As it happens, it fell to my lot last season to write the preview for the first league game.
A new season. New faces. Big new hopes and dreams. Yet, for all the preseason promise and the pleasure and puns it provided, this is where the football starts in earnest. Arteta’s team must begin turning potential into potential realised from the minute we kick off the Premiership opener at Crystal Palace on Friday evening.
Sub in Nottingham Forest in North London for Palace in South London and Saturday lunchtime for Friday evening, and what I wrote a year ago still holds good.
After last season’s unexpected 2nd-place finish, with the top spot so cruelly slipping from our grasp at the last, expectations in the Goonerverse are running high, perhaps unrealistically so. Cooler heads — including Mikel Arteta’s — know this will be a more testing season than last.
For one, the burden of expectation has only increased with the draining of more than £200 million from the Kroenkes’ coffers to strengthen the squad with Rice, Timber, Havertz and Raya and to pay for new contracts for Saka, Saliba and Nelson.
For another, the competition will be fiercer:
Regardless of the Community Shield result, come the league, Pep’s blue Mancs will be as driven as their manager to become the first PL side to win back-to-back trebles. They will be a younger and stronger side following their summer business;
Ten Hag has been at the Old Toilet long enough to show he is starting to right the listing red Mancs and the jetsam is swelling;
The Scousers are unlikely to have another season as off the pace as they were last term, especially as Klopp is close to completing his long overdue midfield rejuvenation with the surprise signing of Caceido;
Eddie Howe is getting the money to build on the base he has patiently laid down at Newcastle, and with that will come high demands from his Saudi paymasters;
Pochettino will get things sorted out at the Bus Stop, helped by Boehly turning his attention to buying clubs rather than Chelsea players wholesale;
Emery and de Zerbi will keep Brighton and Aston Villa in the mix for European places but while Postecoglou is good enough to do the same for the neighbours, he also has to contend with being in Levyland.
For a third, all being well, it will be a long season, up to 61 games potentially. As 21st Century Gooner observed, keeping the squad primed and prepared for that many games so we do not suffer a recurrence of late-season exhaustion will be a new skill for Arteta to master.
The opposition
Last season, Forest defied the expectations of many, your correspondent included, by not being relegated straight back to the Championship. Untypically for a season that saw a record number of Premier League managers sacked, Evangelos Marinakis, the Greek businessman who bought Forest in 2017, stuck with the manager who in 2021-22 had taken the club from the Championship relegation zone to the Premiership. Steve Cooper endured 18 of the 38 Premier League’s match weeks in the relegation zone before his charges clambered up to 16th place by Match Week 38, four points clear of the drop.
Last season, Forest bought 30 — count them — 30 new players. This season has seen more modest reinforcement. Ola Aina, a Nigerian international right back, has arrived from Torino and Anthony Elanga, a 21-year-old left winger, from Man Utd. Chris Wood, ten years Elanga’s senior, has turned last season’s loan into a permanent move from Newcastle.
Jesse Lingard and some ageing club stalwarts, like Jack Colback, and journeymen like Andre Ayew, are the most notable departures.
Cooper’s pressing problem has been replacing departed loanees Dean Henderson and Keylor Navas between the sticks. Attempts to sign Henderson permanently are floundering but continue. Meanwhile, Forest has bought Matt Turner. With Wayne Hennessey injured, Turner will likely make his Premier League debut against, not for us.
Another priority for Cooper is hanging onto his two talented, young attacking midfielders — Morgan Gibbs-White, like our own ESR, part of England’s winning Euros-U21s side, and locally born Welsh international Brennan Johnson, who is linked to move to the wrong end of the Seven Sisters Road, following Djed Spence into that maw that devours promising young careers.
As is Cooper’s wont in away games against better sides, he will likely field a 3-4-2-1, which also got him the 1-0 home league win in May against us and the shock FA Cup win by the same score in January 2022. When he tried an attacking 4-3-3 at the Emirates last season, Forest got a 5-0 thrashing, the only one of his three games against us he has lost. The record books show Forest visiting the Emirates only twice and losing 5-0 both times. A three-peat would do just fine.
The last time we lost a home league game to Forest was in March 1989. Your nugget of history trivia: we started 10 Englishmen in that match. We have never beaten Forest at home when we have started 10 Englishmen, a total of six games over the years. The overall record is scarcely any better: a 21% win percentage against Forest with 10 Englishman versus a 54% win rate with any other number of Englishmen. There’s not many people that know that.
The Arsenal
There are some scores to settle for last May’s 1-0 defeat at the City Ground. Not only did it secure Forest’s Premier League status, it ended our title hopes. Arteta is becoming adept at using such hurt to motivate his team.
With Jesus off games (again!) along with Sambi Lokonga (remember him?), and Zinchenko, Reiss Nelson, Flo Balogun and Jorginho all still getting over knocks, it is tempting to think that Arteta will field the side that won at Wembley last Sunday. However, his preference for sticking with his first XI come what may be less in evidence this season. He has deepened the squad for a reason. Thus, I hazard that Eddie will start in place of Havertz.
Ramsdale
White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber
Partey, Rice, Ødegaard
Saka, Nketiah, Martinelli
That team would also give us five English starters, a quota that has never failed us in 11 games against Forest in the league.
City remains the overwhelming favourite of the gentleman of the turf and the ex-pro pundits to lift their sixth title in seven seasons — and to win the FA and league cups and the Champions League. To be in there with them at the death next May, at the very least, we need to repeat last season’s fast start.
With Palace and Fulham to follow the Forest game before the Red Mancs visit in early September and we go to Everton the following weekend, we have the opportunity for 15 out of the first 15 points. We then just have to keep the pace up after that. Simples this managing malarky!
The ‘holic pound
The bookies have us at short odds favourites to beat Forest. Scant value is to be found in the score betting until we hit four or more. Four-nil is available at twelves, but the more realistic 3-0 is only sevens. If you fancy, the three-peat, 5-0 is available at 22s.
Enjoy the game, ‘holics, near and far.
PS: The GHF PL Predictathon is now closed. GHF raised nearly £600 for The Willow Foundation! Check out the new information on the GHF Contests tab discussing the contest, and to learn how the collective wisdom of the bar expects the season to play out.
In the twenty teens, Wembley became our second home. We always seemed to be there for FA Cup semi-finals, finals and Community Shields. The last win I witnessed there was in 2017 to win the FA Cup against Chelsea 2-1. The last time I attended was in 2018, when we lost 3-0 to Manchester City in the final of the League Cup. Arsenal were there in 2020 of course, winning the FA Cup and Community Shield – but in the grim atmosphere of having no fans allowed because of the pandemic. So, when we won a place in this year’s Community Shield, by virtue of finishing second in the league, the fans were eager to return to a place where we have seen much success over the years. Around 35,000 Gooners homed in on Wembley, taking advantage of the 5000 tickets returned by City. We, of course, sold out.
The SatNav decided that the North Circular Road was too busy on a big match day at Wembley. So we took ourselves on a tour of NW London suburbia. Edgware, Colindale, and Burnt Oak inter alia, and finally Wembley. The SatNav came up trumps and we were driving into the red multi-storey carpark just over two hours from leaving home. When I first starting booking Wembley official parking, about 15 years ago, it cost £20. This year it was £40. O tempora! O mores! (it is of course well known that Cicero was a Gooner).
Up and onto the concourse, we checked out the Wembley catering. Fine if you liked burgers or hot dogs at eye watering prices, but not much variety, let alone value. So a cheese burger each it was, despite the fact that I’m a pensioner (I did get £10 off the ticket) and into the stadium about 40 minutes before kick off. Thanks to the new system, where when you bought your tickets depended on the number of home league credits you had, we had superb seats on the lower tier, behind the goal and about 20 rows back. Two rows in front of us and just to our right were the Ashburton Army. They made plenty of noise, but thankfully had left the drum at home.
We were in bright sunshine, as we were to be for the rest of the day. I received a message from ClockEndRider telling me it was hammering down in Winchmore Hill about six miles away. Clearly the sun shone on the righteous.
The team was announced. The only surprise was Havertz leading the line, despite not having played there in pre-season. I think we all expected Eddie or Tross to be there. The team was:
The strains of North London Forever rang out across Wembley. The teams came out. God Save the King was played. We were off.
The first period was played at quickstep pace, slow, slow, quick, quick slow. Stuart Atwell booked Partey, Havertz and Arteta for breaches of the new rule about gamesmanship. The first 15 minutes was all City, then Rice and Partey got a grip of midfield and we came right into it. Rice made a good break on the right and slid the ball to Havertz who had his back to goal. He spun and shot and Ortega made a superb save with his left foot. Ǿdegaard was coming more and more into the game, an indication of the extra space he was being given by the Rice/Partey double pivot behind him.
On the wings, Martinelli was skinning Walker and Saka was skinning Akanji. Saka got round his full back and cut it back superbly to Havertz, who should have scored but instead fired it straight at the goalie.
At half time it was 0-0. Arsenal had had the better chances and Ramsdale was practically untroubled in the Arsenal goal.
HT: Arsenal 0-0 City
City started quickly and won a corner. Stones headed powerfully towards goal and Ramsdale saved well. Ǿdegaard went down with a knock and needed the physio. He asked four times to come back on, to no avail. Evidently there is a new rule that says if you need the physio you can’t come on for 30 seconds, which seemed an eternity. Let’s see if these new rules are still being applied in October. City made a couple of subs, the ineffectual Grealish (perhaps he was still hungover) and Erling Haaland who had been magnificently controlled by the imperious Saliba – the blond Viking had zero shots on goal. On came Cole Palmer and Foden. Kovacic came off for our oft nemesis de Bruyne. Gabriel was booked for being kicked by Ortega (it’s worth mentioning that none of the cards carry forward to the League). Off came Timber for Tierney and Martinelli for Trossard.
I should mention at this point that the Arsenal crowd were loud, proud and magnificent throughout. I literally couldn’t hear the City fans. We were right in front of the wheelchairs, where a wizened little guy kept beseeching our team to break someone’s legs (okayyy!).
Then came the City strike. Just outside our penalty area, Partey was spun by Foden who made rapid progress upfield. His ball to Palmer was cut out by Tierney but only as far as de Bruyne. He nodded it to Palmer who took a touch and then rifled it into the top corner of Ramsdale’s net. Completely unsaveable and a magnificent strike.
Arsenal 0-1 (Palmer 78)
Rice came off for Eddie (Havertz moved into midfield, but eventually he was subbed by Vieira, as was Gabriel by ESR). Ramsdale made two excellent saves from Foden and Rodri. That could have been the game right there. We were not looking that threatening in this period. Several players, including Ǿdegaard were showing signs of fatigue in the hot sunshine. But, roared on by the crowd, we kept plugging away.
On 88 minutes, Rodri committed a mugging on Partey as he strode through the centre circle. No card of course (I made it his third bookable offence). Eight minutes of added time were announced (get used to this folks). In the 92nd minute a collision of heads between Partey and Walker saw a four minute delay as they were patched up, Partey being left looking like Stuart Broad with a broad white stripe round his head. 100 minutes gone. People were just beginning to drift away (not us of course). We won a corner. It was taken by Saka but nodded away by Rodri back to Saka, who collected the rebound and played it short to Trossard. He beat a man, then on the edge of the area fired in a fierce low left footed shot that deflected wickedly off Akanji and into the goal right in front of us. Trossard had bought a ticket and won the lottery. How many times have we bemoaned the semi-circle of death and beseeched someone to shoot. Cue pandemonium, limbs, celebration and a huge noise. The City players looked stunned.
Arsenal 1-1 (Akanji OG 100)
Two minutes later the final whistle went. It was to be penalties. They were taken right in front of the raucous Arsenal crowd. Captain Ǿdegaard stepped up and calmly scored. Kevin de Bruyne came forward and …..hit the bar!
Trossard and Sake scored, as did Bernardo Silva. The loathsome Rodri came forward and hit a poor penalty that was SAVED by Ramsdale. Oh sweet, sweet moment (the pressure clearly got to him). Fabio Vieira made the long walk from the half way line with the opportunity to win the game. He struck it sweetly into the top corner! For the 17th time we were Community/Charity Shield champions!
Thoughts. Timber – what a player, what a buy. Saliba was huge. Ramsdale and Partey were excellent, as was Trossard when he came on. Rice was very good, intercepting well and making space for others. The City hoodoo was laid and a trophy placed on the mantelpiece.
Last thought. Arteta has now gone to Wembley 12 times as a player and manager and has won 12 times. The final of the Champions League this season is at Wembley. Just saying!
On to Forest at home next Saturday and the first ‘holic get together of the season. We’re off and running.
A brief reminder to everyone that, if you act by Friday evening 7pm BST, you can get involved in two GHF competitions to add spice to your enjoyment of the forthcoming season.
The Holics Ropey League is open to all visitors to this fine establishment and the entry code will be sent to anyone who expresses in the ‘Drinks’ (just click on the word Drinks below to access this snug) a desire to join this elite group of evil bar stewards. You have to enter the Premier League Fantasy game at fantasy.premierleague.com to select your squad before being able to use that code to enter this league. There are only two additional rules for the Holics Ropey League: (1) you must at all times have at least one Arsenal player in your squad; (2) at no point must you draft any Sp*rz player to your squad. Sanctions are swift and merciless. Entry is free. The prize is the adulation of all other competitors for at least the close season.
Another competition this season is the Predictathon in which you must predict the final table positions of the 20 teams competing in this season’s Premier League, the first coach/manager to be sacked or to resign and the winners of the League Cup and FA Cup. Details of how to enter are available by clicking the GHF Contests tab at the top right of this web page. Entry requires a minimum £15 donation to the Willow charity that does wonderful things for young people with life-threatening diseases and was set up and for many years run by ’71 double hero, Bob Wilson. The prize for the winner of this competition will be God-like status in the virtual bar of GHF with multiple virtual refreshments offered by the regulars, and should you attend a GHF re-union, at least one complimentary Negroni.
Arsenal finalised their pre-season preparations by lifting the prestigious Emirates cup, beating French outfit Monaco 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in N5.
Arteta named a strong side ahead of Sunday’s community shield showdown with Manchester City on Sunday. Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice both made their home debuts, with the likes of Saliba, Partey and Martinelli all starting. Arsenal began the game dominating possession whilst playing at a somewhat laboured pace. Pre-season is always the time to experiment and there were a couple of notable positional tweaks. The versatile Timber began at left back and Emile Smith Rowe played in the right half space we have become accustomed to seeing Ødegaard thrive in. It was Monaco who had the first real chance through Golovin, who saw his left footed drive from range well beaten away by Ramsdale. You may remember his superb free kick against us whilst playing CSKA Moscow back in 2018. Golovin went on to star for Russia as they hosted that summer’s World Cup and he was tipped for big things however his career has plateaued somewhat in the intervening years. That said, Golovin does get to live in Monaco and Erling Haaland has to live in the Northwest of England. I’m sure he has no regrets about his life choices. We continued to dominate possession, but the intensity was lacking. It may be worth noting that we have not looked as sharp as we did in pre-season last term. Is this a symptom of an elongated campaign last year? Only time will tell.
Monaco took the lead on the half hour with a Fofana header following some neat build up. It wasn’t great defending with Martinelli getting too easily bypassed but I’m sure no one is going to throw their toys out of the pram over it. We upped the tempo a notch in response. Declan Rice surely would’ve opened his Arsenal account if it weren’t for a fantastic block. Tomiyasu forced a good save from the resulting corner and Nketiah equalised from the consequential corner. Our number fourteen slipped away from his man and tapped home in typical poacher’s fashion. He looked very good physically and his link up play seems to have improved again. Hopefully Jesus’ knock is nothing serious but as Nketiah demonstrated last season, and the season before, he is more than capable of filling the void.
Surprisingly there were no changes from us at the break. We continued to amble through the game. There was a scare when Ben Yedder hit the post on a breakaway but he looked to be offside. On the hour mark Arteta finally made wholesale changes. Off came Partey, Smith Rowe, Timber, Rice, Tomiyasu and Martinelli and on came Jorginho, Odegaard, Ben White, Havertz, Tierney and Trossard. The latter nearly made an immediate impact, firing at the keeper after Jorginho had sent him clean through. Vieira saw his volley tipped over the bar and off to penalties we went.
The first six penalties were all converted with aplomb. Henrique, Fofana and Diatta dispatched their spot kicks, Odegaard, Jorginho and Havertz responded for The Arsenal. It was the former Liverpool man, Takumi Minamino who blinked first as Ramsdale stood tall to palm his spot kick away. Fabio Vieira consequently put Arsenal in the ascendency meaning Kevin Volland had to score which he did with distinction. but Gabriel had the chance to win it for the Gunners, this to join Yaya Sanogo and Joel Campbell in the Emirates Cup Hall of Fame, an opportunity he duly took. And there we have it. Your 2023 Emirates Cup Champions of the Universe, for a record extending seventh time, The Arsenal! A statement win that will send shivers down the spine of Pep Guardiola and his (allegedly) illegally assembled billion pound squad.
So, what’s next? A trip to Wembley Car Park where we will do battle with the FFP compliant oil riggers of Middle East Manchester. Is it a friendly? I don’t know. But what I do know is it would be nice to lay down a marker by putting our title rivals to the sword ahead of the big kick off in ten days’ time. We will likely see a performance featuring a far greater level of intensity than we’ve seen over the last few weeks. In my personal view Arteta is sacrificing the use of certain key players and pre-season results for the sake of building B team cohesion. Don’t be surprised if we see a slightly slower start to the season compared to last year. Instead, what Arteta is targeting is a greater level of cohesion throughout the squad in preparation for what we all hope will be a 55-60 game campaign. More games will be played, more players will be used. And if we are to go one better than last year and lift the title in May, we will need all twenty five or so players to slot straight in when needed. In Declan Rice we have potentially found the final piece of the jigsaw and in Havertz and Timber we have significantly reduced the drop off from the starting eleven to the number twos. So perhaps what we will see is a marginally slower start but there will be no seismic April-May collapse as we have seen in each of the last two seasons in our pursuits of the top four and the title. And if we do indeed continue on our trajectory of failing upwards then I expect no less than the Premier League Title and a Champions League Final loss to Union Berlin. And we shall fail until we have no room for anything but serial success.
Onwards.
GoonerHolicsForever prediction contest in aid of Willow Foundation
Can you harness your inner Mystic Meg and see the final Premier League table for the upcoming season? Who is going to win the FA Cup? Or the League Cup? And what’s your bet on the first manager to get the tin tack this season? You can do all of this by entering the GHF Prediction Contest for 23-24.
The purpose of the contest is twofold. Firstly, it is to increase your enjoyment of the upcoming season by providing a degree of light-hearted competitive rivalry as the season progresses. Secondly, it will enable us to support the Willow Foundation with a further source of charitable funding.
Check out the “GHF Contests” tab at the top of the page for The Rules, the entry blank and information about how to enter the contest, and how the contest will be scored.
Silicon Valley Gooners flying our colors at LA Ale Works
There’s an oft-spoken pleasure about supporting a football team that delights people from all parts of the globe. It’s not the wins and losses, it’s not the great goals or the heartbreaking injuries that cement the bond between the supporter and the team. It’s the connections made around those things that the team does, with fellow supporters, no matter where we call home, that we carry with us when we are inbetween those things. We remember the connections and the social joy along with, and often before and more thoroughly than, anything that happens on the pitch.
And so it was that Arsenal came to California on the third stop of their North American tour, to play Barcelona in a “friendly” on Wednesday last at the magnificent SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. A near-capacity crowd of 70,233 supporters came out to cheer on their teams; we would have been at capacity (70,240) but for the breakdown of a Lyft XL some miles from the stadium, stranding 7 Barcelona supporters without hope of getting to the stadium before the game was over.
In advance, I thank you for spending some of your time here reading the following about the two days I spent from midday Tuesday to midday Thursday striving to grasp the evanescence of joyous experience and convert it to the feeling of buoyancy that comes from connection and sustained pleasure. Consider it a play on the light, on the sounds and smells, of memory and desire…
You Can go Home Again
I was raised in Los Angeles, in a different suburb North of SoFi about ten miles, so when it was announced that the game was to be played in our Silent Stan’s $5 billion home for his LA Rams, I knew I must go, for it was going home. Seeing Arsenal against Bayern at the LA Galaxy stadium (another ten mile drive, but South from SoFi) in 2019 brought me close, and enabled me to stay with my uncle, but it may as well be back of beyond from where I grew up.
This time I got to stay a block away from the Sorrento Italian market, my go-to alimentari for sandwiches when my friend Frank and I would go to baseball or football games, or just to have a terrific meal back in the 80s. Albert’s parents opened it in 1963; when I told him I’d not been there in more than 20 years, but essentially chose my hotel because it was so close to their shop he was chuffed. Try the mortadella, it’s out of this world (I brought a quarter kilo home for Mrs. Scruz; the look on the TSA agent’s face when I tore back the wrapping so I could prove it wasn’t anything nefarious was priceless!).
I also got to fold in visits with my sister and an old friend, my writing mentor (who would not be pleased with this less-than-glittering prose, sorry Susan), and a walk of a mile or so down one of my neighborhood streets where I spent much time in my teens and early 20s…also in the 80s, but don’t worry about a theme developing here. And plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose; while the old neighborhood was missing some things, others remain. The YMCA has been torn down and Ketchie’s Stand is now an office block, but the Yamaguchi Bonsai Nursery is still there, and they are still using Nora Sterry grade school’s youth center for children’s programs: it was batik and tie-dying back in the dusty days of my youth. Louis Dunford’s “The Angel” kept springing to mind. These streets are indeed my own, and my blood will run forever through their stone.
Strangers on a Plane, Friends in a Lyft
With the game on Wednesday, and an event brought to LA by IslingtonFM on Tuesday, I made a half-day of it at work that day and drove to my friend Sumit’s house. A word about Sumit. He is the head of our Silicon Valley Gooners (SVG) tribe, and lets me park at his place to Lyft to the San Jose airport. He is a vibrantly devoted Gooner, with a warm heart and a great sense of humor, who seems to know everyone. And he’s generous, to a fault. This time we went together, as we were on the same flight down to Los Angeles. On the way to the airport, and on the way from the airport to our hotels, he was telling me about the crew of Arsenal supporters he’s gotten to know that travel the world and have missed very few of any Arsenal games, preseason or otherwise, for the last twenty years. I would get to know them later.
And on the plane I met Hamsa, a Barca supporter on his way to SoFi, who was generous in his praise about Arsenal, and staunch in his support of his Blaugrana. It was much more fun chatting and teasing with him than it would have been if he were a Tottenham or Chelsea supporter; he had a heart, and a good soul, you see. He was on our return flight as well, and was sincerely congratulatory on our win, praising the quality of our play while still showing much love for Barça. It was a pleasure to meet him.
Old Faces, Old Friends
It was also a great time to rekindle friendships stifled by Covid and other issues, and to remember the greats of our supporters’ club and our Arsenal. By the time I got to the bar to meet a chunk of SVG folks, it was just in time to hit a Lyft yet again to travel across the cities of Los Angeles to South Central, and The Beehive. Their website would have you believe it’s 18 minutes across from the airport, but you add a drive from Santa Monica and it was more like an hour and 18 minutes! Clearly, driving in Los Angeles is not for those lacking patience. Along the way I met Sumit’s frieds Dave and Dave, two dedicated Gooners. Dave the elder (from here on out I’ll refer to him as Four Cent…let’s just say he knows how to tip) is from Reading, the younger Dave from Brisbane. They are part of that group of travelling Gooners, who were all together again at the Beehive, as we were entertained by IslingtonFM and a number of bars with really expensive beers ($8 Stella cans, what?).
Three Arsenal joys at the Beehive: meeting four of the Invincibles, seeing the Arseblog crew (Andrew, Andrew, and Tim), and getting up close and personal (but not touching!) the Invincible gold trophy presented to the club for our trophy cabinet…there’s only one!
Still Invincible
I told Gilberto how sad I’d been when he broke his back in 2005, and he says it doesn’t give him trouble now; he looks fit enough to spell Thomas Partey if we needed him to step back on the pitch. Ray Parlor and I had a couple of brief interactions, keeping it light and full of laughter. Lauren was a complete gentleman, listening to my tipsy requst that he do everything he can to impart his steel and his skill to our current defense; I wanted to tell him to teach them how to be hard bastards, but I feared he might take offense… And Edu, we talked over the fence separating the VIPs from the crowd. I asked him when he was announcing Mbappe, and he came back quick as lightning, “At the game tomorrow night” with a grin and a twinkle in his eye. All four of these men were generous with their time and energy for everyone, again and again snapping selfies, answering inane questions, and managing to stay dry under the gushing adoration of a legion of fans. Top, top class. I also got to meet Frimmy (the previous lines apply to him, too); when I asked him if he’d brought his golf cart to do some target practice with fans aboard he said they wouldn’t let it through customs…his laughter is just fucking excellent.
There was a bit of a stage show, with some American MC bringing up the Arseblog crew and asking them various about the season past, preseason, and the season to come. Tim talked about the women’s team, and Arseblog talked about how he was overwhelmed by the reaction of the supporters on this trip, again and again praising the far-flungs’ ability to rise with the fart of a sparrow (™ ‘Holic) for games and drinks and the cameraderie that comes with. I later spoke with Tim about our four women out with ACLs (Meado, Viv, Leah, and Laura), asking if he knew when they were coming back, how their recovery was going. He said they’d be back pretty much in order, Meado as soon as this Fall, though Viv’s knee was completely blown and was going to be a much longer rehab, so might be back (or not) about when Leah is recovered at the end of the coming season (or into Summer). I was pleased to make his acquaintance, he’s well-spoken and seemed amazed by it all as well.
There’s only one…
The trophy was up on a pedestal onstage, gleaming and winking seductively. So naturally I was drawn to it, and sat and put my arm around it, without touching it. It’s shiny and golden and smaller by half than the one raised by the new statue of Arsène Wenger, engraved with our records and the teams to which we did not lose the entire season. It was special to see, and to share with everyone there, grinning and beaming.
New Faces, New Friends
SVG maintains a Whatsapp group to coordinate activities, give and receive shit, and talk about amaro. I’ve met some of the folks at the bar, others I’ve missed meeting due to my own inability to get myself the 45 minutes down the road at 3:45 am. It was with great pleasure that we met at the LA Ale Works before the game on Wednesday, putting faces to names and meeting people I’d seen but hadn’t actually met (we have about 20-80 people at the bar on gameday). We filled two buses from the Ale Works to SoFi, and it seemed all SVG folks were on the Red Bus. Naturally, we chanted “what do you think of the Yellow Bus?” and had a great time doing so. Sumit, Vivek, Robert (and dad), Jason O (and junior Gunner Norman), Jason S, David, Kiran, Prithi, Drew, and Daniel, nice to meet who I hadn’t met, and thanks for a great time! Nirshan, sorry you couldn’t make it, thanks for the ticket help.
I also had the pleasure of meeting a number of the guys who travel to all the games all over the world. Besides David and Four Cent, I had a laugh at the Beehive with Keith (aka No. One Gooner), and sat next to Richard (aka Old Street) at the game. I had a long chat with fellow blogger Stubbsy; if you haven’t looked at his blog, it’s excellent. We talked about how he does his posts about his travels around the world following Arsenal. It’s all about the passion and the connection, and not trying to be “a journalist” or even a “real” writer or anything like that. It requires his passion for Arsenal, a job that allows him to be able to travel, and a wallet something along the size of Lars’s wallet as the key ingredients (though, admittedly, we didn’t speak of money). A pleasure to meet you, gents, if you read this post.
At the Beehive I got to know Trevor and Shay, a father and son who drove down from Vancouver Island in Southwestern Canada. They have been watching games together since Shay was old enough to be aware what they were watching, and Trevor is a Gooner from way back, when he lived in London and before. Funny, thoughtful, and definitely enjoying the craic being made of the evening! You can see him dancing here on the Arsenal website, in his beard and Dreamcast shirt. Hope you made it back safely, lads. And Martin and Lauren, from the Pike’s Peak Gooners, traded me scarves and were genuinely nice folk from Colorado Springs, Colorado. They had to put up with me taking the mickey about their travels up and down our row…
From the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado to the curvaceous slopes of California
Charity Begins…on the Road
Mike Feinberg was at every event, and all over all the time. There must be three clones of him to get as much done as he does for Arsenal America (huge shout out to the organization for putting on many of the tour events!), among his other work. Mike’s a kind and funny guy who you might know from his podcasts, his videos, his charity work with Gooners v. Cancer, the work with Arsenal America, his visits to various cities home and away, before and during the season, etc., etc. It was great to see him again and to chat, however briefly. If you care to donate to GvC, please do.
Speaking of donations, we’re in the final days of putting together the donation schema around the “pick the final standings” and “first coach to get the tin tack” charity campaigns here at Goonerholicsforever. North Bank Ned has been working with others behind the scenes to get it ready for the season. We expect to announce in a future post what needs to be done, the cost, etc. All proceeds are donated straight to Bob and Meg Wilson’s Willow Foundation, which is the sole recipient of Goonerholicsforever charity work (see the link in the sidebar above).
You Know How to Whistle, Don’t you Ref? You Just Put Your Lips Together and…Blow (the game)
After all of this, there was a game. I won’t do a play-by-play, as you can find those elsewhere and this post is well long enough. Barcelona wore a Real Madrid top, all white, and it looked odd. Arsenal were in red and white, and looked stunning on a pitch that was not quite up to standard. With a referee who was definitely not up to standard, either. Obvious fouls were left unwhistled. Fouls were called on Arsenal players that were obvious dives by Barcelona players, and clear hacks of or clatterings into Arsenal players were called as fouls on the Arsenal players. A very poor referee, and still Xavi had the temerity to moan (well, he IS Barça, after all).
Under the lights at the magnificent SoFi stadium (all the travelling Gooners agreed it was the best stadium they’d ever been to, compared with those they’d been to around the world) they drew first blood against the run of play, but Saka soon equalized through their defensive mistake. We had a chance to go ahead but for a missed Saka penalty; they capitalized and soon had a second of their own, deflected past Ramsdale by Ødegaard in the wall on a free kick. But we levelled just before halftime through Havertz after an Ødegaard flicked header.
In the second half we came into our own, and Barça withered a bit. A ball straight down the guts of the pitch from Ramsdale was chested from Jesus to the excellent Trossard. Defended by three he steadied himself on the left side of the box and blew the ball past Ter Stegen’s far post. A wonderful goal. Trossard followed it up with a brilliant first time volley on the jump from a Tierney cross. It was even better than the first. We had time to give up a goal after a slip by Holding on the terrible pitch, but at the death we regained our two goal advantage on a terrific wallop by Vieira from 20 yards out after good work by Jorgo and Martinelli. Arsenal 5 – 3 Barcelona has a nice ring to it!
A brilliant game to watch live, even though there were apologies to be made for the pitch, the ref, and the heat. The crowd seemed to be in about equal measure supporting either side, and our noise was deafening all game long. That noise did expose the single weakness of the stadium that I could find: the sound system. We could not understand a word that was spoken over the Tannoy, even when it was (relatively) quiet in the crowd.
Exhausted and Replete: Repeat ad Infinitum
Sumit and I flew back to San Jose after a packed 48 hours, joined on the return flight by Vivek (and Hamsa); thanks for all the time spent, Sumit, criss-crossing LA and finding our joys. None of us had slept enough, and all of us had gone on enough of the lash that by the time we landed we were all a bit worse for wear. But we agreed that we’d do it again in a heartbeat, and like a heartbeat do it again and again and again. We represented SVG, and Arsenal, to the last.
If you’ve read this far, I thank you for your patience and for your time. It was one of the highlights of my personal Arsenal journey, certainly the best time I’ve had supporting them in the States. I met with amazing people, did fun, interesting things with them, and spent those 48 hours marvelling at the quality of light and sound and joy and pain that lifted me up and up and up…
As Mikel Arteta begins his fourth full season in charge, Arsenal face a different challenge than they have seen in any recent Summer, having just finished their best season since the Invincibles took the league title in 2003/04. Arsenal have been ambitiously focused on improving last year’s model, even as a smattering of supporters secretly might be pleased just to match last season’s points total of 84, which was 14 more than they earned in any of their five previous seasons. Indeed, it is a tad unlikely that Arsenal will score many more than last season when they tallied 88 league goals, their most productive attacking output since they scored 90 in the 1963-64 season. I would love to be surprised, of course, but given those numbers they might do better to focus on improving defensively. In any case, strengthening is essential because our quality must now be compared to Manchester City, the winners of five of the last six league titles, as well as the other contenders for the top four, and the Champions League clubs that we will be facing for the first time since 2016-17.
Fortunately, Edu and company have completed most of their plans to strengthen the team in key positions. Supporters were able to breathe sighs of relief after the Gunners announced the early signings of Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber, and British transfer record Declan Rice. The triple salvo was a bold show of intent to Arsenal’s rivals and, dare I say, it succeeded in strengthening the squad in all areas of the pitch.
But that is not to say I am confident that the progress will be continuous, even as I have to label our business a success to this point. Indeed, I think Havertz in particular must prove that his price was justified, as well as where he fits in the team. But, the sale of 30 year-old Granit Xhaka made it clearer that Arsenal hope the 24 year-old German, despite his ability to play in various attacking positions, will replace the Swiss in an advanced left midfield role. In the other attacking positions, Arsenal seem to be set with the same players as last season, including the productive foursome of Saka, Jesus, Martinelli, and Ødegaard. Reiss Nelson, who signed a new contract after being rumored to be on his way out of the club, demonstrated last season in his few opportunities that he is quite capable of providing the team with important depth on the wing, especially in case of injury to Saka or Martinelli. Emile Smith Rowe was really on the fringes last season but remembering his brilliant first half of 2021-22, it will be interesting to see how Arteta might use him this season.
After the Havertz signing was confirmed, the revamping continued with the even pricier signing of 24-year old defensive midfielder Rice, the former West Ham captain, amidst rumors of the possible sale of 30 year-old Thomas Partey, who was an imperious presence in our midfield throughout most of last season. Rice coming to the Gunners was received as wonderful news in most quarters, but I was particularly glad to see yesterday that the manager gave Partey his vote of confidence, saying he expects the midfielder still to be with Arsenal at the end of the window. Seeming to concede that there had been doubts about the Ghanaian’s status with the club, Arteta said “Partey is a super important player for us and for me,” and indicating that Partey and Rice either can play together or compete for the same position: “If you want to improve the squad and have more quality we need players who can play together. We need players in the same positions who have to fight for their places… that’s why we brought in Declan as well.” Partey did not join the squad on their U.S. tour until Wednesday and I hope to see him play, maybe together with Rice, tonight against Manchester United.
Defensively, Timber will provide another option at right back where he is capable of playing an inverted role stepping into and out of midfield, much as Oleksandr Zinchenko did on the left side last season. Ben White, William Saliba, and Gabriel look set to continue in the remaining defensive positions, but Jakub Kiwior could see a few more minutes based on his excellent showing in the Spring.
As Tim Stillman predicted in early July Arsenal still might bring in another senior player but whether that signing will be made, and which area of the team might still be strengthened “will be entirely decided by sales.” Stillman’s new piece provides excellent analysis of the tactical variables involved in integrating our new players into the team.
In the last week or so, as I glanced over the transfer tattle stories, I realized that the news has turned upside-down, with Arsenal’s business apparently done and dusted but many of their rivals still seeming to be scrambling for scraps. Arsenal do appear to have become much more effective in their business dealings over the last couple of seasons, but it would be nice to see a few more stories about other teams trying to toss cash at some of the players Arsenal want to offload. Unfortunately, it has all gone a bit quiet on that front since the Xhaka sale was announced. Current news reports indicate that Edu is still trying to get more than a slab of Italian sausage for any and all of Holding, Pepe, Tierney, Cedric, Sambi, and Nuno Tavares, so let’s hope we can wave bon voyage to some of them soon, and Edu send his assistant to the bank with a hefty deposit slip.
MLS All-Stars v Arsenal Match Report
On Wednesday night local time, Arsenal took on the MLS All-Stars in the Washington, DC neighborhood known as Buzzard Point. It may have sounded like the setting of a horror movie, but actually turned out to be more light comedy marked by the second half debuts by Timber and Rice, and played in a carnival atmosphere of intense humidity and MLS media hype. With two exceptions Arteta started the same team that played at Nurnberg, bringing in Gabriel Jesus and Jorginho in place of Nelson and Partey.
Arsenal XI
Ramsdale White — Saliba — Gabriel — Kiwior Vieira — Jorginho — Trossard Saka — Jesus — Nketiah
Twice in the first 20 minutes Saliba got back to make a good recoveries when Arsenal looked to be in jeopardy, giving reason for optimism that his back injury is healed. In the fourth minute Jesus chipped a beauty off the far post making it 1-0 to the Arsenal, with Saka providing the assist after controlling an excellent long diagonal ball from Jorginho. A few minutes later Saka found Trossard at the top of the box, and the Belgian took a touch to his right before lashing a lovely drive into the bottom corner to make it 2-0.
On 27 minutes Jesus missed a good chance on a header at the far post where he was set up by a Trossard cross. Ramsdale was tested on 31 minutes and the All-Stars almost scored on the resulting corner but the ball trickled past the post before the referee called for a water break. Wayne Rooney, the MLS manager, used the break to make wholesale changes but Arteta made none for the Gunners. Nketiah drew two yellow cards for MLS defenders with powerful runs near the box, before Gabriel should have scored a header on the stroke of halftime from a lovely Trossard free kick.
Havertz and Ødegaard replaced Nketiah and Saka at halftime, and Hein took over from Ramsdale. A few seconds into the half Jesus pinged the ball off a defender’s hand, the referee pointed to the spot, and Jorginho converted his spot kick to make it 3-0 Arsenal. Trossard then hurt his knee in a collision so Arteta replaced him with Martinelli. On 65 minutes, Arteta introduced debutants Rice and Timber along with Balogun, Tomiyasu, Tierney, and Marquinhos in place of Kiwior, Jesus, Vieira, Jorginho, Saliba, and Gabriel.
Just before the second half hydration break Martinelli sent a ball high over the crossbar when he really should have scored, and Trusty made his Arsenal debut in place of White. Ødegaard sent a great through ball for Martinelli in the 84th minute, and the Brazilian used his skill, pace and cool to stroke the ball home at the far post making it 4-0. On 89 minutes Marquinhos, who looks a real player, sent in a cross to Havertz who finished at the near post making it 5-0 to the Arsenal, which is how the game ended.
In this second match of the preseason the Arsenal players kept their concentration admirably, scored some delightful goals, never looked under much pressure, and even after numerous second half changes they dominated inferior opposition. It was a good night for the Arsenal, even as it’s difficult to say on this evidence how well the team is progressing, but tonight’s game against the Red Mancs should give us a better idea. To see the goals, or see them again, go to Jonathan Sigal’s match report and scroll down to see the links.
Looking Ahead
So, can Arsenal actually win the league? Certainly they are capable of it, but their chances depend on many moving parts including injuries and the results their rivals. Whether they will win the league is a completely different question. But this week, when no less objective an observer than Arsene Wenger was asked about Arsenal’s chances, he projected a remarkable degree of confidence in this prediction: “I believe we will win the championship, it is as simple as that.” Wenger tempered his enthusiasm slightly by acknowledging that Arsenal “will be under more pressure after last year” but added “they have learned a lot and they can show they can deal with that pressure now.” After watching the disappointments of the last two seasons when a young and slightly under-equipped team tailed off the pace in the last few weeks, needless to say I hope Le Professeur is correct in his prediction!
There will be plenty of twists and turns over the coming months, beginning later tonight against Manchester United, and in about two weeks the Community Shield against Manchester City. But it will be a fascinating watch to see how Arteta continues to mold these players to mount another title challenge now that Arsenal have proved their laurels as contenders, and they have brought in new talent to try to make up the few points that separated them from the top a few months ago. That’s not even to consider our prospects in the Champions League and the two domestic cups, but our strengthening should certainly put us on a better footing in those competitions as well.
Much like you I suspect, I can’t wait to get started. COYG!
