The media have eradicated calm and patience in football

I'm not sure blaming the media is entirely correct. They are only reflecting the voracious appetite for football in England. Also, I'm fairly certain the chants at the Emirates of "spend the f@#%n' money!" were directed at Arsene Wenger from the Arsenal fans in the stands, not the press box!

Fair points mate. You look at the amount of money in the football, the money coming in from Sky etc and then you look at the debt that most of the clubs are in and it's bonkers. Clearly players' wages are a huge part of it but you're right, the outflow of money to agents, hangers on etc is just mad. I read something about Neymar's transfer to Barca and whilst it was a 50M Euro transfer, they reckon Corinthians received less than 20M of it. Someone's getting rich.........!

Steven, Whilst I don't disagree with most of your comments, it is undoubtedly easier to spend absurd amounts of money when someone is willing to pay an absurd amount for one of your players, but an entirely different matter when it is your own money. I realise that money has to be paid, but the rewards for being financially judicious can be blown apart with one poor purchase. Each club values players as they see appropriate, but it appears that too many players/agents see the opportunity for a large windfall if certain clubs come calling. For example, have a look at Liverpool's attempts in the past couple of seasons - paying well over the odds for English players and some others has translated to almost every potential transfer being overpriced! Cheers

Good debate Adrian. I think the points about the media are well made and happens just not in sport I am sure. I think with social media also nowadays so prevailent there is just a constant feeding frenzy. I think the issue however with Arsenal is that they have dropped from being real title contenders to being in a situation where everyone simply congratulates them for consistently for qualifying for the Champions League. One can argue the rights and wrongs of Chelsea and City - new money always irritates old money - but that is the reality and in that respect Arsenal have gone backwards. It feels like Wenger is on some kind of personal crusade against modern day forces and it is at the expense of Arsenal challenging for trophies. The Arsenal fans are not known for their impatience or grumpiness particularly but the natives are incredibly restless at the Emirates and there is a reason for it. People keep harking back to David Dein but again there is a reason. Arsenal trumpeted they had money to spend this Summer and then have baulked at the price of everyone. Spurs said nothing and got on with things (now seemingly knowing that the Bale money was coming). Arsenal and Wenger are looking increasingly naive with regard to the footballing world. Sure Arsenal had some good form last year but their starts the last two seasons have left them out of the title race before it began so the numbers aren't really relevant other than securing fourth place. The other managers do not see Arsenal as a title challenger and that is a sad reality for them.

While I agree with your overarching message in regards to the excessive hype and exaggeration stirred up by the media, Arsenal rarely does itself any favours. 1. The penalty was contentious. Watching Shearer's analysis on MotD he highlights the fact that Koscielny clips Agbonlahor's back foot with his knee before he touches the ball. Even if you don't agree with that you can hardly blame the ref from that angle and distance - it's not a howler by any means. On top of that Arsenal were completely at fault for the 3rd Villa goal with some atrocious positioning. 2. Arsenal came into this transfer market with a statement of intent. They had cash to splash and made it abundantly clear they were going to reinforce their squad. Despite this they've practically done nothing, so you can hardly blame the media for getting on their backs, especially when fans are crying out in frustration. Meanwhile their major rivals are bringing in some seriously impressive players, I mean the disparity between themselves and Tottenham is amazing. 3. I admire Arsene's desire to bring in youth and to fight against the enormously inflated prices being touted for players. Morally he's probably spot on, but morals don't bring in players. He's being naive if he thinks he can go alone against the tide and underbid for players (like Cabaye) and expect results. For that I have no sympathy. Now the club have got themselves in to a position in the latter stages on the transfer market where other clubs aren't going to sell without receiving silly offers - and can you blame then?

Do you include Liverpool in that group?

Well said, I agree wholeheartedly. As long as "In Arsene we rust" Wenger remains at the helm, Arsenal will continue to slide. I can honestly see Arsenal struggling for 6th this year if Wenger remains and fails to secure any decent signings.

@Bondy. You don't understand football if you think Arsenal Football Club is anywhere near the stature of Everton. We have major assets and amazing facilities like the Emirates and a major fanbase across the globe. You will probably call me 'a typical Arsenal fan' talking about the financial side and assets but it is a major indicator as to how big a club is. Dont you see that we payed off our stadium the right way? You think a few hundred million is easy to pay off? We had to cut back on transfers and yes, you may be right about Wenger, maybe he has got into this state where he feels he can spend as little as possible and still compete (for the top4 trophy lol). However, do you not remember the money we payed for Henry, £12million 15 years ago? That is equal to £30-35mil in todays disgustingly inflated market for players. He bought Wiltord for £13million a while back, £7.5mil for Bergkamp in '95 (that was a lottttt back then) I'm sure we will start spending soon as those new sponsorship deals we got have helped finish the stadium debt and some as been added to the bank. Whether it is still Wenger come 3 or 4 years when (hopefully) we are splashing the cash(the right way) im not sure of.. but unless something goes horribly wrong, we are in a good position in comparison to Spurs who have to change stadium and go through the process we just did. That embarrassing price tag Madrid are paying for Bale will help....

Specifics of the storyline aside, the sentiments are 100% correct. The frenzies whipped up by the media, not just in football, but in all sports, are mostly bias or agenda driven, often with little real relevance to the issue being "reported". Cheers

Excellent perspective! I am glad I am not alone to think that today's media have left their train of social responsibilities at the Station of pecuniary nonsense. They are aware that they can sow the seed of unrest in the mind of unsuspecting fans by fabricating crises from nothing. Arsenal have just completed a brilliant pre-season, with players in buoyant mood--- a 3-1 victory over City is there to prove it. Then all of the sudden, BAM, there is a crisis at Arsenal, in the week leading to the Villa game, because Mikel Arteta is ruled out through injury and Luis Gustovo was too scared about the prospects of having to compete for a starting place at Arsenal that he cowardly chose Wolsburg to save his place in the Brazilian starting eleven--shortermism, I should say. Talk of crisis then further garther pace, with the usually supporting John Cross selling out in favour of the personal glory of humiliating his own team. In his column he builds patchy evidence from excerpts of Wenger pre-game conference, almost painting Wenger as a dictator, in a tirade reminiscent of a former Arsenal player. Then, silence!!! Guess what, Arsenal thrashed Fenerbahce. What's the next story in the media? Fener were poor. But Spur thrashing an unknown quantity in Georgia is celebrated as AVB revolution---the new Mourinho. Talk about double standard. But then, nothing surprising me anymore.

People get annoyed when football clubs just simply won't concede that they Arsenal are no longer a major football club their an also ran somewhere near Everton, a solid club but going nowhere. They have a Manager in control who believes people should play professional football for fruit and not a salary, the net is closing on Wenger he won't be there next year. The media are reacting for the fans, welcome to professional football..

"the club accumulated 26 points from a possible 30 in their final 10 matches – title winning form in anyone’s book." it's a 38 game season. title winning form involves playing well over 38 games. something arsenal havent done in a very long time. "Glowing off-season reports of a side that could potentially win the title a year later have now faded into the background" those reports were based on the assumption that Arsenal were going to spend over 70 million in this transfer window with signings such as Higuain and Suarez or Rooney. none of that has happened (yet) so the media has every right to turn on them. “If Arsenal actually had a top quality centre forward to finish off their approach play they may yet be a force to be reckoned with.” perfectly rational statement from Cross. if Arsenal had a decent CF against Villa they might've won. like i said before, everyone expected Arsenal to buy a good CF with their so-called "war chest" we're still waiting. without such strike power I see Arsenal battling with Liverpool for Europa spots. Fenerbahce are in just as much hot water as Arsenal are at the moment, with their match fixing saga. hardly the type of opposition to be judged by. The media say it as they see it. If they see something that's going to sell papers they'll say it. If every newspaper in the UK had the headline "Arsenal defeat Villa at Emirates!!!" i doubt anyone will bat an eyelid. "Arsenal lose at home to struggling Villa" is a much more appealing headline.

So you're talking abour deliberate bias and misrepresentaion designed to get a desired outcome Mr Houghton ? Well we all know that isnt just confined to sport but anyways football in this country has suffered that for the best part of 30 years so a little fluff at the start of the season wont do the Gunners too much harm surely? :-)