Love it when a new turn of phrase catches on.
‘Lock in’
I’m just saying it all the time. This is better than when the word ‘lit’ hit the streets. This sort of language is crack cocaine for men in their 40s who work in offices with younger people.
‘Yo team. Lock in’
I can say it? Why? It just lands so well. No one thinks I’m cringe. They think I’m connected to the cool things like Parisian workwear and matcha raves.
‘Bro, you play Fortnite too and you use the word bro to greet people?’
Yeah. I’m locked in on this Champions League final. I’m deeply satisfied with where this season has landed already. Two Cup finals and a Premier League win. Whatever way the weekend goes, this season has been a roaring success.
I’m also a big fan of Arsenal being massively underestimated. Most of the Premier League crowd doesn’t want to see us crowned into immortality, but I suspect a lot of Europeans are keen to see us put in a performance and wrestle the Champions League from a team that just machine guns money at their squad with the sole purpose of doing well in one big game a year.
Before we get into thoughts on the MEGA game, it’s worth updating on transfers, because it would seem that Newcastle has already made its first big sale of the summer… Anothony Gordon looks like he’s heading to Barcelona for 80m euros. Quite something. The most Scottish-looking Englishman in the world will be slathering on the SPF 95 and heading to Catalunya to get a McTominay glow-up in one of the most beautiful capitals on the planet.
The move still baffles me a little bit… his power, pace, and ball carrying in La Liga is going to make him look a man amongst weak, malnourished soy boys. Good for him, but secretly, I am quite pleased we’re not bringing him to the carpet, I’d hope we could do a little better… though I do think we naturally underrate him because he looks like the kid who asks to borrow a pound when you’re outside a Tesco Express in Southwark.
Transfer exits are also talk of the town at the moment. The word from Arsenal insider Hand Of Arsenal is that the club is going to make sure they’re getting good fees for our players. Love the stance, but £20m for Gabriel Jesus, a man with paper hamstrings, and no pace, on £250k a week… seems ambitious to me. John Cross has also indicated that Jesus is more interested in getting British Citizenship than heading back to London. This is the thing with older players and why it’s always risky to sign late 20s players… football careers are short, priorities change, and you have to start thinking about the big picture… which is 50 years NOT playing the beautiful game. Don’t blame him for wanting to secure his family in London. But, it is annoying that we’ll have another season of him clogging up a place that could go to someone more suited to our future.
Let’s talk about injuries. Arsenal have had lots of them over the last two years. This below chart shows just how many we’ve had over the past two season.
When you are trying to quantify the quality of coaching at Arsenal, it really is quite astonishing that Arsenal has suffered incredible amounts of downtime from big-name players and…
Finished 2nd, made a Champions League semi-final, made a League Cup final, won a Premier League, and about to play a Champions League final.
Spurs top the list… 17th twice.
Chelsea 3rd in the list… out of the Champions League and Europe.
Newcastle 4th in the league… out of the Champions League and Europe.
Celebrating how well your car survived a car crash you helped cause might not be the total flex I’m painting it as… but the deeper story here is one of marginal gains. If you’re telling the world that creating AI music was a win for the squad, maybe you should ask why so many injuries occur every April and… fix it.
If Arsenal keep the key players they lost to injury this year… fit. They will hit 90 points next season and win the league. The biggest maximal gain we can achieve next season is to dial back the intensity of how we train our players. Fitter players, more points, less fine margin games. It’s a simple win.
Let’s talk about Myles Lewis Skelly. Simply put, he has become a revelation since moving into midfield.
Look at those numbers. Astonishing. No mistakes. Great passing. A boldness with how he operates that is putting Zubimendi in the shadows. When the Champions League selections come in… would you be shocked to see Myles getting the nod in midfield? No, you wouldn’t. What does that mean for the summer of midfield movers and shakers? Don’t you dare ask me before a big Champions League game.
This graphic from Opta is quite telling.
Arsenal players have been clocking insane minutes all season because the Premier League is so high-quality. PSG, meanwhile, uses Ligue 1 as a training facility so they can be fresh for big games. Never forget, they moved a top-of-the-table clash against RC Lens, against the wishes of Lens, so they could be fresh for Liverpool. Just crazy. Especially while we’re out here celebrating a 6-day break between games like it’s a preseason.
The absolute hottest news off the press is the training session Jurrien Timber took part in went well, he will be on the plane to Budapest, he is, apparently in contention.
I’ll roll with it… but I have doubts. It’s in the clubs interest to make sure people think there’s a chance one of the most unique right back profiles in the world could be available for the game… I’m just not sure how viable a start or even 20 mins is going to be after no game time since mid-March. He won’t be fit by a long shot, and if he starts, PSG will actively target his rustiness. Is it worth the risk? Even just the issue of him reinjuring himself is a worry. I’d still color the chances of him starting at a 3 out of 10. But who knows, the man is a warrior.
One of the keys to whatever happens in the final is the fact Luis Enrique and his team of analysts has no idea what Arteta is going to do. A full squad to choose from. That is going to make things tough for him. There are loads of configurations that’ll require different ways of looking at the game. This is a huge bonus. One Arteta has rarely had the luxury of. So let’s see where it goes.
Ok, two things to share before I leave… one of my favorite pieces of content post Premier League win is this from Sky. Just great broadcasting.
Fair play to Gary Neville, the way he handled this, with Ian Wright, was exceptional. Everything just feels so different now we’re winners.
Now get on the latest podcast. There are some deals on memberships if you want to sign up ahead of a beastly summer of hardcore transfer news. I don’t have anyone to do the Champions League final podcast with. So, probably not getting to that until Sunday.
Have a GREAT day. x
‘Celebrating how well your car survived a car crash you helped cause….’
Funny!