Tomorrow.
Let’s start with a quick Saturday recap of all the Arsenal news.
There you go.
I watched the video of the Dubai training. There wasn’t much to take away from it, but I did notice a couple of things. First of all, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri appear to have been the only ones wearing headphones.
Maybe they’re just shy, or maybe Mikel Arteta has them listen to some kind of inspiring, life-affirming audiobook. Like ‘How to be a leader’, by G.Rifter or ‘Ways to get ahead in football’ by C.Soares.
So I asked myself, who uses wired headphones these days? Maybe there’s a rite of passage at Arsenal where it’s only when you become a first-team player that you’re allowed to use AirPods or Jabras or whatever.
“Today young man, you have officially become part of the first team squad. Here is your place in the locker room. This hook is your hook. There are many similar ones, but this is yours. Your parking space is 17D (don’t get too close to Jorginho, who is next to you, he doesn’t like having to get in and gets quite angry if he can’t fully open the doors of his Hyundai IONIQ 5.
“But most importantly, we now give you the power of BLUETOOTH! Albert, please do the honors…”
Anyway, let’s hope you’re learning a lot on this journey. There has been a lot of talk about Mikel Arteta and young players, and while there is obviously a lot to analyze about it, it is clear that there is a gap at the moment when it comes to players around the 19/20 mark. Maybe, and I think he’s a big maybe, Charlie Patiño might have a small chance, but beyond that, I don’t think there’s anyone of that age pushing for promotion to the first team.
It’s the next generation that could well provide a player or two, and obviously Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri are the two players people are focusing on the most. Both have been called up this season with the first team, although without playing minutes, but that is part of the progression and they have to continue working hard and waiting for their opportunity.
Meanwhile, the tanned man is making sure to catch as much sun as possible.
Hey, if I had legs that good, I’d show them off too. Beyond that, not much is happening.
Last night in the Premier League, Luton scored a late equalizer to deny Burnley all three points, but there is again controversy over VAR after goalkeeper James Trafford was fouled earlier. It’s one of those where I think the goalkeeper has made a dubious decision but is clearly blocked by the opponent. In general, in my opinion, the goalkeepers are too well protected. We’ve seen examples this season of fouls by goalkeepers and against goalkeepers that have been a bit mind-boggling, so you can understand why Vincent Kompany was furious about this. However, if you wear a baseball cap with a suit, you leave yourself exposed to this type of thing and that’s something he has to take into account.
Finally for today, I saw this quote from Eddie Howe about Newcastle’s inability to add new players in January:
I’m not sure there are many clubs that are willing to help us currently. To get a loan deal done, you need the club to agree to that deal, so we’re at that point where I’m not sure I have many friends in the market.
Boo, and indeed, hoo. I just checked Amazon and they sold out of their stock of the world’s smallest violins because everyone in the football world wanted to play one heading to St James Park this morning. You have to laugh. Because is very funny.
Well, let’s leave it there: have a good Saturday friends.
