Morning all.
There’s barely any time to course of the weekend’s soccer earlier than we face our subsequent recreation. Luton at dwelling on Wednesday evening is the main target now, though the mud has barely settled on the draw with Man Metropolis on Sunday.
I discovered the scenes on the finish of the sport fairly fascinating, together with the feedback from Bernardo Silva who spoke to Sky afterwards. He stated of Arsenal:
It is a completely different group as a result of they’re extra skilled. Prime aspect. Younger gamers with another yr expertise, and in the present day they felt what it was prefer to play right here final season and in the present day I feel they had been significantly better.
Man Metropolis have had it straightforward too typically towards Arsenal, however this season is completely different. We beat them within the Group Defend (on penalties), beat them at dwelling within the Premier League, and stopped them scoring on the Etihad which few groups ever do. I feel you might see in a few of these post-game interactions that it has dawned on a number of Man Metropolis gamers that it is a completely different Arsenal, as Bernardo Silva stated. You don’t win trophies for mutual respect, nevertheless it does exhibit the notion of Arsenal is altering/has modified, and that may have an effect on the dynamics in these face to face video games, and past.
Then once more, I discovered it very humorous that Manuel Akajni complained about our ‘rotational fouling’ (not an April Idiot gag), saying:
Once we bought by way of generally they stopped us with the fouls. If there’s no motion to it from the referee, it’s exhausting. There have been additionally some choices towards them that I didn’t perceive why he gave a foul. There are some guidelines and I feel there are clear yellow playing cards the place it must be.
Hi there Mr Pot, it’s me, Mr Kettle. Tactical fouling, rotational fouling, no matter you need to name it, has been a part of the Metropolis playbook ever since Pep Guardiola took over. Of their Amazon documentary, there’s actually a clip of Mikel Arteta – then an assistant there – telling gamers to make fouls if there’s an opportunity of the opposition profitable possession and exploiting area.
To be honest, I feel there have been moments the place if I’d been a Man Metropolis fan on Sunday, Anthony Taylor’s reluctance to difficulty yellow playing cards would have pissed off me, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a bit wealthy for a Metropolis participant to complain about one thing they’re taught to do themselves. Particularly as a result of they wouldn’t hesitate to do precisely the identical factor in these moments. In any other case, on the finish of the sport, they’d have Pep’s sizzling breath of their ear at quarters so, so, so shut it might be much more uncomfortable than the actual fact it was taking part in out on stay TV with an keen Sky cameraman simply inches away. I’d take ten yellow playing cards to keep away from that.
Anyway, Mikel Arteta will assess his squad in the present day and tomorrow, and resolve on how greatest to select a group to beat Luton whereas doubtlessly giving a few gamers a relaxation. With all due respect to tomorrow’s opposition, one we can not take calmly as our first recreation towards them this season confirmed, there may be extra chance of efficient rotation towards them than a number of the fixtures that comply with this one. The supervisor meets the press this morning, and we’ll have to attend and see how a lot he is likely to be prepared to do this, or speak about it within the build-up. My guess is a few, and never very a lot, respectively.
It’s a recreation we’ll preview over on Patreon later this afternoon. And as we’ve got accomplished for the final couple of years, we’re going to provide a bit again in April by donating 100% of our Patreon income to UNICEF to assist youngsters everywhere in the world affected by battle, famine, battle illness, and issues we’re all fortunate to stay with out.
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The preview pod can be accessible late afternoon, and we’ll carry you all of the press convention tales over on Arseblog Information. There’s additionally a bonus Arsenal Women Arsecast available now, trying again on the Conti Cup Remaining win on Sunday, in addition to the Arsecast Further beneath in case you haven’t had an opportunity to hear already.
Proper, that’s it for now. Have a superb Tuesday people.
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