I’m still coming down from the glorious win at Anfield, what an amazing evening of Barclays, what an incredible result for a team that is delivering way beyond expectations in defence of its first title in 22 years.
Liverpool fans crying about how Iraola coached a win for them is very amusing. It reminds me of what it was like for Arsenal during the rebuild. Except our rebuild didn’t have £400m worth of attacking talent, or a title within recent memory, or a top-tier foundation to build from. What the complaining should remind you of is that you’re now in the moment as an Arsenal fan. If you didn’t upgrade your operating system from sniping at Arteta and the style of football, I have to tell you, you’re blowing a very short window of success being a total bore… and you’ll regret it.
One thing is for sure in the world of modern football: the ups don’t last forever, unless you juice them with nation-state funding under the guise of overinflated sponsors, at an industrial rate over 15 years. There’s usually a pocket of about 5 years before the team expires, or the next wave of signings isn’t quite where the previous batch were. Did I say downs don’t last forever? Sorry, I must have forgotten about Spurs and Manchester United who seem to go out of their way to find new lows each season. You can also be middling forever. I should have said the ups are short lived.
Arsenal are in their OH MY WORD phase. Most of what we touch turns to gold and even if it doesn’t, we have our very own dictator-like golden statue standing in the dugout, and he creates greatness by sheer force of personality. Ezri Konsa, somehow, is the signing of the summer so far… I know a lot of the freaks who read this website told me this guy was a star. I’m not sure I’m prepared to even shift position here to tell you I believed the same out here, but happy to be wrong. It was clear he was going to be good, but this good? No, not on the bingo card. With news creeping out that Saliba would be back in contention this week (here first if you read yesterday), it’s going to be interesting to see how we reintegrate and make sure we’re still getting plenty of Ezri around the team. He’s a very good right back, a brilliant centre back, and the thing we have to keep in the back of our mind is he’s also the first time we’ve had real backup for Saliba. Rotation is good.
What is still crazy to me is that we’ll go out and spend £60m on a 28-year-old backup to Saliba who can do the job to expert level, but we don’t really do that with our forwards… just take a flyer on someone who is doing well for a smaller club, or is a castaway for a bigger one. I am thinking about the challenges we have with our forwards. Kai Havertz’s form drops, the backup is not really acceptable at the moment, we’ve known that for a while. I’m not saying solutions like Brobbey, Jackson, or Igor Thiago are appropriate… but if you need a chaos body in the mixer for late-game set pieces, why not? Remember, Joao Pedro was besties with Edu’s kid, he played next door for Watford, and we passed him up for £21m. I need to see more flyers on the sorts of players Brighton, Brentford, and Villa bring in for their attacking positions.
You could be SCREAMING at your laptop saying that is Tzolis… and maybe you’re right. Just maybe. But in saying that, am I crediting you with two things in one post? It can’t be…
One area of acceptable debate I will give Liverpool fans over the game was the shirt pull from Jurrien Timber. In real time, it didn’t look like much, but I am shocked that VAR didn’t put that into quarter speed and call it a penalty. Would I be furious if that was us? Possibly. The whole thing does just add to confusion for me. It also annoys me that we don’t get to hear from the refs after the game. That would clarify the angst…
‘It was a mistake.’
Ok, we move.
‘VAR doesn’t re-ref games, and when you see the pull in real time, it’s not of consequence.’
Ok, we move.
I will just go back to the World Cup again, Pierluigi Collina just gets it right. Everyone knows where they stand, TV pundits know what’s going on, the decisions aren’t dramatic. When something happens in the Premier League, everyone is confused.
‘Well, the shirt pulling was from a low part of the garment, and the player hadn’t technically jumped at this point, and you’re allowed to pull before the corner starts, and the moon was low in the sky.’
The rules are added to, tinkered with, reimagined, and none of it makes the game easier to follow. Don’t make me rev up the HOW WE CAN CHANGE PROREF articles again.
Onto a more serious matter, it was horrible to see Tenerife player Jesus de Miguel had passed away after a horrible clash at the halfway line with an FC Andorra goalkeeper. This is a build on where we were after the Max Dowman challenge last week. Reckless actions can have consequences. This keeper was walking off before he knew it was a red, but there’s no way to look at what he did and think, if I did that in a Sunday League game, would I be surprised if I went to court? Was there intention to damage like that? Absolutely not, but that’s not the point, the action was outrageous and the outcome was violent. Safety in sport should be paramount and in England, we should make sure that the abuser is punished to the same level as the victim.
A cursory look around the league. I saw this graph.
Arsenal are doing very well in the xG league, mostly propped up by the extraordinary defending vs the incredible attacking output. But also interesting to see where Newcastle are. After all the shenanigans of the summer, it would appear that Eddie Howe was right to duck a hero, despite being absolutely key to some of their horrible signings. For Newcastle to opt for the tried and true Jaissle of the Saudi Pro League… well, nothing speaks to a lack of care like that and they might just pay a price for it over the course of the season.
Bigger worry is Crystal Palace. A team that has punched well above its weight for a long time, struggling under a Sage, a manager who worked miracles in France last season. It’s a tough role though, you come in with a good set of players, then they’re mercilessly picked off by big clubs, and at some point, the ability to keep treading water exhausts, and the club starts to sink beneath the surface.
The Premier League is absolutely brutal; the only thing these smaller clubs have on their side this season is the warmth of the idea that there might only be two relegation spots come May.
Ok, that’s your lot friends! One last thing because some are asking… I am going to shift the live show to next year. This year has been quite beastly for travel and to be blunt… the idea of spending the month of December planning for a live show is a little beyond my capacity right now. That said, I don’t want you to think I’m of weak constitution… we’ll possibly shift to a small show in April, and most certainly we’ll cook up something big for the LG 20th anniversary next September. x