1 WEEK UNTIL RESTART

Well good morning.

Are you all ok dealing with the fact Emi Martinez won a World Cup? I’m not.

Honestly, his performance was outrageous, that save at the end of extra time was special, and his penalty saves are top, top drawer.

But Emi?

I can’t man.

Imagine getting to the top of the game, winning a golden glove, then posing with it 1) Like it’s an erection you are massaging 2) Like the thumb is also erection and you put it close to your face in a suggestive manner. It’s like he was hammered in Kavos hanging with Hen Party accouterments.

‘but he won the World Cup, he won’t care’

Sure, but imagine that being your photographic legacy? A little bit classless.

Messi taking the win was special though. He truly is a freak of the game. People say we’ll never see his like again, yes, we will… but my what a journey he’s been on. He fully deserves that moment.

The bisht (robe)? Honestly man, I cannot listen to all these righteous bores saying ‘it’s culture, educate yourself.’ Like something being ‘cultural’ immediately makes it absolutely fine regardless of occassion. Messi lifting the cup and the surprise introduction of a cultural robe of another country was distasteful. That was Argentina’s moment, not another opportunity for the host nation to remind us they were in fact the host nation. Amazing how many people that were quiet on human rights prior and during the World Cup are quite happy to take massive offence to questions around the bisht, happily calling people a whole slew of -phobes and -isms. But you know why I rest easy? The picture of the World Cup that will be iconic will be Messi on the shoulders of his teammates. That’ll be the reference image that goes in museums. It’s also worth correcting everyone citing Pele wearing a sombrero… that was not gifted by a head of state, it was gifted by a fan. No head of state has ever put something over a player about to lift a World Cup.

As for the World Cup? I mean, it was a good one, and the nation of Qatar should be commended for it. It wasn’t Fyre Island. Very few people got in trouble. There was literally no controversy.

Mainly, I think, because there weren’t a lot of real fans there. But whatever, Qatar had their moment, the football was really fun and engaging, and I think the Sportswashing 100% did the job in the end. People know what Qatar is now and they’ve certainly softened its reputation globally.

I knew things were returning to normal when Gary Neville, right at the end of the hefty tournament contract, used his extremely well-paid platform to return to ‘concerned man of the people.’

‘I don’t always agree with Gary, but I agree with him’

It’s so painful that people let him get away with it. It is what it is.

Now for serious Arsenal stuff.

Arsenal Admin saying ‘Our Wilo’ on main makes me dry heave. Just call him Big Bill or something. ‘Our Wilo’ sounds like a wounded baby rabbit in a 1950s Disney movie, desperately searching out his mother in the cold of winter when reality dawns, our Wilo’s mother has been caught by the farmer’s wife and sadly, she is in the pie on the window ledge.

Drives me up the wall.

‘Big Bill Saliba, World Cup runner-up, total ledge, see you in N5 son’ would be far more fitting.

Arsenal lost to Juventus. Reading around some of the nonsense after has been painful.

‘3 months of Eddie!’

‘Arsenal not good enough outside first team’

Give it a rest. 19 shots on goal vs their 2. We lost on two own goals. It was just one of those evenings that people have to prepare themselves for in H2 of the season.

As for Eddie. He had the ball in the net twice. Hit the post. Had 5 shots. Completed 2 key passes. By any standard, that is a decent contribution. There are so many people really keen that he fails. This feels a little like the fans who thought Ben White was too short to be good for Arsenal and that we should have invested elsewhere.

Get it right about strikers… they miss chances. The key is to not get down about it. Eddie missed an open goal AFTER he pressed Juve into a mistake. You’d rather your striker miss chances than not be in a position to have them. He’ll be good this next part of the season.

My bigger worry is that Tomi has a hamstring injury again.

Zinchenko breaks down a lot for a player that hasn’t played a lot over the past few years.

ESR isn’t going to be ready for West Ham.

I really would like to see all three of those stay fit for the next 3 months because I think all of them will be essential to our H2 success.

There is good news on Gabi J, rumours Arsenal expect him back for Leicester. I think the club is likely to leak later just to avoid disappointment, so hopefully, we get a surprise early return… maybe Man City?

Right, we’ve got a week until our first game. Proper football can return. Let’s GO!