MONDAY DEBRIEF: MARTIN'S KNEE, GYOK CHAT, RODRI DAMAGED
Arsenal dropped some pretty beastly news early on Sunday.
Martin Odegaard has been withdrawn from the Norway national team for their upcoming matches against Israel and New Zealand after sustaining a medial collateral ligament injury to his left knee during the first half of Saturday’s win over West Ham United.
Martin will continue to be assessed and treated by our medical team at Sobha Realty Training Centre during the international window, with the aim of a return to action as soon as possible.
Now, there are layers to this sort of news.
Arsenal would not want to send Martin Odegaard to Norway for their take on the injury, so this is partially protective. We’ve sent him away on a plane before to get their take, and that’s not helpful.
The vagueness of the injury news helps the catastrophisers spread bad news, which can also be helpful.
Martin’s scan happened on Sunday morning, but there are no specifics. It could have been a bruise, which could be weeks, then there are severity levels, the highest would be six weeks, but the middle ground could be three to four weeks.
Whatever it is, you have to feel for Martin. He really was struggling to cope with the idea that he was injured again. It’s tough mentally for a very fit player to be dealing with yet more pain and more recovery planning. He’s the captain, he wants to win the big trophies and be present in the team, and he’s been done by three very random injuries which are not his fault at all.
The importance of the Eze signing cannot be overstated. But we also have the chance to give Ethan some meaningful minutes. I don’t think it’s unfair to suggest that Arsenal were probably quite a bit better when Zubimendi came on at the weekend. So we’re not in trouble, it’s just really irritating that we can’t stop losing our core players to injuries that are more luck than incompetence.
To double down on some of the questioning Arteta has had since joining the club… he hit 300 games and he has the best record after 300 games out of any in our history, and he’s doing it in the most competitive league. He needs that big dog trophy to cement the progress. But however you cut it, choosing him over the other candidates that have been floated around the club over the past six years was the boldest move that has had the biggest upside.
There have been a lot of potshots taken at the atmosphere at the stadium this season. It’s not quite where it was, and a lot of people are blaming the ballot system and what it does to crowd cohesion. It also looked like there were a lot of gaps at the weekend, can’t confirm that, but overall, it’s a shame that the monster atmosphere has been ruined by a new process that, at its core, is about getting more access to the club by a wider variety of people. But if you don’t see that “more people want to see us when we’re good” as part of this equation, and understand that the move is punishing people who showed up when we were dross, I don’t know what to say. The whole thing is a hard balance to strike. Stadium revenue is important, but so is atmosphere.
There are some rumours doing the rounds that Arsenal are going to part ways with catering company Delaware very soon after their twenty-year deal elapses. I am very, very interested to see what the club is going to do with the newfound freedom.
When you build a new stadium, you can create new traditions. Seventy percent of food traffic tends to happen at halftime. In new stadiums, if you put something very good in the stadium, you can change that equation and spread the load to pregame. Arsenal totally ignored pregame when they built their new stadium, they didn’t utilise their concourse, and traditions were formed in a country that loves traditions. So I’d imagine the options for bringing a chunk of London’s finest food establishments in-house are quite low. But who knows. One thing is for sure… when you are based in the heart of London, there is no excuse for serving absolute slop. Arsenal are looking to expand the size of the stadium, and if they’re doing that, they have to be considering new revenue opportunities. It would be nice if they did that for people who aren’t premium ticket holders. People with the £1500 tickets will pay for nice things too. Hopefully they get some love with the new deal. But I do fear a slightly better Delaware with Shake Shack and KFC concessions.
Some extreme sensitivities going around online after that Gyokeres performance yesterday. We have the “it was a miracle to see a striker running” crowd and you have those that are paying closer attention to things like touch, control, turning into space, and making good decisions in the final third.
Here’s where we can all agree… we all want this experiment to succeed. I don’t think Gyokeres has any physical superpowers. He’s not fast or overly powerful. He’s quite short for our system of set pieces, and he doesn’t really jump that well. But he can finish, he can run channels, and he can occupy defenders, which a lot of people are saying frees up the rest of our players. My view is that the core elements to his game that we all like are table stakes for a Premier League number 9 that you would get from a lot of strikers outside the top five. I want the special sauce, and I’m not quite seeing enough of the basics to believe it’s coming. Could he go on a scoring streak? Yes. But it very much feels like we’re living in a “this is a Giroud-level player” at best.
Maybe that’s what you wanted. I was hoping for more of a freak up front. Extremely tall, outrageously fast, just one of those crazy athletes that gives you something extra when you need it. We lack that right now, and in my view, Kai Havertz is getting a lot of minutes when he returns based on what we’re getting from Gyokeres right now.
This isn’t a write-off by any means, I’m just calling it what it is this season. We’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years celebrating attributes outside goals and assists of our forwards. Learning terms like OOP (Kai) and false full back for a Gabi Jesus who wanted to be anywhere but the box. I want to discuss our striker in terms of goals, goals, goals, and I don’t want to give the “if you don’t see it” crowd a voice in this to convince me my lying eyes are actually not looking at the right things.
Strikers are here to score goals. That’s the core of the job. If they’ve only scored in two of seven games, you have the right to ask questions. Only two of his three goals are open play. If they don’t have any assists, you have the right to ask where the creativity is. If the touch is looking a bit lower-table, you can ask why that is. You have to ask the questions because what I’m looking at isn’t “just shy of banging here.” The output matches what I’m seeing.
Early days, plenty of room to improve, let’s see what he does.
Man City squeezed a win against Brentford after ANOTHER goal from Erling Haaland. But, the big story was more focused on how dreadful they look right now, and watching Rodri limp off with a hamstring issue. The player thinks he’s ok, but let’s see. He looked very upset with himself. The players powers are fading, he’s not the monster he once was, they are not the same team they were a few seasons ago. They just have a freak of a striker who won’t stop scoring goals. Plenty of weaknesses though… especially a keeper who can’t kick or catch crosses.
One note on Rodri… that means it’s 180 minutes for Zubi who takes up that 6 role in his absence.
Also, are we watching the headloss over at Liverpool? I’ve never seen anything like it. Slot won the Premier League three months ago, he’s two points off first after 7 games, and he has the best forward line in the country, and he’s being absolutely hammered. Quite insane. Football is a microcosm of society… has anyone noticed how large swathes of online commentary is just folk who can’t handle any sort of setbacks? Are we all just that angry because of social media brain rot? Are the wrong reward systems in place online? Because it’s mad watching people lose their minds over the slightest deviation from the path they imagine in their head. Nothing contructive either.
Anyway… that’s me done. See you in the comments. Get the ratings in your ears if you like that sort of thing.
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