{"id":7667,"date":"2023-03-31T00:05:33","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T23:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7667"},"modified":"2023-04-02T21:31:51","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T20:31:51","slug":"interlull-endzzzz-as-emperor-spursyos-new-clothes-fall-off-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7667","title":{"rendered":"Interlull Endzzzz.\u2026 As Emperor Spursyo\u2019s New Clothes Fall Off Again!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Well they were never going to fit, were they? While Emperor Spursyo claimed to be looking for something free flowing, colourful, exciting and, of course, not too expensive, he was persuaded to go for something with a very fixed structure, dour, boring and, despite that, fashioned from the most expensive fabric. He squeezed uncomfortably into the new outfit for a few months, but then a scratch here, an itch there, several awkward wriggles and one final, unbridled exhale and the whole lot burst and fell off. Just like it had, incredibly like it had, eighteen months before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emperor Spursyo does indeed run the most \u201cnew clothes\u201d club you could ever imagine. Best new stadium in the world (we\u2019re repeatedly told) with it\u2019s very own brewery, cheese room, longest serving hatch in the world, an enormous cock on the roof, and an even bigger one at centre forward, but no trophies – well an ex-Gooner did win them one and got fired for his trouble – absolutely no football success. At all. It\u2019s a shame the Emperor has sacked his latest tailor – I thought he was fitting him up good and proper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update: their managing director, Fabio Paratici, has now been handed a ban by FIFA and is barred from all football activity worldwide for 30 months following his part in the false accounting judgement against his old club Juventus. Looks like the wheels have now joined the clothes in falling off!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But enough of them – and enough of the Interlull as there it goes \u2026\u2026 unloved by many, unwanted by most – except for some, probably mostly younger players – and unappreciated by almost everyone as yet another untimely interruption to the important stuff. The final Interlull of the season, thank whoever you pray to!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a term we nearly all use these days but what exactly is an Interlull? As if we needed it in this of all seasons, it is a gap, a temporary halt to the domestic season, in order that our most prized, most talented, most pressured players can travel thousands of miles to play against Andorra, or Liechtenstein, or San Marino in some qualifying rounds to the main event which, this time, is the European Championships. I think. Or is it the Nations League? Or does the one now lead to the other? If anyone actually knows, congratulations are in order, and a request to leave a very (really very) brief explanation in the drinks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What it really is, of course, is another chance for all our Premier League rivals to grab their most important players another couple of weeks of rest and recuperation on the basis of various spurious injuries, while Gareth Southgate runs the legs off Bukayo Saka, or flies Ben White all the way to Qatar to leave him on a bench and then fly him, humiliated, all the way home again. Oh, and money. Of course, money, as UEFA and FIFA contrive ever more ways to wring the very last drop of blood from the football stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems that Martin Odegaard is thankfully and somewhat miraculously okay after Man City agent Rodri\u2019s failed attempt to bring his season to a premature end. The Spaniard also took out Kieran Tierney a few days later but the only report I have seen said that Kieran\u2019s early departure from the pitch was not likely to result in an injury. Surely, Pep wouldn\u2019t instruct his player to do that to our lads out of pure desperation? No, I thought not too. Bukayo Saka also appeared well enough after two more games, a brilliant assist and a world class goal last Sunday. I\u2019m actually writing this on Wednesday\/Thursday and there don\u2019t seem to be any other rumours of new injuries to Arsenal players. Thomas Partey is in full training and deemed fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Saliba will apparently miss out this weekend so Rob Holding, who had a very good game before the break, will fill in again. There is worrying news on football.london who are reporting that Saliba has an ongoing back problem that might require surgery. It remains to be seen whether the injury can be managed through to the end of the season. Surgery now would clearly mean an early end to his season. Takehiro Tomiyasu\u2019s knee surgery has already decided his fate until June – something which is complicating the Saliba situation as Ben White is now our only functioning right back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the Interlull must not be allowed to be is an actual lull in our hunger, intent and impetus as we begin the run in to the end of this amazing season. There are just ten to go. Ten cup finals which will include games against four of the top seven and five relegation contenders. So no more lull and let\u2019s get Inter them \u2026. Sorry! All equally testing games in my opinion, and starting this weekend with Dirty Leeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, why \u201cDirty Leeds\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be fair, I don\u2019t think Leeds have been particularly dirty for a good many years, but for those of us who remember them from the 1970s, they will always be Dirty Leeds. Under the management of Don Revie, the spine of the Leeds team consisted of Jack Charlton, Norman \u201cbites yer legs\u201d Hunter, Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles in midfield, and even Mick Jones up front could look after himself, as they say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In case there are any readers young enough, or older ones domiciled in countries far enough away, that they are unfamiliar with some of the goings on in the 70s, here is some footage of Francis Lee in altercation with Norman Hunter in a Derby v Leeds match in the 1975-76 season. Again, to be fair, Lee appears to be the aggressor here, but it followed a typical Hunter challenge which \u201cFranny\u201d found unacceptable, shall we say \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/QALdVum0xEk<\/a>

The sharp eyed may have spotted dear old Charlie George behaving impeccably, Commentary by John Motson, RIP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here\u2019s Johnny Giles letting Kevin Keegan \u201cknow he\u2019s there\u201d –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2BWAL7ADsi0<\/a>

Leeds come, of course, from an uncompromising corner of the country in Yorkshire. A friend of mine moved to Leeds and asked his mate why the locals kept sticking two fingers up at him. Not wanting to hurt his feelings his friend said it was a form of respect and acceptance for newcomers to the area. \u201cOh\u201d, said my friend, \u201cthat\u2019s good ! A van passed me by this morning and I got a wave from the driver that suggests I\u2019m already half way there!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The friendly, helpful folk of Yorkshire have their version of the famous saying –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red sky at night Shepherd\u2019s delight. Red sky in the morning Shepherd\u2019s warning.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leeds version –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red sky at night T\u2019 old barn\u2019s alight. Red sky int\u2019 morning Bugger\u2019s still burning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Leeds announced Javi Gracia as their new manager in the third week of February after seven games without a win under Jesse Marsch. Since then they have beaten Southampton and Wolves, drawn against Brighton and lost to Fulham and Chelsea. They sit currently in 14th place with 26 points from 27 games and a negative Goal Difference of -9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In case anyone had forgotten, we are top of the league, say \u2026. with 69 points from 28 games and a positive Goal Difference of +40.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of their financial crisis, Leeds were relegated from the Premier League in 2004 and the turbulent state of the club saw them drop again in the 2006-07 season into League One. They made it back into the Championship in 2010 and finally returned to the Premier League in 2020 after a 16 year absence. The last 5 games since then have seen 5 Arsenal wins at an aggregate score of 13-4, 0 draws and 0 Leeds wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s very unlikely that Mikel Arteta will deviate from his usual starting eleven at this stage, unless he feels Gabriel Jesus is ready to start. That will presumably see Leandro Trossard drop to the bench – a tough choice as he has done extremely well since his move in January. Nice problems to have though. Assuming all the Interlull bumps and bruises have repaired sufficiently, and considering the news above, I think we will see –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsdale; White, Holding, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Jesus \/ Trossard, Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leeds will be without Tyler Adams, Max Wober and Willy Gnonto. Adams has had hamstring surgery and is most likely out for the season. Javi Gracia has ruled out the other two for this weekend due to their respective hamstring and ankle injuries picked up on international duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

It\u2019s no surprise that we\u2019re heavy favourites to win this one – Paddy Power are offering 1\/4 on the Arsenal win, 9\/2 against the draw, 9\/1 against a Leeds victory. Slightly better prices are 15\/2 on a 3-0 home win, or 24\/5 for Gabriel Martinelli to be first goal scorer- those with Midnite and SBK respectively, although both mean nothing to me, I have to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ticketing at The Emirates<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has been considerable consternation this season at how difficult it has become for non-season ticket holders to secure tickets. On the official website the club is claiming to have cancelled almost 2,000 memberships for touting offences this season. I did see online that they have also trapped thousands of \u201cbots\u201d that have been buying up tickets for resale abroad, with ordinary ground tickets going for up to \u00a31,100 or \u00a31,200. Is this the modern, inevitable result of success, or an embarrassing failure of cyber security on the part of the club?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost Finally<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations to Ars\u00e8ne Wenger who was inducted to the Premier League Hall of Fame this week, along with old adversary Alex Ferguson. It seems they now get on well enough to have dinner together – pizza, perhaps? I was surprised to see that Arsene actually managed more Premier League games than Ferguson and had an admirably comparable record considering the gulf in resources. Although Ferguson won more titles than Arsene, he never went unbeaten – an incredible feat, as he recognised – and Arsenal were the only team to score in every league game in an entire season, which they achieved in 2001\/02.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Kick-off is on Saturday 1st April, 15.00hrs, at The Emirates. There is no live UK TV coverage, again!, it being a Saturday afternoon, so good luck with the stream hunting. Referee is Darren England. VAR is Craig Pawson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try to relax, breathe and enjoy \u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well they were never going to fit, were they? While Emperor Spursyo claimed to be looking for something free flowing, colourful, exciting and, of course, not too expensive, he was persuaded to go for something with a very fixed structure, dour, boring and, despite that, fashioned from the most expensive fabric. He squeezed uncomfortably into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"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\/7667"}],"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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7667"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7674,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7667\/revisions\/7674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}