MATCH DAY BLOG: EVERTON (A)
LAST TIME WE HAVE PLAY AT GOODISON PARK, SUPERB NEWS
Listen, I appreciate that I’ve been whining a lot over the past couple of weeks. But certain things do grate on me, and one of those is having to clarify that I’m not a doctor. When I write pieces on very specific topics that are outside my area of expertise, it’s because I speak to people who do have expertise. This blog has been well-sourced for a very long time. I don’t follow the club narrative so closely or have shareable insights because I’m a book nerd who can piece things together on my own. It’s because I’m good at chatting breeze with people who know more than me. I take their thoughts, package them as my own, and I win. Not the clever person who I spoke to. I do this to my friends as well, just ask Matt Kandela. I’m essentially telling you I’m a fraud so you’ll accept my article from yesterday. Now sub up.
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The gist of the post yesterday was:
Tools for understanding injuries are offering more detail than ever before.
When you have more detail, you improve your chances of finding better medical procedures.
When you have better medical procedures, you tend to reduce scarring during surgery because you know exactly what you’re looking at.
There is nothing more “internet” than putting down expert testimony and being told it’s wrong—that natural healing of serious hamstring injuries is a better approach. Clearly, it is not, otherwise clubs would be on the natural healing process.
Arteta was actually asked about the training methods that may have played a role in the issue, and he was open to change:
“We can do. The sample is very, very small because last year we were the best team in that aspect, so we'll continue with the same methodology and alter things. It's true that this season we started with a really short squad, with some already injured players in the first two international breaks, and that really narrowed the team so much. That put more load on players, but that's the context we are in.”
Not a full win, but at least an acceptance that the club will look at everything heading into next season. The reality, as laid out by the manager himself, is that lots of factors impact player fitness. My hope, my dream... my deviant fantasy, is that we limit the self-inflicted damage next season. Because surely, Lady Luck has had enough fun acid-rubbing our hangnails this year in her Nail Salon-themed torture chamber. Maybe I shouldn’t have typed that, it might NOT be torture for everyone. Very presumptuous of me considering the blessed freaks that read this website.
You know what else makes me sad? The haters getting an undeserved win. Arteta has already made plans to move Merino back to an 8. The ‘we should have signed a striker’ nerds have been clogging up my DMs with the ‘I told you so’s’ despite all evidence pointing to the truth: Merino is the one.
“I already did that because I played him as an eight the other day when we brought Leo in, so we discussed that. He's a joy to work with, and that's one of the reasons we wanted to bring him to the club—because he's so versatile. He's very intelligent, he loves the game, and he loves to understand the game and the reasons why we have certain players doing what we want them to do. Mikel understood immediately, explaining his qualities, what the team needs in that moment, and how he can benefit from being in those positions. He’s been really good.”
It’s all a bit disgraceful, in my opinion. Best forward outside Mo Salah and he’s getting binned because Arsenal fans like the Swedish boys? Careful what you wish for.
I thought this comment on KdB retiring was interesting:
“I don't know if he's the one, the two, or the three, but for me, he's one of the best players in the history of the Premier League—without question. I've never seen, I've never played with, a player that can execute so precisely at high speed. He can be running at 33, 34 kilometres an hour and still play the ball 30 metres through two people to the perfect spot. I haven’t seen anyone else do that at that pace.”
It’s always sad to see a great exit the Premier League, and KdB is a great. I can’t say he was a joy to watch—he brought too much pain to Arsenal—but what a career that man had. He won it all, showed up in big moments, scored outrageous goals, delivered inconceivable assists, and took the game to a level we hadn’t seen before.
His next move is the big one… MLS. Bring it home, Kev. Bring it home.
Can you believe this story? 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
What Portuguese club, in the history of transfers, offers a player a discounted exit? A club that knows something.
In other news, the four Madrid players facing bans for gross celebrations… were not banned. Are you shocked? Doing the 'slit throat' celebration was just for banter, obviously.
Ok, Arsenal vs Everton tomorrow. Should be fun. I’m in Kansas City this weekend, so I’m up at 06:30 to enjoy a very good game of football against an Everton side I detest. It’s going to be a rough morning. We know what David Moyes is all about, and really, I’m not sure how much it all matters.
There’s some emotion in it. Arteta played there. It’s the last time Arsenal fans will do an away day at Goodison before their swanky new stadium opens next season. It’s a shame to see another classic ground disappear, but I’m also happy to see another mid-sized club fulfilling its potential with a huge stadium. The capacity numbers in the Premier League are wild. British people will show up for anything when it comes to their football club—and it’s amazing. I hope that tradition holds, and that the next generation—who support players over clubs—can be absorbed into the culture. I hope the current generation of parents indoctrinates their kids the way we were indoctrinated.
My two-year-old loves football, loves her “rainbow” Arsenal shirt (the blue one), and if she wants to spend quality time with me, it’ll be watching Arsenal—then watching me podcast for an hour after.
It is the way.
Ok, if you want the live show tomorrow, sign up for FREE right now and get in the mixer. I also have a very good offer if you want to be a member.
I really feel like fans are justified in being a little upset. I mean if you look at the last 2/3 seasons a genuine argument could be made that we should have won at least one maybe two titles. But for some reason certain types want to instead deflect it to we're lucky to be finishing second place and bite your tongue.
It's funny but you're going to get people that'll point to another second place finish and be like wow look at how good we're doing but it really doesn't tell the whole story. This is a heavily invested squad and it's so lopsided and predictable and boring and that shows in the football being played and the results being had. I mean we should be winning this year at a canter it's a complete anomaly to have this many teams be this bad but alas we're just too boring to capitalize.