Sorry for the slow response to the week so far, which is still struggling here.
But … what else should be said about the football party of this evening then:
Yes, that’s what I want to see. We have to compete with 4 trophies this season, we have to give our huge team the chance to stretch his legs, but we should never run away from what we all want to see in these games → the next large Hale-Render that makes their mark on the small stage.
Port Vale Away is not a simple game. They are 19th in League One, but make no mistake, this is a sleeping giant of the competition and they will undoubtedly get up to show an almighty deep block to frustrate a team that they would like to be deeply complacent.
The most important man we all want to see tonight is Cheap.
Just kidding.
We want Dowman to get the chance to start on the right. We need him to be good. He is the backup for Saka for the foreseeable.
We will also see Myles Lewis Skelly and Ethan brought in from the cold and get the chance to remind us what a few old boys can do when they are applied to a weaker opposition.
The only wrinkle here is that Odegaard and Saka may need some juice in the legs after time from the side.
These games are about more than just winning for Arteta, they are about showing the management team that the club is healthy. A team culture can be assessed on how players show up to the smaller games. If they don’t look interested, you have a problem. If they play as if it were a cup final, you look at a team in the mental headroom to compete the entire season.
There must also be some development of Mikel Arteta. If he starts Calafiori for this, he clearly learned nothing from last season. These are not the games to go into everything unless you chase a player. To be honest, I would not be surprised to see Gyokeres touch after the non-performance against Manchester City at the weekend.
These are the nights that are ripe for Norgaard, a hincapie debut, perhaps a small experiment or two … It is definitely the season to roll into a new series of double-sided Hale students that I have never heard of on the couch.
I want it to be fun, drama-free, with a victory … So we can certainly play Liverpool in the next round.
The big news yesterday was that Madueke was out for 8 weeks. That probably means probably closer to 5-6. I suspect that Arsenal has added a little bulk in case.
The hinge has switched to Arteta’s handling of players and the crazy number of injuries that we have had in the past 3 seasons … And you know I would like to kick him on this because he has been terrible with how he manages fitness and training.
But … not this time. This is without a doubt another piece of bad luck for Arsenal. The only injury we had this season that you could distribute it would be the Saka. The rest have been freak accident or are related to impact problems. Madueke was just a coincidence, he landed badly and now he is ready.
This is not good that Arteta is a happy general. This simply does not happen with Liverpool who has a golden run of injuries that is frankly outrageous. But the most important thing is that Arteta has shifted his way of thinking about how he takes care of players and what you see, that looks like a pattern of abuse of loading management, is actually just Shitty happiness that follows him as a bad scent.
Another bad scent that follows on a part of the online fan base is giving up. I’m not really close to people in my friendship circles. I don’t meet people in real life who cry online and throw the towel early. So it is a bit strange for me to read comments from people who have given up all the trophies so early in the season and are convinced that we cannot win the Premier League because we went against Manchester City at home. These kinds of perspectives look good on an internet commentary and in a YouTube head because we are online focused on extremism … but imagine that you give up something 5 games when you are second? It is a deep untreat commentary and if you say it … you have to go for a walk. It is really depressing how weak some can be some people.
It is a long season ahead … There are 5 teams that have spent a fortune this summer, they all have really strong squadrons, they all have really good managers, they will all have ups and downs … they will win the competition. If you are convinced by a solution by 24 September, you recommend. Players are not even completely fit up to around 10-12 games.
The season is long. If you want to cry, go outside where nobody can see you. X
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#Port #Vale #Culture #Test