Arsenal Truth responds to criticism

Haven't done this before, but thought I'd respond to those who kindly commented on my Player Ratings and Assessment blog written yesterday.

"A bit harsh for a team who got into the CL semis, 4th in the EPL and FA Cup semis. How did we do it with such mediocre plaers?"

Well, there's mediocre and there's mediocre - it's relative to your club's status and  the supporters' expectations. Arsenal are a mediocre top level European side, whereas a team like Tottenham is just mediocre full stop.

Is it really such an achievement to reach the FA Cup semi-final having been drawn against Plymouth, Cardiff, Burnley and Hull? In the Champions League Arsenal beat medicore teams with mediocre players. Last season they played AC Milan and Liverpool after the group stages - quality sides, this year Roma and Villarreal - mediocre sides.

"Some of these ratings make perfect sense, others are way wide of the mark."

If I am wide of the mark according to you then you can bet that you are wide of the mark according to someone else, and so on. It's called having an opinion, and everyone has different ones.

It's not so unusual to be considered wide of the mark when compiling player ratings for the season, however, you won't be suprised to learn that I think it's pretty accurate.

"Why be so negative towards the players. Give them confidence instead."

It's not my job give players confidence, it's Arsene Wenger's job. When I attend a game I support the team and give them confidence through my support. Writing a blog is completely different; my objective is to tell the truth -  my truth - and be honest in my opinions.

If I tell lies simply to boost players confidence or moral, then I am not being true to myself and what I am writing is completely valueless. Besides, I very much doubt any Arsenal player has ever read my blog  - and even if they did I certainly wouldn't change anything.

"Van Persie should have a higher rating as i feel he has carried us a bit this season"

I agree that Van Persie carried Arsenal during periods of the season. However, if you were to rate players performances throughout the season yourself then I guarantee that you would also arrive at some surprising conclusions.

For example, a player might have 5 very good games, marked 8 out of 10, and 5 anonymous games scoring 5 out of 10 - his average rating would therefore be 6.5, which seems rather low, but that's because you only remember the good games a player has and quickly forget the bad ones, especially if they were 9 months ago. That's why giving an average over all the games gives a much more accurate reflection of a player's season in its entirety.

"Sell Clichy? Have a word with yourself son!"

Where does it say I want Clichy sold? I don't want him sold, I want him to stay and improve. if he DOESN'T improve, I want him sold. I don't understand  why any supporter would want a 'promising' left back that delivers little going forward and a worrying amount of mistakes at the back to stay in the team every year, costing the club important points along the way.

Clichy has potential, and has delivered on that potential at times - but not consistently enough. He has to cut out the stupid mistakes and focus on defending properly; going forward is secondary - a defender's job is to defend.

"Why so down on Djourou and Ramsey? I'm not saying we don't need to buy CB's but this kid has still got potential to tap."

I'm not down on Djourou, I actually rated him level with Toure, Nasri and Vela. Djourou has done a reasonable job at the back. What do you want me to say? He's the new Vidic? He's a capable player, nothing more than that - why dress it up?

As for Ramsey, he's shown very little. I think he has a fair bit of potential, but my rating is based on what he HAS done, not what he MIGHT do. I hope he becomes a very good player, but don't see where the opportunity to do that will come from.

Arshavin should never be the player of the season as we have not seen him play a full season with consistency, therefore the rating is not fair to more deserving players like Van Persie and Almunia, who are my players of the season.

How can I exclude a player who has played around 14 games, scored 6 goals and created equally as many assists? If it wasn't for Arshavin Arsenal might not have even finished fourth.

If I only included players that were signed up from last summer onwards then I would have probably given the player of the season award to Van Persie or Sagna - but as I am sticking to the ratings I gave them throughout the season if I changed them I would only be disagreeing with myself.

"I've given you a chance throughout this season as occasionally you write a good article but actually its now very obvious that you are writing sensationalist negative articles to atract click through revenue."

Thank you very much for giving me my chance, it's a blessing. I wish all blog writers would be as appreciative to their audience for giving them the opportunity to use the Internet.

Unfortunately, any click through revenue I attract goes directly to OleOle.com. I don't see a penny of it. All I do is spend hours of my time writing a blog in my own honest way - and get mostly abused for it as if I were a rapist or paedophile (which I'm not might I add).

Not that I'm complaining, I don't have to do it, I choose to do it.

"If Arsene Wenger can look back at the season as honestly as you, and make the necessary decisions and changes, then next season could be a cracker."

I agree, there's no reason why next season cannot be a cracker. My main concern is the defence and Wenger's bad record in buying defenders, and his even more horrible coaching of defenders.

When you look at what a manager such as Roy Hodgson has achieved at Fulham - conceding three less goals than Arsenal with a defence of Paintsil, Konchesky, Hughes and Hangeland, it certainly puts into perspective how lack of money is a very lame excuse for a team not having a well organised defence.