Good morning everyone, happy Monday and welcome to a new week.
Let’s start at the World Cup, where England are through to the quarter-finals after a 3-0 win over Senegal last night. The first half wasn’t great, the highlight for me was the dancing lion, and I thought Gareth Southgate’s side looked pretty average. That was until Jude Bellingham came to life.
He set up a goal for Jordan Henderson to make it 1-0; and then an excellent run and pass to Phil Foden helped make it 2-0 just before halftime. I love ‘Take Bellingham to Arsenal now!’ things on Twitter. Which is not to say that I don’t agree with that, I think he’s an incredible player and announcing at 19 at a World Cup is really something special, but there isn’t a team in Europe that doesn’t want it. and I don’t think we can compete.
Should we try? Of course, as long as we don’t waste time. I reckon he’ll have offers from all the big clubs, and as much as we like to think we have a chance, I suspect some of them will blow our minds, and even a club like Liverpool whose fans seem to think it’s a huge success. Pinned arrival for them – out of the water. This is a player with the world at his feet.
Personally, I think you should completely ignore English clubs (apart from Arsenal) and go straight to Real Madrid. Some of the parts of him in midfield are pretty old at this point, and he would be perfect for them. He definitely shouldn’t go to Man City, but I’ll bet you any money they’ll go for him and with their almost endless resources, they’ll probably have the best chance. Madrid is much better than Manchester. More sun, less rain. It would be good for him, and for all of us.
Bukayo Saka got England’s third, set up by Phil Foden again after a heavy steer nearly fumbled the ball, and while the goal itself is really good, replays show something special about the Arsenal man. The way he quickly adjusts his feet to allow for that spike is a perfect example of Saka’s talent. I saw a lot of people on Twitter questioning his inclusion, but that’s his third goal of the tournament and that says more than @jasonthfc022474774 and the rest of those assholes ever could.
Saka was removed, and I basically lost interest in the game at that point. I have a desire to spend time watching Eric Dier do anything unless absolutely necessary. There was no way Senegal was going to get into that again, so I watched the remake of All Quiet on the Western Front which, let me tell you, isn’t exactly a laugh-a-minute game for a Sunday night. However, quite a piece of cinema.
Anyway, England’s victory means they play France on Saturday, and I bet Harry Maguire is sitting at his base camp thanking all the stars that he doesn’t play on the right side of defence. Olivier Giroud may have become France’s all-time top scorer with his first goal against Poland, but Kylian Mbappe is the man who stole the headlines. Both of his goals were extraordinary finals. You look at them and you know what he just did isn’t easy at all, but he makes it seem that way. Almost effortless.
I don’t know what the equivalent is in other sports, but it’s like a boxer with the power to punch another man out of the ring. Wojciech Szczesny has been one of the best goalkeepers in the tournament, but he couldn’t get close to the first one although I think he knew where he was going to end up. He got a minimal touch in the second but it only served to get the ball where it deserved, into the upper corner. Poland’s late consolation was just that, and as it has yet to be tested in this tournament, it will be very interesting to see how England fare against France and what sort of plan Southgate comes up with. Three behind? I wouldn’t rule that out.
As for today, Takehiro Tomiyasu’s Japan take on Croatia early in the match, before Brazil, minus Gabriel Jesus but plenty of Gabriel Martinelli, takes on South Korea. Let’s see how much involvement there is from Arsenal in those games.
Jesus is probably back in England at the moment, and until he is properly assessed by our medical team, there is no official word on how long he will be out. Let’s cross our fingers that it won’t be as long as feared. Still, as I wrote yesterday, this injury really highlights how much we need to add to the squad in January anyway. It’s not so much that we depend on him, but without him, there’s a lot to ask of Eddie; We’re not 100% sure if Emile Smith Rowe’s fitness will continue to be an issue; and in Saka and Martinelli we have two 21-year-olds who are going to go far in the World Cup and could suffer at some point because of it.
Without a doubt, that is all that Mikel Arteta and Edu know, so let’s see what happens. Ok, I’ll leave it there for now.
See you tomorrow.
