{"id":1068,"date":"2020-07-11T15:31:21","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T14:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1068"},"modified":"2020-07-13T14:32:16","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T13:32:16","slug":"north-london-is-red","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1068","title":{"rendered":"North London is Red"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And so,\nat last, 11 months into the season the North London derby rolls around. It will\nbe our first league meeting with the Tiny Totts in the unfootballerly month of\nJuly, and hopefully our last. After the dropped points from the last game and\nthe loss of Eddie for the next 3 matches Mikel has the task of channeling the\nteam\u2019s frustration into a positive response and a fast start to this game. Back\nin September that was something we palpably failed to do, giving away an early\ngoal and a lamentable penalty courtesy of the recently redeemed Xhaka. We can\nonly hope Xhaka understands that real redemption down North London way comes\nnot from fine words and emotional support but from sticking the ball in the Tottnumb\nnet. Get it done son. We roared back that day and were much the better side,\ndenied a winner from Papa only by poor refereeing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking\nof referees the last NLD I managed to attend in the flesh was back in 2013, when\nto my amazement my Red Club membership, kept up for annual trips home to the\nUK, secured me two tickets in The West Stand. My son, at his first NLD, and I\nwatched an enjoyable early season game as the spuds turned up with several\nexpensive but useless new signings and were undone by a Giroud near-post goal in\na one-nil to the Arsenal victory. Flamini, our only signing to date that summer,\ncame on in the first half (for the luckless Jack from memory) shouted, pointed\nand got stuck in to the pleasure of the faithful. A fine afternoon was rounded\noff by serenading morose marshmen as they slunk out early and a new chant for\nthe occasion \u201cWe\u2019ve spent f%+k all, 1-0\u201d.  Just how a NLD should be, I celebrated well if\nnot wisely and the next day we signed Mesut Ozil. I doubt we will see any sign\nof him tomorrow or indeed any of the Arsenal squad from that day but we will\nsee Michael Oliver (see there was a point to talking of referees, it just took\nme a long time to get there) who is again in charge. A good omen I hope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nTeam<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\nhands appear to be present and correct barring long-term injuries (Mari, Calum,\nLeno, Gabriel), miscarriages of justice (Eddie), and iffy backs (Mesut),\nalthough there was some good news with Bernd Leno now expected back before the\nend of the season. Error-free Emi, as he should now be known, will be in goal tomorrow\nhowever as he continues on his quest to give Mikel selection headaches and I\nsee no compelling reason to change the three centre-backs, Mustafi, Luiz &\nKolasinac. Gulps. I see no reason to change Mus, Luiz & Kola \u2013 Holy Dennis\nwhat times we live in! In fact I expect the whole starting line-up to be\nunchanged. There is an argument for Torreira to come in for Dani as he may be\nmore suited to the occasion but Dani has played well the last couple of games\nand I think deserves to retain his place. The same with Hector on the right\ngetting the nod in front of the goal machine that is Cedric. Despite his goal\nSaka was not at his splendid best last time and it wouldn\u2019t be a major surprise\nif Pepe comes back. Laca and Auba seem certain to play but whoever plays up\nfront should be good enough to give Loris\u2019s creaky back a workout as he picks\nthe ball out the back of the net. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe Mikel will plump for the XI below to drain the swamp:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinez<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mus – Luiz – Kola<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hector – Xhaka – Dani – Kieran<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka – Laca – Auba<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nimagine as they huddle round their peaty campfires tonight even the spuds will\nknow in their tiny little hearts that it\u2019s an XI good enough to see off the\nlikes of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nwhat of them? Well, they have turned into budding magicians it seems with three\nneat tricks this year. First, they turned their team from CL challengers into\nuseless boring plodders, next they vanished before our eyes from all the cup\ncompetitions, but now for a grand finale they\u2019ve topped even that with the\nmagical transformation of a toilet bowl into a white elephant. Currently\nplaying 2 shows a week to an empty house they are, with the best will in the\nworld, simply sh*t. Their manager, the has been\u2019s has been, and the team,\nneverwozzers, are a good fit and long may they continue together. They come to\nthe end of the season out of all the cups, destined for mid table mediocrity\nand desperately short of cash. Don\u2019t go to the Levy, Maureen, the levy is dry.\nA harsh assessment you may feel (or not) but it is good to be honest with your\nneighbours – you\u2019re fucked lads. As they slip futile – a quick glance to your\nright at the much-missed Guvnor\u2019s clock says it all – and despondent into the\nswampy depths of Middlesex you\u2019d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh \u2013\nMaureen as Little Nell. Anyway, this time their tactics, if that\u2019s the right\nword, will be to somehow get the ball to Kane and hope for the best. Son was\nrested midweek, dizzy spells perhaps, and we must as ever be aware of their\nability to fall over in the area. Or cheat to put it another way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Holic Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\nonly minor concern at the moment is with the burden on Auba for the next 3\ngames against some big clubs and spu*s. He will be first choice on the left and\nPlan B as CF. However, I\u2019m confident Laca will find his regular scoring boots\nand that others will come to the fore as they have a couple of times recently.\nNLDs can be tight scrappy affairs but we will be too good and too confident for\nthem this time and I will go with a 3-0 win to The Arsenal. It\u2019s not Christmas\nbut still it\u2019s time to toast the Tottnumb turkeys. The odds on 3-0 are a\nnumerically amusing 30-1 and if you like redemptive stories then Xhaka is 11-1\nto score at any time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nfinish, a brief word on the confirmation of Eddie\u2019s 3 game ban despite the\nvarious mitigating factors. Nonsense.\n\nEnjoy the game wherever you are my fellow Gooners.\nNorth London will always be red.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so, at last, 11 months into the season the North London derby rolls around. It will be our first league meeting with the Tiny Totts in the unfootballerly month of July, and hopefully our last. After the dropped points from the last game and the loss of Eddie for the next 3 matches Mikel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"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\/1068"}],"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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1068"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1072,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions\/1072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}