Good morning, and happy Friday from a spectacular morning in East Lothian. I’ve got the pink sunrise on one side of the house, and the bright moon setting on the other side, sinking into deep purple clouds. It really is very pretty – and it’s very nearly the weekend! I think Friday basically counts as the weekend anyway. No one wants to do anything too serious, and people are just thinking about not being at work for two whole days. Thursday – “Friday’s Eve” – is becoming the new Friday.
Anyhoo, a few stories to get through.
Firstly up is volley-thumper-extraordinaire, Theo Walcott. Fresh from his fantastic goal against Marseille, Theo’s been talking up the squad and doing the by now traditional ‘we can challenge for trophies this year’. ESPN quotes him as having said:
We haven’t got the biggest squad in the world and we’ve got a lot of injuries, which doesn’t help. We’ve got to stay fit, which is crucial – we don’t want to lose any more players. But as soon as the players come back there is going to be more competition for places and that’s only going to be a good thing for Arsenal. I think we’ll push on and we can definitely challenge [for trophies] this year, for sure.
And let’s hope he’s right. He’s certainly right about the injury list, of course, and while talk of trophies after four league fixtures is perhaps a little premature, the ambition is laudable and it’s good to hear.
I saw someone on Twitter – I forget who, apologies – pointing out that while we do have positions where we’re light, we do have enough players to fill two first teams which are both pretty good. I do think most Gooners would agree that our first team, when everyone’s fit and well, is a pretty good side, and they’re relatively happy with most positions. But even if you substitute in the players you wouldn’t necessarily consider first choice, it’s not a bad side. Our midfield options are good, and while centre forward is a fairly obvious problem, the choices in defence aren’t as desperate as some people make out. Sagna at centre back, with Jenkinson on the right – if it comes to that – isn’t the worst set up in the world. Ideally you’d have two “world class” players for every position, but I can’t think of any other team where that’s the case.
Anyway, I’m sure lots of people will thoroughly disagree, and I do wish we’d strengthened a bit more in the summer – and significantly, the players seem to do so too – but I don’t think the options are as bad as some make out.
Moving on, and I’ll briefly mention the bitter, distracting, and contemptible comments coming from Florentino Perez about Mesut Ozil. There’s not much to say about that, except that it amply demonstrates why Real Madrid is more a circus than a football club. When the chairman/president/whatever-and-whoever-the-fuck-cares-what-he-is tries to deny what a talent Ozil is to distract everyone from the fact that he sold a really excellent player, who leads the assist table throughout Europe, so he could indulge himself in some weird attempt to spend the most money on a footballer ever (which I really don’t understand; Bale’s a great player, but he’s simply not worth that much money, and does he really have the global marketing appeal of a Beckham, or Ronaldo, for example?), there’s really nothing much else to say about him or the club he represents. Ozil was weak and couldn’t handle the pressure at Madrid? Despite creating more goals than any of your other players? Righto. That makes total sense, Florencunto.
Onto more positive things, and speaking after the win against Marseille, Jack Wilshere is looking to replicate our away form at home in the next two matches, at home to Napoli and then Dortmund:
We have got two home games now [against Napoli and Dortmund] and they are tough teams, but if we play to our full potential in front of our fans, we should be able to win those games.
If we win them both, we are sitting on nine points going into the last three games and that is a good position to be in.
It would be a very good position to be in indeed, and an excellent start to the tournament, but those are both good teams, and while Dortmund are undoubtedly going to be going hell for leather having lost their opening game, if Napoli were to win at our place you’d probably make them favourites to win the group. It’s still tight, while Arsene Wenger and the team will surely have set their own targets, it might be worth us fans remembering it’s one game at a time.
Finally for today, Mathieu Flamini has said he has unfinished business at Arsenal:
It feels good to be back home. I have some unfinished business with Arsenal so it’s a great feeling to be back. Once you’re a Gunner, you’re always a Gunner.
Except when AC Milan offer you £200k a week, I guess. I’m not bitter, honest, but that particular comment did grate a little bit when I read it.
I actually think Flamini’s signing – fortuitous as it may have been – was a very important and welcome one, and I’m delighted we and he did it. His desire to organise and tell other people what they should be doing is a welcome addition to the squad and there’s no doubting his work rate, commitment, and appetite for the battle. At 29, he’s around the peak of his career, and he can be a very important player for this team. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Arteta is fit again; whether Arsene tries to accommodate them both, or uses them as options for the same position is a nice decision to have to make.
That’s your lot for today. I’ll be back tomorrow when we can start thinking about Sunday’s visit of the hideous Orcs.
