What a bleak Monday morning this is. Usually a Monday should be the get up and go start to a new week, but outside it’s grey and we have nothing doing as Arsenal fans.
Four of our lot played yesterday for England against Estonia. Jack Wilshere seems to be getting plenty of praise this morning but I confess I didn’t see a single minute of it. I watched Jaws instead. It’s a film I’ve seen dozens of times. Back when I was a lad, we had a Betamax video player and for some reason the only two films we had were Jaws and the Omen II (I think it might have been because they were the only two films available on Betamax anywhere. And if you don’t know what Betamax is, damn your supple youth).
There was a time when I knew the script of Jaws off by heart, but no longer. Still, despite the rubberyness of the shark at the end, the rest of it holds up really well. Hooper’s delayed terror when the head falls out of the boat when he’s scuba diving is ace, and Quint’s USS Indianapolis monologue is just brilliant. So, if you’re looking for something to do during this Interlull, give Jaws a lash.
As for the Omen II, the only thing I really remember from that is a scene where a scientist (I think), discovers that Damien has the blood cells of Satan or something but before he can tell anyone he gets chopped in half by an elevator cable. That was the first time I’d ever seen anyone chopped in half. Apart from the bloke whose leg got bitten off in Jaws but as it was only one leg he was quartered more than halved, if we’re going to be exact about this whole thing.
I suspect that Omen II doesn’t stand the test of time as well as Jaws does though, so I don’t really recommend watching it this week. Unless, of course, seeing people chopped in half by an elevator cable is something you’re really into. I bet there’s a sub-Reddit for that though.
Anyway, that’s England done so the chaps can return home to be wrapped in SARS blankets and fed Ebola pudding to get them ready for Saturday’s game against Hull. Looking at the rest of the fixtures and it seems Santi didn’t play for Spain as they beat Luxembourg 4-0, and for me that’s a good thing because I reckon he’s going to be a very important player for us over the next couple of months.
With Mesut Ozil out, we need somebody to take over that role in the midfield and although Jack, Tomas Rosicky and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all capable, I think Cazorla is the most obvious replacement. That includes the games when Ozil is deployed out on the left too, but the Spaniard is capable of the creative and although he’s been on the bench a bit this season I think we play better as a team when he’s on the pitch. So that he comes back to us without having his energy sapped tearing around chasing after the incomparable Luxembourgesers can only be a good thing.
Meanwhile, later on Tomas Rosicky could play for the Czech Republic against Kazakhstan, while tomorrow Podolski will face Ireland and Wojciech Szczesny will be in goal for Poland against Scotland. Apparently he had a cracking game against the Germans last week and that’s good for us too. I do think criticism of him is warranted at times, but I put him up there with the best keepers in the league and at 24 he’s still got loads of room to improve.
France play a friendly tomorrow but all our French players are broken so that game provides no worry for us at all. And apart from that I think we’re all set. Maybe Chile are playing somebody, or have played somebody, but I haven’t noticed any OMG ALEXIS WHYYYYYYY? Tweets so I’m assuming everything’s ok from that point of view.
Hopefully something (good) will happen today so we have something to talk about tomorrow. Oh, and if you’re interested, the breakfast pie worked out very well indeed. It’s well worth a go.
Till tomorrow.
