Hello! How are you? Hope your all doing well, for the night of October 22nd at 8.00pm (western European time) sees the Mighty Cannon go all Shakhtari and receive a visit from FC Shakhtar of the Ukraine for a 90 minute dance to the music of time..
Our Mole/Miner visitors are currently 27th in the CL, having drawn and lost one and we are in 13th, winning one and drawing one so far, as you of course already know. Normally they play in Donetsk at the Donbas arena, but due to the conflict with Russia since 2014 they have re-located firstly to 1,000 km to the west and taken up home in the Arena Lviv back in 2014 and then to a stadium in Kharkiv. But have played cup games in Gelsenkirchen D-land. I’m not sure how that works out with their fans? They won their league last year and are currently 4th in the Ukrainian Premier League. And this is a team that likes to score goals and has a smattering of Brazilian players in its squad to add a touch of the old samba to the borscht.
Formed in the difficult days of April 1936 in the Soviet Union, from a mixture of mining communities, apparently a Shakhtar is a coal miner who works in a sub-surface shafted mine, and is a derivative of the word shaft. After the Great Patriotic war(WW2) there were only three players left, how they coped with such a devastating tragedy I have no idea. In all they’ve notched up 56 years of professional Soviet football, and 33 years of professional Ukrainian football. They remain a popular side in that country.
Our old pal Henrik Mkhitaryan played for them back in 2010-13 (72 apps/38 goals).
They won the UEFA cup in 2009. Reached the SF’ s 15/16 and in 19/20. This is a team that participates regularly in Euro football, and has a tough reputation from the Soviet times and afterwards. We are head to head with them; won two, lost two, both times losing the away leg and doing the business back at our shed. Their coefficient rating is 63.000, sandwiched between Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt..
The Kroty(moles) have won the Ukrainian league 15 times, the Ukrainian cup 14 times, Ukrainian super cup 9 times. The also won the Soviet cup four times.
Their manager is Marino Pušić with a 71% win rate, but alas have been given by somebody somewhere only a 4% chance of winning this game.
Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces that I’m sure have made you feel like going out semi-naked into the street singing ‘hey nonny nonny’ to relieve yourself from the tedium of it.
Even so, here’s to a great game for us and lucky horses!
COYG and keep on keepin’ on!
Mills
Positively Arsenal 
A true Champions League preview for what is going to be another successful Champions League night.
We don’t have to worry about the rigours of the PL or indeed Pigmol. The overseas officials tend to be quite good (I hope I haven’t just put the mockers on it).
With the scouscers coming up I’m not sure if those close to fitness will be risked unless Mikel wants them to get minutes before that game.
In the first two games it was all about doing a job and staying professional but tonight it would be nice if we could go a couple up and then play with a bit of freedom and fun.
Because of the way this league works I’m not sure how many points will be needed to get into the top eight but seven points from three games would certainly be a good start a put us well on the way.
After the dower start and kit against Bournemouth it would be nice to come out of the red and white blocks tonight all Guns blazing COYG.
LikeLike
Thank you Mills. Impossible to call these games, and as I’ve never bothered to find out how the new Champions League is structured the significance is lost on me too.
However, it’s on Amazon and I believe they allow us to turn of the gibbering nonsense of the commentary team, so that’s good.
Either way a blessed relief from the nightmare that is the Premier League these days
LikeLike
jack wilshere is joining norwich on thursday as one of their first team coaches, and not as reported a few days ago as their manager
LikeLike
Raya; White, Gabriel, Saliba, Calfiori; Rice, Partey; Martinelli, Trossard, Jesus; Havertz.
Subs:Neto, Setford, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Merino, Sterling, Butler-Oyedeji, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, Monlouis, Robinson.
LikeLike
1-0 to the arsenal, a martinelli shot hits the post, then the goalies arse and it goes in, so will go down as an OG
LikeLike
1-0 win, from an own goal, and trossard missed a penalty, in what was an awful performance again.
LikeLike
Again no direction in the final third and by the end of the game the opposition really fancied their chances.
These last two performances are a real worry for the team going forward. If a two injuries in the forward areas are going to affect us that much and put pressure on the back line then we really are in trouble.
LikeLike
JUST SOME THOUGHTS
This isn’t aimed at anyone on here, but more what Ive seen since the weekend on the internet.
I knew we would lose to Bournemouth after Saliba was sent off, but I was quite shocked ( why after all these years of spittle and nashing I don’t know) at the reaction, such doom and gloom and that its the end of the season.
” the food at this restaurant is just terrible”
“yes, and such small portions!”
OK, I don’t really care, while we still live in relative democratic freedom people can say, with some ethical boundaries what they want. But where do people like me go to hang out when we don’t want to drown in spittle or have our eardrums bent? Some critics take on extremist (and therefore conservative and probably unfulfillable positions?) meaning they are always right as everything else is wrong and would be right if we only follow their extremist plan. Except it doesn’t work that way, we constantly reduce football to a simplified structure when its so complex, you couldn’t even in one lifetimes write about everything that takes place in the first half of a game. Nanosecond decisions being made, whilst we judge in hindsight, claiming that hindsight sees all, but only through other lenses and these keep changing and are all relative an subjective?
Do we lose a grounded and moderate perspective, keeping into context the sport and the fallibility of humans in order just to create another drama that fills some kind of existential void of dread? By shouting and being angry we can cover our football fear of extinction, of being irrelevant? How many are actually psychologically enjoying this?
One thing I did think that was interesting was that people seem to really want Arsenal to play good quality football? But putting massive pressure on players who become conscious of this, where does that leave them?
” they are paid to do it, so do it”
Except again, simplification of life makes things even more complicated. And players aren’t robots, yet.What are players paid to do? Soak up verbal abuse from people who can’t kick a ball to save theirs? Sounds stupid until we look deeper.
How much are the Invincibles a tough proposition to stand up to every season? I saw one critic on YT saying that Shakhtar were bunch of comedians and that made us look comical too. But Shakhtar aren’t shit. That’s a tough team. Even in another form look at the players in the sides who lost to them. Even one of the wins at Highbury we trailed the game until the end. Ok this may well come under the guise of a straw man argument, but you get my point. This spoilt, snobby, click-bait absolutist attitude seems to reek of privilege, reaping from a past ( Invincibles) dictating how it should be now? Artist do the same, trade off the Renaissance in order to prop up their work even though technically they aren’t even on that level or soap opera stars claiming to be on the same level of those who have created great performances on stage and screen.
OK so we aren’t playing that well, but we aren’t playing that badly either. At the point of writing this we have only lost one game, even though that means, according to many that we are now, in the beginning of the end of October now out of the title race. This is as nuts as ‘winning the transfer window ‘. Who can tell? Im not that football smart, so maybe they just know the game better, but even so I remain utterly skepitcal about this. We can’t shout at the rain and the next day praise the sun without becoming extremely tedious as its just stating whats happening, why tune in to see/listen etc to that when you already know it yourself?
How much are we supporting? What supporting mean? What does criticising mean? What do we want? And why do we react so when we don’t get it? We aren’t, despite buying a ticket, a customer, we are spectators, and we watch not to win but to see if we will win and what plays out. But we live in the time of clear cut lines of identification and if you lose then youre a loser. So fkn what? Duh! You can’t have a winner without a loser, that why we have sportsmanship?
What if Arsenal were being encouraged? What if pundits were less famous and influential than the clubs themselves?
What if sometimes team can’t easily click, does shouting at them work, every time? Is it our business to shout or Arteta and his staff? Is it a mixture of the two, and what are the consequences? What the fk is our job or place? No singular idea or position, but many?
Personally as remarkable as the Invincibles were I wished we had had three champions leagues, many be a couple more PLs and no corruption that was in game 50 instead. But some like oranges and some apples. And to some I’m wrong, and that fair enough. Of course it was an utterly remarkable achievement, but one that we also are scared each year of losing, especially to City?
There are no real losers, or even winners in life, these things are so relative, a perspective and its in flux once we understand this our joy in supporting can come back again, win lose or draw, tedious football or not? I don’t expect you to agree, in fact I expect to be told I’m full of shit. And what if I am, do I need to go to the mobile gas chamber, why is my opinion irrelevant, who says so and by which scale is it being measured?
Trouble is its all a storm in a silly little tea cup and soon forgotten, as next follows next? But football is perhaps one crazy ersatz system for other problems, but even so reacting in irrational ways and over-reacting make things worse, perhpas like clinging on to the past that becomes more and more Bunyanised yardstick when those now playing out the theatre of it all have no chance to reach that level? Arsène sometimes mucked up. Henry missed more than he scored, Bob Pies wasn’t always the best, Paddy gave hairy chest the ball and we won fk all etc etc etc. In our minds we pretend many times it didn’t happen, And this is cruel and a lie. They are all humans and humans make a mess, surely we like football as much for its mistakes as its perfect plays? Kiwior’s back pass was horrible for us, but joy for Bournemouth fans. And we would have dished out spoonfuls of Schadenfreude had it been the other way around. Shouting at Kiwior solves his mistake, or just relives us of our projected embarrassment and humiliation? The poor bastard, do you think he wanted that, it will haunt him time and time again.
Look, its just a perspective, not the absolute truth. That doesn’t exist. But what does is hope, Arsenal playing, watching it fold or work, being part of something?
Don’t get me wrong, people are upset that it might not work out, they feel angry(frightened) and need a release, but how much do humans( including me) ever think about the consequences of our actions. They don’t ever stop, swinging from that which we call good, onto that which we call bad again and again, when does it stop?
Perhaps each football fan has different agendas, the need to win at all cost, the need to win at all cost and have perfect football etc.Perfection, its scares me, its tyrannical and destroys all in its wake, as flux its constantly in battle with it, so it can’t ever achieve its aims. Wabi-sabi is perhaps a better perspective?
“fk off Mills u ponce”
Everyone has by having an opinion, creates a polarity and to make that work they need a counter polarity, and thus, in plurality we find conflict and much of it is ok, at least within limits. I have no answer because imo, this has been the failure of humanity to think and chase after the idea there can be only one answer, instead there have to be many answers, as there are many qquestions and different types of human needs. Perhaps I’m just shouting out selfishly for me, and for anyone that might agree,even if its only for a bit and only if its for a few, that doesn’t mean Im right or righteous, or part of some elite that esoterically knows, but just another opinion one calling for perspective and being grounded and patient?
I haven’t a clue, and maybe that’s a starting point than always think we know. What do we know? The irony is, most people feel better if that have a rant, this just makes me feel worse.
COYG!
LikeLiked by 2 people
For me, most of this exaggerated opinion started, or certainly gained speed with the onset of the Premier League.
When people had to worry violence and thugs at football the odd poor performance was so much of a problem.
Now I’m not saying we should in list lots of criminals to stand outside stadiums but the dirty money and it’s followers wouldn’t be there.
Yes it’s amazing most football pundits propensity for failure as managers but still have the cheek to criticise those in the dugout.
Of course when I comment about football I am never wrong, as those on here that have testified to a lot of my shit over the years.
Football actually is simple it is entertainment but to make money a drama industry has been created around it.
One of the most ridiculous arguments against VAR when it was due to be introduced was getting things gave us something to talk about. Well that turned out to be bollocks.
LikeLike
Nice post Ian, good insights.
LikeLike
i think that a lot of the ire is despite only one loss, is that we’ve been fed the club PR for so long that we are getting better and better each season, etc etc, and that with city and maybe liverpool likely to get in the mid 90’s point wise for the season, the general wisdom is that 95 or 96 points needed just to give us a reasonable chance of winning the title, so that means 20 or 21 points is the max we can drop for the season to obtain that sort of points total, we are 8 games in and we have dropped 7 points, so 1/3 of total amount. And if 99 or 100 is needed then we may be at 1/2 the points we can drop.
The less than inspiring football has added to the feeling, rightly or wrongly, that the team is not playing well. There is also many who feel Arteta does not want to, or even try to, play expansive football, and when we go behind in games, that even then he does not throw caution to the wind, but is more concerned with not getting a hammering than getting back in the game.
Expectations have been raised, 2 second placed finishes contributes big time to that, and lots of club PR puts it over the top. Some questioned our summer transfer business, I for one am critical of the club leaving the squad 3 senior players short of what is allowed, especially as we have so many injury prone players in the 22 senior players we have, and also knowing that the PGMOL ref us differently so both suspensions and injuries are more than likely, we have sabotaged ourselves, and when you consider that the club did not plan to bring in Sterling and had no other forward signing on the agenda in the last week of the window, it casts doubt on all the club led PR and all the process nonsense, too much of it is GlobeLink News and Gus Hedges speak
LikeLiked by 1 person
Everyone thinks their opinion is right, otherwise they would change it. Most think their understanding of football is THE definitive understanding. Nuance is as dead as a Dodo. Me? I just think that if everyone thought like me, I wouldn’t be able to feel superior, that would be awful for me.
LikeLike
New post is up.
LikeLike