Keown’s biased Gunners nonsense over Martin Zubimendi ‘impact’ exposed
We understand that prejudice is an integral part of football and that former players are even more likely to be prejudiced against their team than the average player, particularly when they are, for all intents and purposes, a one-club man. We also understand that talkSPORT is the place for expert partisanship.
But if Martin Keown wants to maintain his credibility as an expert on anything Arsenal or football in general, he should probably avoid comments that reveal him as either ignorant, impartial to the point where his opinions can be immediately ignored, or – most likely – a combination of both.
“In the whole of Europe I can’t think of anyone who has arrived, fitted in so well and had such an impact,” he said when asked about Martin Zubimendi’s early life at Arsenal.
“The goals he scored (against Nottingham Forest), the head, but he makes everything tick.
“He came on this weekend (against West Ham) and his introduction went smoothly.
“(Martin) Odegaard’s exit would have been an absolute disaster last season, but not this season.”
First of all, the “disaster” of Odegaard’s absence is simply absurd. He was mediocre at best when fit last season after excelling the season before. But this first statement is at the center of our exasperation.
He only needs to go about four miles down the road to find someone who we could easily say has had a bigger “impact” – Mohammed Kudus has a goal and four assists and could well be THE key driver of the smooth transition in styles from Ange Postecoglou to Thomas Frank at Tottenham.
Jack Grealish made a huge difference at Evertonwho are now a team that regularly control possession – holding a 46% share compared to just 40% last season – thanks in large part to him and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, another summer signing who has had a big effect.
And take your pick at Sunderland: Robin Roefs is currently the best goalkeeper in the Premier League; Granit Xhaka immediately became the general midfielder and leader of the team; Nordi Mukiele was brilliant in defense.
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There will be people other than Keown who also think Zubimendi has had the biggest impact in the Premier League this season. He is fourth with Jason Soutar (who supports Arsenal). ranking of summer signings. It’s perhaps not an opinion too many neutrals would share, but it’s a reasonable one – the Spain international has indeed been impressive. It’s the prefix “across Europe” that is laughable.
We can only assume that such a broad conclusion means that Keown is present throughout European football, not just the Big 5, but your lesser Premier Leagues, Bundesligas and Pro Leagues, and is therefore apparently unimpressed with Anosike Ementa’s blistering start to the season following his £900,000 move from Viborg FF to Zulte Waregem.
What Keown has clearly done here to exaggerate Zubimendi’s influence is reduce all of Europe to the Premier League’s Big Six, Real Madrid, Barcelona and PSG, in which case he could indeed be the standout signing.
Which, by the way, is a pretty big blow for Arsenal in itself. There was no need to make a radical generalization, which should not include Bayern Munich, since Luis Diaz has five goals, four assists and is the best highest rated player in the Bundesliga behind Harry Kane.