{"id":10424,"date":"2024-12-04T16:04:26","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T16:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10424"},"modified":"2024-12-05T12:13:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T12:13:18","slug":"newest-remake-of-an-old-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10424","title":{"rendered":"Newest Remake of an Old Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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La Rochefoucauld, the peerless master of world-weary aphorisms that cut your hand when you try to hold them close, had remarked, \u201cWe always have enough strength to bear the troubles of other people\u201d (Nous avon tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autrui). If he knew about footballing rivalries among people who otherwise would find it in them to feel sympathy, if not genuine compassion, for each other\u2019s pains, he would likely have added a further refinement or two to his pithy observation, noting that in certain cases the troubles of other people are what gives us strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am absolutely certain that the Arsenal fans of otherwise impeccable character (or not) would have no reservations admitting that the pleasure of looking down at the old enemy, eight positions below us on the table, has a degree of glee associated with it that we would otherwise find unseemly in our daily lives. Especially those Arsenal fans like this scribe, who was introduced to the club in the heyday of our rivalry, with the opponent of the midweek fixture in the match week 14th of this 2024-25 Premier League season. That glee, I am equally sure, must also be mixed with more than a healthy dose of humility in recognizing that our current stability and footballing excellence are hard-earned, precious, and not to be taken for granted. And given that we Arsenal supporters \u2013 unlike supporters of some other clubs in English football \u2013 are much more interested in climbing the summit ourselves (and not looking upwards from our tattered base camp tent to vicariously find pleasure in seeing other climbers fight it out), we approach this matchday with our eyes fixed intently on reducing the gap on the top of the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And speaking of eyes staring at you with the searing intensity of steely determination, I find the way our Basque manager looks at the world, especially when he wants to convey his uncompromisable conviction, is inevitably going to become a template for some enterprising acting teacher to add in their Meisner technique class. The uncompromising fierceness that has characterized his transformative leadership in reestablishing the team as genuine title contenders renders a weighty gravitas to that outward demeanor. I find one of the most impressive aspects of his leadership has been the ability to transmit that intensity into his team. The Arsenal of current incarnation may not always win, or even play very well, but they never lack either the will or the discipline to be the best of the best. We Arsenal fans in recent times have suffered through teams where it was easy to spot lack of either or both, and that\u2019s all the more reason for us to not take the qualities of the current team for granted, but cherish and celebrate those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That intensity and discipline will be instrumental to control the tempo and ball possession in this Wednesday\u2019s match against Manchester United. It is too early to say what lies in future for their new Portuguese manager, but Anorim comes to PL with a couple of years of superlative results in Portuguese football, and we should expect an opponent who are considerably revitalized, and prepare ourselves for an encounter where we would need to be at our best to make the relative gulf in quality count. Our recent record against them has been good \u2013 in last ten matches in PL, the record is 6 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses, with the last three matches all yielding victories (1-0, 3-1, 3-2 in reverse chronological order) \u2013 and if we play to our full potential, cheered on by a vociferous home crowd, we should be able to continue that run. Given that we are chasing the league leaders Liverpool who are nine points ahead of us, we have very little margin of error at this stage and all three points in a home match is, to quote one of Mikel\u2019s favorite phrases, non-negotiable.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last weekend\u2019s team selection away at West Ham may have been made with this fixture in mind, and I expect Partey and Martinelli to return to the starting eleven (assuming Thomas is back fit). Merino, even if fit, will likely start from the bench, which will also include the experience and nous of Jorginho, Trossard, Jesus, Zinchenko and Sterling. Young Ethan Nwaneri has been impressive each time he has been given a chance, and towards the end of this match he might be brought on to give a tiring United defense a different kind of examination. Hopefully, by then the game has been wrapped up convincingly. While Arsenal\u2019s right side is unquestionably the primary source of our attacking verve, with \u00d8degaard and Saka reestablishing their telepathic understanding and being ably supported by the impressive technical and physical qualities of Timber, Partey\u2019s passing through the lines and Martinelli\u2019s tireless workrate on and off the ball can be two other key attacking outlets. Hopefully Gabriel has fully recovered from whatever that was bothering him last weekend, for not only he and Saliba together are central to our defensive solidity, but he has now become also an extremely effective weapon in our set-pieces and instrumental in executing the variations on our corner kick routine theme.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering everyone is fit, this in my opinion is our best eleven for this match:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya
Timber \u2013 Saliba \u2013 Gabriel \u2013 Calafiori
Partey
\u00d8degaard \u2013 Rice
Saka \u2013 Havertz \u2013 Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We really must win this one. And I think we will. There have been a few 3-1 results lately so the temptation is to predict one more 3-1 victory for Arsenal, but I think a solid, dominating 2-0 win at home will be perfect as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come on Arsenal! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La Rochefoucauld, the peerless master of world-weary aphorisms that cut your hand when you try to hold them close, had remarked, \u201cWe always have enough strength to bear the troubles of other people\u201d (Nous avon tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autrui). If he knew about footballing rivalries among people who otherwise would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10424"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10433,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10424\/revisions\/10433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}