{"id":7277,"date":"2023-01-15T03:35:32","date_gmt":"2023-01-15T03:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7277"},"modified":"2023-01-15T20:06:27","modified_gmt":"2023-01-15T20:06:27","slug":"mikels-bolero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7277","title":{"rendered":"Mikel&#8217;s Bol\u00e9ro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1454061278\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:72.39057% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1454061278?et=CmmAn5MbSk9rrfLMfhvolQ&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=-DmprBSEf3-mYs3iVM7ChXE3Qv1Myx9FREBw7vheO_U=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\" width=\"594\" height=\"430\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Given the somewhat manic urge of our age to reduce expressions and experiences to purely mechanistic modalities of biological explanations, lately there have been attempts at \u201cexplaining away\u201d the throbbing vitality of <em>Bol\u00e9ro<\/em>\u2019s incessant rhythmic pattern and melodic motif to be the outcome of the neurological disorder of progressive aphasia which had marked the beginning of Ravel\u2019s rapidly progressing dementia, likely to have expedited by a severe automobile accident when he was in his fifties. Much to Ravel\u2019s surprise, <em>Bol\u00e9ro<\/em> became his most famous composition in his lifetime, and after his untimely death had gained significant popularity, and remained his most recognized work. A lifelong Ravel fan, I listen to his peerless piano pieces like <em>Miroirs<\/em> or <em>Gaspard de la nuit<\/em> more frequently, but the power and magic of <em>Bol\u00e9ro<\/em> remains undeniable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Bol\u00e9ro<\/em> is no longer, or rarely so, performed outside its purely orchestral interpretation, though it was first publicly performed as a ballet, choreographed by the great Polish dancer Bronis\u0142awa Ni\u017cy\u0144ska<em>.&nbsp; <\/em>Its essential rhythmic and melodic predictability is complemented by a gracefulness of movement that is mesmeric because of its inevitability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In footballing terms, I suspect something like that is what Arteta and his coaching team are aiming for: an essential consistency and predictability of structure and shape on which graceful movements are built like layers of  melodic motifs, driving towards the inevitable crescendos of attacking brilliance. If Ars\u00e8ne\u2019s best teams were sometime compared with the improvisational philosophy of jazz \u2013 where great players in a group align on some fundamental rhythmic, harmonic and melodic ideas to then express their originalities in manner that is singularly individualistic but never at the expense of the collective \u2013 I find Mikel\u2019s meticulous attention to every detail and the exquisite structural control more akin to classical compositions. It is worth noting though that these two different approaches are not always mutually incompatible: Ravel was a lifelong fan of jazz music, the love for which he openly admitted, in his solitary trip to US \u2013 recalled in a poetically imagined novel by Jean Echenoz that I highly recommend to anyone remotely interested in the enigma of Ravel\u2019s life and music.  He spent significant amount of time with Gershwin listening to jazz in Harlem, and jazz greats over the years have professed their undying love of Ravel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I don\u2019t know about other Arsenal fans outside this wise, understanding and friendly universe of Goonerholics, but I personally have fallen in love with this Arsenal team almost as much I was in love with the great Wenger teams, in days of jubilations and heartaches alike. I now look forward to the next match with an eager anticipation, I enjoy the sublime moments to my heart\u2019s content, and when things don\u2019t really work out as planned, I still feel proud of how the team (and Mikel on the sidelines) behaves collectively in a manner that shows a great combination of humility and determination. I don\u2019t really know why the various people on the anti-Arsenal media and establishment are all about, but I find the behavior of the youngest team in the league coached by the youngest manager as passionate but impeccable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And to be honest, that consistency of football quality, that unique combination of confidence and humility, that passion and togetherness, those magical moments of exquisite movements on and off the ball, those innovative interpretations of traditional positions, the technical composure on the ball, the repetitive but unstoppable ways of reimagining the space on the football field\u2026those are enough for me as a football fan and as an Arsenal fan.&nbsp; Watching Arsenal gives me genuine pleasure once again and sitting on my living room on the other side of the ocean, it also brings me great joy to see how this Arsenal team is making Faustus Junior feel so proud, and how he senses the connection between the fans on the ground and the player growing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t know who we will or will not sign in this window, and I don\u2019t know whether we will or will not win the league. But whatever happens, I am looking forward to how this composition evolves in time over the years, as much as I look forward to how it unfolds in the confined space of the football field every few days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our away form has been very good this season in the league, though not as record-breakingly impressive as the home form. We have won all but two of our away matches, a rather unfortunate loss away at United and a draw away at Southampton who have over the years gave us, and many other top teams, enough trouble in their home ground. But probably no away match in the league calendar carries as much of an emotional association as the one that we are going to play on Sunday. It has been quite a while we have won there. The 2013\/14 league season was the last time, when Tom\u00e1\u0161 Rosick\u00fd\u2019s stinging outside-of-the-right-foot (trademarked Rosick\u00fd?) volley from the right side of the penalty box \u2013 following a sharp exchange with Oxlade-Chamberlain \u2013 gave us a 1-0 lead in the second minute that we protected with a strong defensive display led by captain Per Mertesacker (ably assisted by two other leaders in Arsenal defense, Sagna and Koscielny), excellent keeping by Szczesny, and a disciplined midfield organized by one Mikel Arteta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our last year\u2019s away loss there was dispiriting not only because it ended our Champions League qualification chances but also the manner of loss itself: a combination of naivety and tiredness from our part and some inexplicable, but sadly not entirely unexpected, refereeing decisions. Whereas we don\u2019t have any control over the latter, and officiating in the English game has now entered a surreally nightmarish state of affairs, we don\u2019t have any reasons to be tired yet and have had ample opportunity to learn from last year\u2019s mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is exactly the kind of match where we will miss Gabriel Jesus, not only his technical abilities and big match nous, but also his street-wise professionalism, and his relentless menace and whirlwind energy. Another chance for Eddie Nketiah to show us all again how much he has come along, and I think he will cherish playing against them the way Saka or ESR do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rest of the team more or less pick themselves. In the Tierney or Zinchenko debate by stance is unequivocal: both. :&#8211;) I think they do not quite replace each other but offer somewhat complementary qualities. If both are fit, I suspect Zinchenko will start ahead of Kieran as the Ukrainian\u2019s interpretation of the left back role allows us better control over the midfield, allows Xhaka to operate better as an attacking force, and thereby unleashing more of Martinelli\u2019s abilities on and off the ball. It does make us a little bit more vulnerable against speedy wingers and fullbacks down our left side, so Gabriel needs to be at his best, and so does Saliba who typically ends up covering a wide area on both sides of Ramsdale\u2019s goal. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Ramsdale<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">White \u2013 Saliba \u2013 Gabriel \u2013 Zinchenko<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Partey<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">\u00d8degaard \u2013 Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Saka \u2013 Nketiah \u2013 Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Captain \u00d8degaard \u2013 November-December PL player of the month \u2013 had a relatively subdued game against Newcastle at home the weekend before last, and this is a perfect match for him to forget that blip, especially given the fortnight of match rest he has had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was wonderful to see Emile Smith-Rowe back on the pitch on Monday\u2019s FA cup away tie against Oxford. He is too rusty to start in this match but let us hope if he were to be introduced later in the game it is only to give him more match practice, after we have already secured a strong lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A win in this match would not only strengthen our position on the top of the league but would also give us an extra boost of confidence before a run of games against strong opposition. The North London Derby is known for its often-chaotic nature where form may matter for little if you don\u2019t keep your composure. I believe (hope) that Arteta and his coaching team will prepare the squad mentally to see through the difficult patches of the game and make our undeniably greater quality count at the end. A 3-1 away victory at this ground hasn\u2019t happened in a long time, but tomorrow can bring in a new era of such results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Enjoy the match everyone. Come on Arsenal!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>P.S. Given that I started this preview with a musical reference, and especially to <em>Bol\u00e9ro<\/em>, let me also take this opportunity to sympathize with other Jeff Beck fans in our readership. He was a guitarist\u2019s guitarist, and for us complete novices and amateurs, the skill, versatility and expressiveness of his playing were a source of wonder and inspiration. Like all true genius, he always sounds \u2018\u2026at a slight angle to the rest of the musical universe\u2019 (to paraphrase E.M.Forster\u2019s remarks on C.P. Cavafy).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Given the somewhat manic urge of our age to reduce expressions and experiences to purely mechanistic modalities of biological explanations, lately there have been attempts at \u201cexplaining away\u201d the throbbing vitality of Bol\u00e9ro\u2019s incessant rhythmic pattern and melodic motif to be the outcome of the neurological disorder of progressive aphasia which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7277"}],"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=7277"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7285,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7277\/revisions\/7285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}