Hello and how are you? I feel utterly disenfranchised from life, football and whatever else is important, so I’ll be as brief as possible before I get tucked into my chicken soup.
Having won comfortably against Coventry we now head up to the midlands and take on Aston Villa at Villa Park. KO is 8.00pm (UK time) Monday 31st of August. This is a Villa side much changed from our last encounter; however, they and the 12th (person) of Villa Park are not to be under estimated, especially if we are serious about retaining the title. Are we?
Soon the games will come thick and fast, five in September for a start. By the time this game is done and dusted and the analysis echoes around the bot-blown world of the internet ( all utopian visons fail so why the heck we not tempering our visions a bit at least?) have faded, the transfer window will be closed. ” Shut that window and keep it shut!”.
Some stalwarts of the Arsenal will have gone and maybe some new faces in. There seems less and less room for sentimentality in this world so I’ll keep it to myself. I still feel convinced though that the pursuit of perfection is haunted by the unseen spirit self-destruction. A strange game of Russian roulette…
I proved this week I haven’t any clue as the scales of evaluation of players, any more than I have of the new rules and regulations that have come in this season and the old parameters of talent and age now seem to have swum off to look for green cheese on the moon with the clangers. So, I’ll hold my peace with that one in the future!
I look around and wonder; what has this Arsenal to do with the Arsenal I started supporting nearly fifty years ago, and the answers is not much but name? And that’s the way of life? No wonder many Arsenal fans of the long-bearded type go awol from the internet’s bragging, bullshot banter and just stick to the game and try to enjoy it wind, rain or shine? It seems more and more tempting?
Perhaps I’m a plastic fan, perhaps the scales of fan evaluation mean that where ever you are on it, people will see you as a phoney. Are they right? Does anyone care? What does it mean to be real? What is a phoney? What about all the faces in the crowd at Highbury in the years when my Grandfather went? Do they care? In a few years when Ive gone and few others who will even recall my Grandfather? None.
Even the fame game and its illusion of immortality is a dicey one, fame is obscurity waiting, eventually. And even those that push on through to fame immortality have their legacy assessed and assessed as times change from epoch to epoch. Ideas of good and bad flipping like a pancake laden with the syrup of relativity?
Like Johnny Cash sang: ” I don’t like, but I guess things happen that way”…
Saliba and Timber! and maybe new Bruno are crocked for the Arsenal, Gomes is on a three-match ban and Onana, Manzambi and Madjo, are all stuck in the infirmary.
Having escaped to holiday climes last week, I eventually tracked the stattos from Statto HQ ( they were on holiday in Dymchurch eating crispy pancakes in a static caravan discussing advanced vectors) and they calculated for me: Aston Villa have a 14.2% chance of winning and the mighty Cannon have 64.9%. Let’s hope so, up next a clash with deep-pockets of west Londres, Chelsea. Till then, may your force be with ye.
COYG!
Mills
Excellent again Millsy,
You seem to be able to express my feelings before I even realise I feel that way myself.
Ah the clangers, if only life was that simple!
The start of the season is very strange, are we playing that well, are villa that bad, who knows.
ARSENAL generally do well against villa but Mikel has a more mixed record against them.
We know villa have a new team and are unpredictable but it seems Uni’s wish to play out from the back is their undoing in the early part of the season, as it was last year.
As pressing and winning the ball high up the pitch is one of our strengths maybe we can benefit hugely in this area.
Friday night and now Monday night, certainly not a traditional start but excited nonetheless COYG.
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Thanks Ian, means a lot.
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good write up Mills as usual
on what being a fan now means comparted to when we started, not far off 60 years for me,(started young), after we won the title last season I found it very odd that a Newcastle fan who lives down the road from me actually congratulated me in a way that you’d think I’d played a part in it. All I done was pick Arsenal as my team all those years ago and am still here with them as my team. As I said I found his congratulation odd, very odd, but then that may be the modern fan, its like how you will hear and see fans say they are ashamed of their club, not for having genocide supporting sponsors or staff or owners, no they are ashamed cos they lost a game they thought they’d win, or they didn’t buy the guy or guys they wanted them to buy. I always railed against this ashamed nonsense when it used to be all over the place from idiots in the latter Arsene Wenger years. As I said above, nearly 60’s years and I’ve never been ashamed of Arsenal for anything they have done on the field of play or in transfers. The treatment of the mascot and the kit guy over his anti genocide views was shameful though.
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Malick Fofana of Lyon the latest in a very long line of wide men to be linked to Arsenal. It seems he is now available for €40M after Lyon were knocked out of the CL and need funds.
He had ankle surgery last season which kept him out for a long time. A small fast tricky winger,
Ndiaye of Everton is now wanted by Man City and its reported his agents have requested Arsenal to make a move for him. He has an informal agreement with Spurs, with Richarlson going the other way.
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Raya
White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori
Rice, MLS, Odegaard
Saka, Havertz, Tzolis
subs – Kepa, Hincapie, Konsa, Guimaraes, Madueke, Merino, Gyokeres
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our U21’s are currently playing Brighton away, the two lads signed from Man Utd make their Arsenal debuts, and Elijah Upson makes his first start.
Ranson
Ogunneye, Upson, Salmon, Ogunnaike
Stevens, Ibrahim, Julienne,
O’Neill, Harriman-Annous, Scanlon
subs – Porter, Washington, Dixon, Clarke, Agustine, Mooney, Zecevic John
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forgot to include Eze in the subs for the Villa game
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another young winger linked is 19 year old Mexican Hugo Camberos of Guadalajara
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Thanks Ed. When you and Ian add and expand what Ive written it makes my day, and it all still feels worth it.
What I got out of writing it yesterday was that you have to find some kind of niche, other may curse and cuss you but you, but you have to support in your own way? I still love Arsenal and football as much as I did when I was a kid, but theres much around the game I dont like anymore and that changed my like, more here less there. The whole thing seems a massive spectrum?
TBh I was thinking of coming on and asking is it worth it to keep writing something, instead just put up a few details, but I remembered George talking about that often PA was about how it was being a fan and the experiences you have, for good or bad. So I’ll try and concrentrate on that. I couldnt work out how to make a new style except by going too left field, so I’ll try and stick to the old system, things flow pretty easy that way.
its a strange time on earth though, we work up this morning to find there had been another shooting in our area, sometimes it feels like things are falling apart, but I suppose you have to be youre own kind of super glue. All I know is Im a small person, in a big world with almsot no power to anything about anything except weed and nuture my own back garden. Its pretty frightening, and I experienced high level power systems a young man and bascially walked away it made me puke so much. Slizzling lies and slander and high level corruption are a real grind, but some folk like those strokes, and they have a head for it. I dont. They are also supported and covered unless its really bad.
One thing that we still have is the game itself, its utterly daft but utterly hypnotisng when its played well. COYG!
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Mills keep doing it your own way, cos its a fine way
James Scanlon gives Arsenal U21s the lead on his debut
Broussia Dortmund have made a season long loan offer for Ethan Nwaneri
Man City have agreed a £65M deal for Ndiaye after Gakpo decided to stay at Liverpool
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Mills keep doing it your own way as its a damn good way
James Scanlon gives Arsenal U21s the lead on his debut
Dortmund have offered a season loan for Ethan Nwaneri
Man City have agreed a £65M deal for Ndiaye after Cody Gakpo decided to stay at Liverpool
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have tried to post this 3 or 4 times now, don’t know why my posts are not going up
Mills keep doing it your way as its a damn fine way
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Borussia Dortmund make proposal to loan Ethan Nwaneri
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James Scanlon has given Arsenal U21’s the lead on his debut
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we sure have a strong squad, look at the bench!
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Evan Mooney has scored late on to make it 2-2 for the u21’s away to Brighton
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Eze on for Tzolis for second half
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penalty to Arsenal, Saka taken down in the box
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VAR over rule it, freekick outside the area
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Sakaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa makes it 1-0 to the Arsenal
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phew!
thanks Ed!
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Bruno and Merino on for MLS and Odegaard
Konsa on for the injured Mosquera, who seems to have done his hamstring.
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Zubimendi on for Rice who seemed to signal he had to come off
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an incredible 8 minutes of stoppage time being added on, AFC must be winning
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8 mins?
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Sometimes I wish you could grab more goals…but on we go.
Night Ed, see you tomorrow. COYG!
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unbelievable that Gyokeres has not got a minutes game time in our first two games, especially with how poor Havertz was today.
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Ed, three must be something that is picking all of them as spam.
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has to be a wordpress thing
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just about 24 and a half hours to bring in the extra quality that is needed to make this team/squad back to back league winners and CL winners.
is Arteta not giving Gyokeres any game time in our first two games a loud shout out to Berta that he wants the Alvarez deal done at all costs.
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Folarin Balogun set to sign for Everton from Monaco for €45M and €5M add ons, with Arsenal set to get about €10M from their sell on clause
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My outlandish prediction for the rest of our transfer window.
In – Fofana and Alvarez, maybe even a last gasp defender depending on what injury Mosquera got tonight.
Out – Gyokeres, to Atletico Madrid as part of Alvarez deal.
Now what you must remember about the above prediction is that I haven’t got a fucking clue.
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New post is up.
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