Well good morning to you!

I’m not Royalist, but the Queen passed yesterday, and she was a good woman.

96 years old. 1 year younger than my Grandma who is still alive. What an innings.

Side note on the internet culture around the death. Are we, as a society, at the point when it is like some sort of honour to have your death bantered hard?

The most amusing thing for me is the Be Kind crowd who go to war for the most inane of things online are all deep in the mixer sharing grim memes like Queen Elizabeth spent the last 70 years conquering lands like a king from the 1600s. Wearing ‘I hate the Queen’ as some sort of edgy personality trait is so beyond boring.

Gotta say though, if I die, and everyone memes my passing, know this… I wanted it that way.

RIGHT, how about that Europa game?

Pretty drab at times.

You gotta put these things into context: Going to FC Zurich is as exciting for the players as it is for you.

The performance wasn’t unrecognisable like our bad performances have been over the years when we switch into second team mode, but it wasn’t close to peak anything. It was basically first gear Arsenal. The passing was fast, players moved, but the end product wasn’t really there, and we didn’t feel quite as brutal as we had done.

We went a goal up nice an early, Fabio Vieira released Eddie out wide, the centre forward powered forward, clipped a ball to the back stick via a slight deflection, and new boy Marquinhos guided a bullet strike into the top corner. The kid looked VERY happy to score, he kissed the floor, and looked to the sky to thank the footballing gods.

We continued to dominate. Then we did what all great Arsenal sides of the past have done: We let them back in. Eddie gave away a soft penalty. Our keeper, who had a 50% save rate in MLS dived the wrong way. It was 1-1.

The second half was frustrating. Decisions weren’t great in the forward line. We didn’t really make anything count. Then our new Brazilian stepped up, floated a ball to the back post, Eddie was there to finish for his first of the season.

Marquinhos looks like a player and half. He’s strong, he has great balance, his technique looks very sharp, and he works like a dog. It looks like Edu might have pulled off another great signing. Is he good enough to do that in the Premier League? Possibly.

I also had a lot of heart for the Eddie performance, he did what he needed to do in a bland game. A goal and an assist. Shame about the penalty that looked soft.

I am a little worried about the keeper signing. Bernd Leno talked about the politics at Arsenal and he’s being very precise about his target who is the goalkeeping coach he didn’t like and fell out with. I heard Emi Martinez had the same issue. Sal Bibbo was moved on because of him. Mikel Arteta is mister culture until it comes to dealing with the guy that put in a big recommendation for Alex Runnarson.

I’d maybe give him some slack if our keepers had been dropping the equivalent performances that we see our players after being exposed to Nico Jover, but they don’t, they start well and tank. Matt Turner looks like a rabbit in headlights at the moment, we are in big trouble if that Aaron hamstring doesn’t get addressed. That’s a huge worry. The thing that grates me is Tony Roberts, exArsenal, is the Wolves keeping coach and he’s bossing it with his boys. Jose Sa was one of the best in the league last season. It’s a shame we don’t have someone like that at Arsenal.

We have the win. The other game was a draw. United were battered by Real Sociedad. I’ll take the points and run.

I was worried about the Everton game, but now that’s been cancelled, so it’s another week to prepare for the PSV game. Players will get a bit of rest, Thomas Partey will be closer to a return, and maybe the players can get on the training field to work on some bits.

It’s a bit weird we’d cancel all the games. Especially as cricket and ruggers didn’t follow the same path. Fans all over the country will have paid for tickets and hotels. It’s such an odd decision. As Matt said on the podcast, wouldn’t 2 minutes of applause been better? Wouldn’t the red arrows over london have been more suitable? It’s so odd for football the throw itself on the floor as the biggest mourners.

Ok, I’ll be back tomorrow. Have a great night. Jump on our Patreon which went from a Before the Whistle to an After The Whistle.

PATREON