MAKE SOME NOISE...

All the chatter before the Bayer Leverkusen was very focused on Max Dowman — understandable, what he did at the weekend was quite outrageous, historic, and extremely memorable.

But you did get the sense that Arteta and Calafiori were getting a little frustrated that the media folk were putting too much pressure on the boy, and a level of patience should be given.

Max Dowman can’t put the truth back in the box. Once you’ve seen it, you can’t escape the fact that what you’ve witnessed was something you only see once every 15 to 20 years. But, as Arsenal fans, we should do our best to remember he is a boy, we can’t put expectations of men on his head, and we… under no circumstances, can get angry if he can’t deliver in a game.

That’s why talk of England should be buried right away. Let him develop, learn to be a star in the Premier League, and get integrated into first team opportunities without the absurdity of an England World Cup. We all saw what happened to Theo Walcott when he was called up. It was by far the most stupid selection decision of our lifetimes, and it stunted the growth of the player in the Premier League when it didn’t really work out.

Still, you can play this as coy as you like, it’s clear that Dowman, in the right game state, could play a role as a super sub in the remaining matches. He’s unencumbered mentally in our attacking groups. Just look at the problems Madueke was having in the second half. Go back and count the times he was in one vs one situations and he wouldn’t take on his man. He was scared, he had the baggage of a grown man, and it affected him when it mattered.

Max entered the pitch and just didn’t care. He looked like the kid at 5-a-side who is better than everyone. Light on his feet, fast with his thinking, and consequential with every shoulder drop. It was silk on the eyes. A bottle of Lucozade after a heavy night out. He was electricity on a night that was lacking voltage.

Leverkusen is going to be a different evening, but it’ll need a spark at some point. They clogged Arsenal up in the first leg, frustrated the boys, and limited our superpowers up and down the pitch. Can they do that with the momentum the dressing room will have at the weekend? Yes, they can. They absolutely can.

The hope is that the Everton result can lift some of the creative block we’ve seen of late. Maybe that moment can inspire others in the team to take on some of that hero mindset. I’m praying Mikel Arteta has the attention of the players and the players react with a beastly performance, under the lights, on the carpet.

One suspects there will be some changes made given there’s a cup final coming up at the weekend that carries hardware connotations. But the most important game is the one we have this evening.

Timber and Odegaard won’t make the starting 11. The big decision will be on who can play at right back. I wasn’t overly convinced by Mosquera at the weekend, and I do think at home, Ben White getting the chance to show what he’s made of playing with Saka and Kai could be an interesting experiment as we search for an attacking unlock.

Trossard is back in the mixer, and I suspect he’ll take preference over Noni, who did not have his best game against Everton. I admired the tap-in for Gyokeres, but we’ve seen enough of him as a 9 this season, and it’s clear Kai gives far more to our play with his unpredictability, and talent for having more than one dimension to his game. Gyokeres’ superpower is rattling tired defences late on and being the Gyok in the Box Arsène Wenger was looking for all those years ago.

A lot has been made of Arteta taking his jacket off late in the game and getting into the atmosphere and riding the game out like a manic conductor.

“I don’t know, I felt it.”

“I felt that the team needed something else. I was desperate to do anything that it could take to win the game and to help the boys to deliver that moment.

“And I wanted to be there present, supporting them, playing every ball with them, make them feel that I’m there, that we are all there, because it’s not [just] me, it’s all the staff.”

It was very fun watching it from the sideline, he was all of us around the TV, pushing the players to new limits.

I have seen some commentary doing the rounds that atmospheres have changed in the Premier League. That things aren’t what they used to be. That ‘tourist fans’ have ruined the league. That the ‘Americanisation of pre-game’ has changed the league for the worst. That the ‘working class’ fan has been pushed out of the game.

While I empathise with people being pushed out of the game, this romantic view that change in the Premier League is all about tourists and American tropes is so f*cking boring at this point. Local fans should take responsibility for how they behave at grounds instead of constantly finger-pointing and romanticising about Steve Bull, £1 rat burgers, and print programs, when we were having the exact same conversations 10 years ago about how ‘family friendly’ killed the match day vibes.

Until I see data that says 50% of the stadium is tourists, I’m not having it that the handful in the stadium is killing the atmosphere. Until someone can explain why pre-game tifos lift the roof off stadiums in some of the craziest atmospheres in the world in Argentina, Brazil, and Germany , then I’m not having that they are a problem. And until you can sit me down and tell me how middle-class N5, after years of having the WORST atmosphere in football, now has one of the best… then I’m not hearing the whining.

Truth is, you get to a certain age, and you start complaining about the good old days. It’s just part of the human cycle. The biggest issue facing Premier League atmospheres is that it has been very hard to age down the fan base. Even when they do manage it, with Ultra Sections, the older fans complain they don’t like it. Noise is for the youth because they bring the energy and the focus. That’s why gigs are more fun to go to when it’s Fontaines DC vs Bloc Party or Paul Weller. That’s why the Ashburton Army pregame pics go so hard… because it’s great to see, it’s awesome to be around, and it makes the game more fun.

I’m not discounting older fans at all, I count as one nowadays, but misdiagnosing the problem at certain clubs as a tourist issue just stinks to me. It’s the chance to have a pop at Americans, who are the biggest Premier League market outside the UK, and some of the most passionate lunatics you’ll ever meet. These folk sit at bars at 7am, beer in hand, making up their own chants, and they’ve been doing it for long enough to not have to listen to local fans pop off because their club has to sell tourist tickets at their NFL bowl to make up the deficit. Go to any Arsenal fan bar in the US and tell me they wouldn’t sing if they had a ticket. They know all the songs, get tattoos on their face, and destroy their weekends in 4 am boozing 38 times a season.

This is Szoboszlai on Liverpool.

"I don’t think it helps us that after 80mins people start to go home. Everyone is noticing that and when we concede a goal still people are leaving the stadium. I understand the frustration but we need them. I think it should be normal that in hard times we stick together even more.

"We want to make them happy, it’s not that we do it on purpose. They can be angry but stick with us because we are a family, we need you guys."

You think it’s tourists walking out of games? You think everyone in that Liverpool stadium is upper-middle-class investment bankers? Same story at Spurs where we’ve seen fans exiting on 39 minutes. You think that’s Koreans doing that? Remember when Arsenal were clearing stadiums, do you think it was the tourists clearing Sheffield United and Burnley? No, because they don’t have them at those grounds.

One other element we should all consider is how the internet makes us feel. Arsenal fans have, without doubt, been stressed by what pro pundits think about the team, and the negative atmosphere around the club has infiltrated the stands late in tight games. My belief is the base has largely corrected that, but negative hot takes, in my view, warp how we feel about the teams we love.

The Palace coach was spitting feathers in the pre-game presser when he was challenged on his limited attacking players. He was told his football was boring and the players he had in attack weren’t mavericks. His response was, ‘before I arrived here, with those same attacking players, Palace were fighting relegation with 35 goals, now I am here, we are scoring 57 goals and breaking records and not in danger.’ What about West Ham fans, crying over Moyesball, now facing Premier League relegation because they thought they deserved trophies AND stunning football.

Where else have you heard things like that? In our own group chats. I am hearing from Arsenal season ticket holders telling me they don’t enjoy going to games right now and I am expected to feel sorry for them? Arsenal have scored over 100 goals this season, we’re in every competition, we are one of the best teams in the world on our good days, and our off days… and people are complaining the football is hard to watch with a 77% win rate? I think that’s influenced by hearing professionals sh*t on the club relentlessly. It’s not just Arsenal, we see it across the league. The Brighton CEO having to write to a fan concerned about the future of a club with only 8 years in the top flight. Arne Slot having to defend the shift in style of football this year after winning the Premier League. Tottenham Hotspur getting pilloried for bringing the wrong sort of goal-laden entertaining football. It’s outrageous. I love watching Spurs.

But, you catch my drift. If you’re in the stadium, noise is on you. Owning a classic football shirt, a faded club crest tattoo, and being able to recite the 2007 backroom team doesn’t give you special rights to sit there with your arms crossed and poke holes at new fans that want to see a game.

We don’t have that problem at Arsenal. The atmosphere was a push from the fans and manager. It isn’t the way it is because the football is good. It was a choice to support the manager and it has stuck. Players love playing at The Emirates. If we can do it, any fan base can, it’s a choice, and that choice isn’t on the tourists.

Ok, BIG night. Let’s hope everyone is in great form this evening! HUUUUGE GAME. x