By Tony Attwood
First off, I thought I might list all 31 dirty tricks Argentina used against England, at least according to the media today. But then I thought I would leave it up to you to find out – you can look the tricks up in the Daily Mirror if you wish.
But overall the consensus was that the South Americans are “masters of the dark arts lived up to their reputation in World Cup semi-final,” which really makes one wonder why the newspaper didn’t warn us of that first, or indeed tip off the manager and his team how they might cope with it.”
Anyway, apparently the media men did stay to watch “jubilant Argentina fans burn England flags in Buenos Aires” and found that and what followed an “”an eye-opening experience,” which I guess means that these newspaper men have not learned what happens when a population is repeatedly told that the team you are playing really are the invading enemy.
As for the performance by England, we are told that “Tuchel’s tactical blunders that proved so costly for England” and that the German (and at this moment of criticism we must remember to call him a German), “must take heavy share of the blame for defeat after defensive substitutions backfired when Argentina were there for the taking.” Indeed, overall, “Tuchel blew it worse than Southgate ever did.”
The problem it seems was that the “German’s” (which is what we have to call him apparently, now that England have lost) “tactical decisions at a crucial point in semi-final against Argentina cost England…”
However, after the match, what I was left wondering was what does it do to the country and how it makes us English people feel. For according to the Guardian, “More than 200 countries endorse Infantino for fourth Fifa term despite Balogun scandal,” while “Only a handful of FAs have not declared their support”.
- Uefa has made its opposition clear on number of issues
So anyway I’ve had enough of all that and decided instead to have a look at the Arsenal squad for the coming season,, not least now we have a few signings coming along giving us a good sense of the sort of players we might have as we defend the title and go for a second.
Goal: David Raya, Illan Meslier, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Tommy Setford (4)
Centre Back: William Saliba, Gabriel, Piero Hincapié, Cristhian Mosquera (4)
Left back: Riccardo Calafiori, Myles Lewis-Skelly (2)
Righ back: Jurriën Timber , Ben White (2)
Defensive midfield: Martín Zubimendi (1)
Central midfield: Declan Rice, Mikel Merino (2)
Attacking midfield: Martin Ødegaard , Eberechi Eze, Ethan Nwaneri, Fábio Vieira (4)
Left wing: Gabriel Martinelli, Reiss Nelson (2)
Righ wing: Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, Max Downman (3)
Centre forward: Viktor Gyokers, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus (3)
That makes 27 players and I don’t have the exact birth dates in front of me but I know that several are not going to count as over 21 for the new season, so there doesn’t look to be a problem there.
And even if I have made a mistake with the adding up (which given that it is me, is always a possibility) that still looks like a very strong squad in my eyes. What is more, we still have half of July and all of August to go, so although it gets harder to get the players you really want the closer we get to the end of the window, that still looks like a good squad.
Obviously one or two players might move on, but then equally one or two others might step up. And there should be no worrying about there being 27 in the 25 man squad since not all of them are over age, so they don’t all count.
Now of course, there are going to be some positions that people will leap upon and pick out as weaknesses, such as left wing and defensive midfield, but there are still about six weeks of window to go, and there is every chance that I have, in my normal style, missed someone. Please do point the names out, although gently if possible. I feel a bit fragile after watching a lot of footy on TV or late.
So maybe another defensive midfielder, perhaps? And just remember although there are 27 players listed, not all of them are over 21, so they don’t all count.
Personally, I am thinking this squad is starting to look rather good.
