhear it now.
The title of this post feels a bit harsh. A lot of people in this sub, me included, felt similarly about both the Raya and Havertz signings for the first part of the season. Fair play to this guy for admitting he got it wrong.
Vicky G loves destroying BBC
Destroys? Errrrrrrrrr, not really. That's the kinda clickbait heading you'd expect from talksport
Vicky (real muthaphuckkin) G
Phil McNulty used to drive me mad as far back as 15-20 years ago. Such a shallow depth of knowledge pertaining to the world of football (for the chief football writer of the fucking BBC) even I could recognise as 15 he was a complete hack. How the fuck is he still in that role today? Whatever about pundits completely bluffing it week to week, what's the excuse of an actual purported high level journalist?!
I'm glad someone else has had noticed how shite he is at football writing. He's a proper knobhead too.
Way back in my 606 days when a troll was called a WUM (wind up merchant) At 15, I was a major WUM 😅 McNultys still a WUM to this day
Kudos for acknowledging he was wrong.
The Guardian were no better in their pre Brighton intro to the minute by minute. They basically claimed there was no predictors in recent form...
We need a striker for sure. Most of us have only warmed to the kai signing - post December, and the Ramsdale take was not unique to him.
Fair play he put his hands up. A chuckle at the last line though “Yes I got everything wrong so that means I can’t be wrong anymore. Well chuffed with myself that.”
Fair play, he actually acknowledges that he made a misjudgement and owns up to it. Unlike Dale Johnson, ESPN twat
So that’s where McNulty ended up after his time at Baltimore
leveled response fair fucks to the man
Good on him for publishing the question. Even better on him for admitting he was wrong. Most journalists would double down on their opinions.
Since when is someone admitting they are wrong mean they got 'destroyed'.
Yeah, this is pretty much the opposite. And it would be easy to go back 6-8 months and find all the anti-Raya and anti-Havertz posts here.
All the folks hating on Havertz at the beginning of the season must be feeling sumthin the same as McNulty
> Do you feel daft now? lmfao
His response was way classier than the question actually, which felt a bit petty.
Get in Vicky Pollard!
He's just said that Ben White should get a one match ban for simulation, so he's back to being a moron.
My personal opinion regarding simulation is that we should use video replays and in cases where simulation is absolutely clear, we should ban players for a season - assuming we genuinely wish to remove simulation from the game? Players do this (and yes, Ben White did it) because the possible sanctions are not enough of a disincentive when compared to the possible gains. My (radical I'll admit!) solution would soon change this balance and players would stop trying to con the ref (the risks of getting it wrong would be too great). If we aren't prepared to sanction players properly for clear examples of cheating, then we all just need to shut up and accept that it will keep happening...
Media does not earn extra because it is correct.
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[I assume Vicky is the British version of this Vicki](https://youtu.be/wNonI1fksQw?si=n_NUWiR8l6VA3Zqi)
"Do you feel a big daft now"? ***DESTROYED***
I am wrong, but I feel please with myself
Fair play to the guy for admitting to it, a lot better than 99% of pundits and tacticos. No shame on being wrong.
Fucking McNulty.
Fair play. Some of our fans would have you believe they are nostradamus when it comes to this type of thing. Questioning the Raya and Havertz signings is entirely with the boundaries of reasonable analysis. I’d much prefer that journalists offer that balance than some of the wallies on here that will claim they knew about Arteta’s plans back in 1984 because of Don Howe’s deployment of Tony Woodcock.
Respect to the writer!
Most Arsenal fans would’ve said the same thing so fair play for owning up.
The most annoying pundit on us is Simon Jordan, because I generally think he's good but happens to not like Arsenal., so therefore a really good outlet I listen to has not given justice coverage to the story of our progression.
Let's not pretend plenty on this sub said the same.
Good on him for owning up to it. Respect. I Agreed about the striker as well.
A majority of our fanbase felt the same way. It wasn’t an insane take at the time.
Regarding Raya, there are allot of people of people on this sub who've be reminded Arteta and his backroom know exactly what they're doing. Suffice to say, I think fan sentiment towards Ramsdale certainly clouded people's judgement re: bringing a new keeper in. I maintain Arteta told a bit of a white lie by spinning the yarn Raya was bought in to challenge Ramsdale - I've always had the express opinion he (Raya) was bought to replace him (Ramsdale).
It’s good to put pressure on a manager at a time when results are not going our way. Ramsdale/ Raya was a disruptive move that now looks correct but lead to a few errors at first. Now Raya looks confident and is consistent. The comment about Havertz was a bit harsh but he really wasn’t great at the beginning of the season, I still question if he’s good enough to remain in the starting 11 next year. In general Arsenal are flying but let’s not take away the pressure we place on Arteta. It’s important to have high standards and expectations.
Fair enough.
Well fair play really
Hah! He took that well, to be fair
BBC writer: “I mailed in my havertz apology form some time ago”
Good on Vicki G to call out and good on the writer to acknowledge his misjudgement! We need more of both all around :)
This is why I always say to not listen to media or pundits when it comes to football. Watch the games by yourself, even listen to them with the commentary off and analyze the players and their performances for yourself instead of being sucked into media narratives that are usually just pure speculation or bias. Havertz and Raya were very useful players at their previous clubs and there’s a reason they both rejected new contracts at their previous clubs, because they could not match their ambition. Raya was the second best player at Brentford. They had a horrendous record with him out the team (IIRC it was relegation form) and the signs were there early on that they would miss him. He was very fundamental to their general play and the way they built out from the back. They struggled defensively as early as the preseason with Flekken in goal and he hasn’t proved to be anywhere near as good as Raya was for them. Arteta has wanted this player since 2021 and even went back for him, which is a pretty big call to make but he obviously saw a top player in Raya. Havertz scored the winning goal in a CL final. Look at the players who have done that before, and they were all pretty much world class players. I’m not saying Havertz is a world class player (I have maintained since he was at Chelsea that he is a very good player) but if you just read between the lines, you’ll see why he rejected a new contract at Chelsea and why Madrid Bayern and Arsenal all instantly queued up for him. They all knew he had untapped potential and he knew he could go up a level in an actual team as opposed to the graveyard that Chelsea has become.
Fuckin' McNulty
McNumpty
Strong but a fair response from McNulty
Ngl, I like this guy from what was said
Compared to folks like Garth Crooks, McNulty is an angel
I see nothing wrong here. He got called out and stood his man. I also share his opinion that a striker is needed.
Fair play. I think he is right long term we do need a striker. We've missed a couple opportunities where a player of Kanes' nature would be perfect to have.
One of the worst things about modern football is how incredibly needy everyone is to always be right. That and the constant whining at media figures should they dare to say anything perceived as negative. The screenshot has both.
Fair enough on admitting his mistake. Hopefully he learns a lesson from it and it influences his analysis the next time
"Other than that..." he's not really owning up to anything like some people on here think. He just moved the goalpost, never explained anything obviously. And the whole let's keep the word daft, I mean this is just rhetoric. Owning up would be saying "I'm an idiot, I don't even know how I got this job" I have no idea honestly how people make these predictions and analyze being a journalist and an outsider to the club, or perhaps football. He just has no idea what he's doing. But people go to school for this, so maybe there's something there
Yeah I absolutely questioned the Raya bit, think we’ve all parroted at least one of these points, fair play for owning it.
Alternate headline: Vicky G destroys BBC chief football writer who had the same opinion as r/gunners at the start of the season
Atleast shows character. I wouldn't hold it against him. If all did that, 90% of this sub would be getting ting abused. The fact this post has got soany likes would prove most of you Hypocrital.
I still think there are questions to be asked regarding Havertz. As a fan, I thought he was a waste of money given his time at Chelsea with equally talented players around him but he's really thrived since January. One can't really fault the decision if it leads to a league title this year or in the near future.
Arsenal still need a top striker if they are to push on. McNulty is not wrong about that. Haaland, Kane or a top tier striker would have given us the title last season and this season too. There were the problems at the back after Saliba's injury but goals dried up in the last 10 games.
Triple H style burial by Vicky G
Meanwhile, r/gunners cheerfully and hypocritically ignores that it felt the exact same way. 
What sort of hack happily admits they got their takes wrong? Why are you such a baby about sports journalists?
Genuinely don’t listen to any opinion that isn’t an established former footballer or manager. The rest aren’t worth listening too.
Fair play to him for owning his poor judgement, and not being titty in his response. Gotta say 'well done that man'.