Morning all, a quick Saturday round-up for you.
Unai Emery met the press yesterday and provided the latest team news update ahead of the Everton game tomorrow. It looks promising for Aaron Ramsey who was in full training after the medical team revealed it was a groin problem and not cramp which forced him off during the Newcastle game on Monday night. That’s a bit of a worry in itself, but if he’s training normally he should be ok.
It’s not looking quite so good for Granit Xhaka (groin) and Laurent Koscielny (bruised foot) who were both getting treatment from the physios rather than training. As I’ve said before, it’s a tough one for the manager because if he takes any kind of risk with a player that backfires, he’s basically ending their season. Koscielny and Xhaka are two key players in this squad, so I suspect they’ll err on the side of caution with both of them. We’ll know more tomorrow when we see the squad to face Everton.
Neither Manchester United or Sp*rs play this weekend, and Chelsea don’t play until Monday night, so tomorrow’s game gives us a chance to put a little bit of pressure on. How exactly we’ll approach it is something I can write about more fully in tomorrow’s match preview.
Meanwhile, Emery says he’s happy with Mesut Ozil, his words suggesting that the German is doing what he’s asked everyone to do this season.
He’s working very well, playing very well, he’s helping us. I’m very happy with him. I think the team has a good atmosphere, good spirit with each player helping us with their qualities and good behaviour.
That’s the spirit I want, they are doing that, and Mesut is like the others.
That last line is so interesting. Mesut is like the others. You feel like that’s what Emery wants, for there to be a kind of equality within the squad. Even though Mesut isn’t like the others in terms of his talent, his pay packet, his star profile and so on, he won’t treat him any differently than anyone else. We’re in a good place right now between coach and player when you consider what’s bubbled behind the scenes at times this season, and the main beneficiary is Arsenal. That was always going to be the case if they could mend fences, and so far since things came to a bit of a head a little while back, this is a team which is reaping the rewards of that.
It will be interesting to see our team selection tomorrow though. Emery has had doubts about Ozil away from home against teams that might be considered even mildly intense, so will he pick him tomorrow at Goodison Park? I suspect he might be tempted to choose someone who is more of a runner, perhaps Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but he must also have that great Spanish phrase in mind, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. Newcastle showed it ain’t broke, and even if Everton will provide a much different kind of test, I’d be tempted to not fix anything, and if it doesn’t work use some of the tools from the bench (which sounds much more unkind to those players than I actually mean it to).
The boss was also asked about the comments made by Danny Rose, after a week in which the issue of racism in football came to the fore again. England players reported abuse in their recent game in Montenegro. We saw the disgraceful reaction of Juventus’ player Leonardo Bonucci and even manager Max Allegri when Moise Kean confronted racists in Cagliari, and on the suggestion that players could/should walk off the pitch if subjected to that kind of abuse, Emery said:
I am in agreement. I think we need to be together for the action we can take and taking responsibility, each team. I agree that we need to be together against racism and not let anything with racism in the stadiums.
He’s not as fluent as his predecessor, but the message is clear. It’s so blindingly obvious to state that racism is bad, but as long as the game’s authorities refuse to properly sanction those whose behaviour merits it, then we’ll continue to see it happen. Piffling fines won’t stop it. A slap on the wrist is of no use. And people who should know better putting some of the blame on the victims of racism – as those at Juventus and in Italian football did this week – rather than lay it all at the door of the actual racists, are part of the problem.
Football has always had this element sadly. I remember back in 2003, PSV were fined £13,000 for racist chants directed at Arsenal players, and in the same year Valencia were fined under £10,000 when Patrick Vieira complained of abuse from their fans in a Champions League game. UEFA’s reaction then was pitiful, and summed up by the fact they also fined Vieira around £3000 for being critical of how they dealt with incidents of racism. UEFA and FIFA are still too soft and they allow this kind of behaviour to continue.
The other consideration is that what happens on the terraces, if you like, is a reflection of the wider society we live in, and we now live in a time where people with unacceptable views feel emboldened to make them public. We can’t allow ourselves to think it just happens in the political sphere, it permeates everything, and it’s up to all of us to combat it. Think-pieces and heartfelt interviews and tut-tutting just kick the can down the road until the next time it raises its ugly head. But this head needs a good slap and if the game’s authorities won’t do it, then perhaps we have to come together to demand they get their shit together, because until such time as we do, then nothing will change.
I’ll leave you with yesterday’s Arsecast, which has plenty on Everton, a great look ahead to what we can expect from Napoli next week, and much more. Happy listening, back tomorrow with a match preview and all the rest.
