NEW KITS?

Before I jump into this post. Thank you. The DMs, the beautiful comments that made me tear up, and the e-mails. The Arsenal community is outrageously kind.

Right, let’s crack into football news.

Dani Alves has described Gabi as “my phenomenon.” Damn. That hits in all the right places. One of the greatest players of all time propping up our forward like that truly is praise from the highest of places.

It’ll be an interesting year for him. He’s showing a lot promise. He needs to convert that into goals and assists. But I am pretty certain he will do EXACTLY that. Isn’t it great having another sensational young player making waves on the international scene

Yes it is.

Does Lacazette score goals?

Yes he does.

The Frenchman scored a whopping 3 goals against Brentford B in a behind-closed-doors friendly.

I don’t know what else there is to say about that. Bernd Leno started, so I expecting that maybe Aaron might not be back for the HUGE Palace game after the break.

Partick Vieira is having a really special season with a youth project of his own. Let’s be honest here, he was very unlucky not to have beaten us at home earlier in the season, only a late winner from Laca saved us a point. This is a BIG game for us, we need to win, but it won’t be a cakewalk.

The Daily Mail is saying Arsenal will offer Lacazette, the key protaganist in today’s blog, a ONE YEAR DEAL BABY.

Look, I’m down for this. He’s a great leader, the players trust him, and he works in our system. No one else in Europe has a need for him as specific as us and it makes sense to keep experience and leadership in the side.

I’m all in. Love you Alex. You lovely man.

There’s a nice piece about Ryan Garry on the Sky Sports website.

“A lot of people talk about a playing philosophy but I think your coaching philosophy is more important,” he explains. “That is about your daily habits, your behaviours with your players and staff. That is more important, I think, I really do.

“If you see your interactions as only grass-based you are missing a lot of the picture, the fundamental foundations you need before even getting on the grass. It is about helping people but before you can help you have to connect with them.

“Coaching ultimately is about connecting.”

I was in German class with him. Has he ever given me insider information on the club? No. Does he know who I am? No. What does that say about me as a child?

Don’t even answer.

Can I talk about Mesut Ozil again? There’s an article in The Athletic that basically says it’s all gone to shit. This bit stood out.

But the thing that stood out, talking to many Fenerbahce fans before and after the game, was how unbothered they were. It’s not that they were angry with Ozil, or even really annoyed: they were just used to him not being a significant figure in their team anymore. “You came from London? To write about Mesut?” asked one, with no little incredulity.

It’s as if everyone is just a bit indifferent to him, that he’s just another player. For a man who was and in some spheres still is so incredibly polarising, it was strange to see 50,000 people essentially greet him with a shrug.

How about this?

There remains a perception that he views this as a pseudo-retirement league, and that he doesn’t really take Turkish football seriously. “Coming to a country for a vacation is very different from living and working in that country,” wrote Mehmet Arslan, in the newspaper Hurriyet.

Speak to some people at the club and they will concede that, before this latest incident, there have been frustrations, but injuries and so forth can be excused as unfortunate.

Others are not so charitable. One expressed frustration that, whenever Fenerbahce travel to away games, particularly in Europe, Ozil is the main topic of conversation from rival clubs.

They shared Pereira’s irritations, that he wasn’t impressive on the training ground and his injuries were becoming a joke. Pereira would frequently express frustration with how much time Ozil would spend with the masseurs, the perception being that he has perhaps been overly cautious with this fitness.

Yet, has every right to be, and he has maintained that he has been ready to play even when not 100 per cent fit, both at Fenerbahce and before. But Arsenal fans will be familiar with complaints about his body language, and his perceived attitude around the club.

One source recalled how Pierre van Hooijdonk, who came to Istanbul at a similar age to Ozil, would act as a mentor to his younger team-mates in a way that, according to the source at least, Ozil has not. On the face of things, it’s not a great sign when your professionalism is being compared unfavourably to a bloke who went on strike while at Nottingham Forest.

AMAZING.

I do have to counter one point… Mesut didn’t need to move to Turkey for a retirement, he went into that mode as soon as he signed his £350k a week deal.

Before we go… how about them sexy kits on the internets?

Oooof… I like.

The pink one is ALSO nice.

Finally, can we all laugh at the Spurs kit?

My local snorkelling club called and asked for their loaner wetsuit back. lololol. The designers did NOT like the brief and they gave up. Sad times.

Right, that’s me done. Love you all xxx