Tomorrow.
First of all, thanks to everyone who sent kind thoughts and nice words regarding: the 21st day of the site yesterday. You’re great. Which doesn’t mean that people who didn’t send kind thoughts and kind words aren’t great, but I can’t be 100% sure. I hope you understand.
Having talked about him on Arsecast Extra yesterday, wondering why he hadn’t played a few minutes with the youth teams, it was remarkable to see Emile Smith Rowe start for the Under-21s against Chelsea last night. He played 45 minutes of the 1-0 loss, and although I didn’t see him and can’t comment on his performance, these minutes will be very useful for him.
I was wondering if we could see him last Saturday against Leicester, because cameos from the bench are how he’s going to build his fitness for the game. However, when you look at his season, he clearly has a bit of a way to go before he can begin to push to start. He has played just 47 minutes of Premier League football, and that came in five minor side appearances. He has 15 minutes in the FA Cup, in the 3-0 win over Oxford, and you have to go back to April 23, 2022 for his last start in the Premier League.
It’s the end of February now, so it’s been the best part of the year, and I think what we’re seeing right now is a cautious approach to his fitness. The recent surgery was to correct a problem he had been tinkering with for years, so you can understand why he isn’t being brought back in too much of a hurry. His reintegration into the game-day squad will be part of this process, and I think we’ll see some partial appearances here and there for a few weeks.
Which is not to say that they cannot be effective. Our second leading scorer last season, Smith Rowe hit a string of goals off the bench and as we approach the end of the campaign, having the ability to switch games with substitutes will be absolutely crucial. He can still play a big role, and if there are no ill effects and he can get 100% fit, there’s no reason he can’t push and compete for a starting job.
It was interesting to see Jakub Kiwior also play for the Under-21s last night. It makes sense, because although he has been part of the squad since his arrival, he has not played. When you consider that he made 20 appearances, including 17 Serie A starts for Spezia, he will have cooled off a bit. It is also more difficult for a defender to have minutes. Generally, the only time you trade a central defender is due to injury, or you release them late to do a Rob Holding-type job.
Gabriel has been very good this season and there is no reason to make any changes in the team. The partnership between the Brazilian and William Saliba has been strong, but who knows when Kiwior will be needed? One injury, one suspension and all of a sudden he’s on the team, so last night’s action makes sense. Like I said about: Smith Rowe, I didn’t see it, but I did see people on Twitter talking about his passing range, and we know that’s something the coach considers important to his center halves.
Beyond that, there isn’t much to do. Mikel Arteta will meet the press this morning before our game against Everton tomorrow night. A game, by the way, that is not on TV in this part of the world, which seems crazy to me considering how important it is. Not to mention, around the world there will be live coverage in almost every country.
There was a recent story in The Athletic about how ‘illegal streaming is a ‘real threat’ in English football’. Police manpower was reportedly used to raid 1000 homes in a ‘crackdown’, good job – going after the real criminals there, huh? But what the hell are you waiting for? The fans love their teams, the Premier League has cynically and deliberately co-opted that fandom to create their own lucrative product, yet the UK and Ireland remain the only places on the planet where you don’t have access to every game.
It doesn’t make any business sense and even though I know there are certain restrictions, like the absurd 3:00 p.m. restricted in terms of live coverage. Imagine if we could watch every NFL game live, which in the US 35% of the games just don’t show. You would say it was stupid, and you would be right.
That’s before we even get into the discussion of the price of Sky, BT etc, and the fact that you now have to pay for various subscriptions to see the games on offer. Fans in the UK and Ireland are being taken for a ride, and the only way to watch the game against Everton is through an ‘illegal’ broadcast which, by the way, is someone taking Premier coverage. League from another country and broadcasts it. It’s not like they’re movie pirates, bringing a camcorder into the movie theater to record new releases.
For all the talk about how TV deals are the best in the world, remember that the need to stream isn’t simply that people want something for free, because I’m pretty sure most people would pay for one. good HD coverage of each game. was available, it is because many times there is no other option.
I will transmit. I won’t feel a bit guilty.
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Right, that’s your turn today – for some more reading, Lewis has a new Tactics Column here. We’ll be back with more tomorrow and join us for a Premier League preview podcast on Patreon later this afternoon.
