By Tony Attwood live from somewhere or other, but he’s lost the map….
Yes it is Girona v Arsenal played at 7pm BST, and it is a friendly – which means there are going to be lots and lots of substitutes in the second half, so everyone can have a bit of a run around and justify their seats on the plane trip out to Spain.
And yes the temperature at midday today was 33 degree centigrade which means it was sfar too hot to jog up and down the street, or indeed to sit in the shade with a litre of beer.
But even so, Untold is back with what we might call one of those unique ones, or at least if not unique then at least just once a year before anything else unique happens. It is the one where the players are saying “Come on boss do I have to play in this heat” and the boss grunts something about a free transfer to Rotherham, and everyone gets on with the training.
Yes, this is one of those unique ones. So unique that in fact, in a lot of listings it doesn’t exist at all. But there it is – it is undefined.
Now Girona have cheated a bit by getting a head start on Arsenal in terms of the business of friendly games. For they have knocked up games against Castellón (a 3-3 draw), Alavés a 0-1defeat, and a 3-1 victory over Girona. At least that is how I read their match record, but it was a bit confusing.
As for the commentary, it is on Arsenal.com, or so I am told, but information for this game is so flimsy one can’t be quite sure. So what do we know beyond the absolutely nothing that most of the media offer up, showing us that this season is going to be even worse than last season, at least along the lines that if you kn w it already we will tell you again and if you don’t know it we still might not tell you.
The Gunners “eased past” MK Dons in a 3-0 behind-closed-doors win a few days ago. But I am always worried about behind-closed-doors games – what happens, for example, if there is a fire? Does the fire service know about these things? Are the doors locked?
Meanwhile, the media tells us that “Fans have been whipped up into a frenzy by the Vinicius Jr transfer saga”. So I ask you, are you whipped? Are you in a frenzy? Have you seen a doctor about these conditions? Have you got all your eyes on Christos Tzolis, the new arrival from Club Brugge who is set to get his first official trot around the courtyard, or something like that?
Now, according to Arsenal. com a number of World Cup stars have also rejoined the squad, so could be in line to feature for the first time since the end of last season.
Details are not fully clear, but it could well be that the game will be on your computer, although watching it will cost you. Arsenal have injuries of course, but that is normal, and it helps them prepare for the season, wherein they will, of course, have injuries.
You can watch the game, and it should be on your computer somewhere, but it will cost you. But Arsenal have injuries (they do like the pre-season games to be similar to actual in-season games in this regard.) Ben White and Jurrien Timber are already injured, along with Saliba, who apparently is out forever. But Piero Hincapie, Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyokeres are with the squad and so presumably have a chance of playing.
Arsenal XI:
Kepa;
Mosquera, Salmon, Calafiori, Hincapie;
Lewis-Skelly, Norgaard;
Dowman, Nwaneri, Tzolis;
Jesus.
And here is an alternative version
Kepa;
White, Mosquera, Salmon, Calafiori;
Norgaard, Lewis-Skelly;
Dowman, Nwaneri, Tzolis;
Havertz
So something along those lines, but be prepared for lots of substitutes too.
Well, I’d like to of been welcomed by the Arsenal websites PPV for access to the match but I cant get it. I don’t think it’s just me as it appears the website crashed 10 minutes before kick off. What a surprise.
I put up on here recently how bad the website was but assumed I was the only one who felt this as nobody agreed, or at least didn’t respond.
For a club aiming to be one of the best in the World, the fact they haven’t got a decent website, let alone get the PPV working correctly is frankly embarrassing.
Will we get our money back?
As it usually takes hours to get through to anyone achieving that is going to be fun.
Yep, seen a thread on reddit. The entire Arsenal website is down.
As one guy said, this PPV on arsenal.com is verging on a scam because this happens every year, and yes it does.
I missed games in seasons before and had to chase and chase for my money back.
Honestly, I am so annoyed. Looking forward to this all day. Getting my arsenal fix back. Then this again.
An embarrassment for the World to see.
I wss doubtful, but bought a ppv pass. I should not have bothered
FYI
Arsenal have put it up free on their youtube channel
I had no problems watching the entire match on my computer.
I am extremely puzzled because I purchased a four match pass for £9.99 a few days ago and I logged on to the Arsenal website about 6.35pm and watched the entire game with absolutely no problems or interruptions at all.
How was that possible if the website was down.
Walter and Mick
It does sound odd but it was definitely down via the app on my iphone. And my wifes.
It was okay until about 10 minutes before kick off, when the stream started, then went down. There was lots of people on reddit saying it was down. It came back up briefly at HT when the commentator apologized to people who had been having problems. So there was a problem. The entire website remained down until some time after the game.
My Wife was looking around the web and found a message from Arsenal football club, who apologized, and said the stream had been made available ‘free for all’ on the Arsenal youtube channel, where |I watched the last 30 minutes.
The fact that Arsenal apologized twice suggests there was a problem, although it sounds as if it wasn’t universal.
Either way it was no surprise to me. I have had issues every year with Arsenals PPV.
As I said before, I think the website is terrible. It was never brilliant but since it was ‘re vamped’ over the summer it has got worse. The only thing it seems to of perfected is trying to sell me stuff, which is fine, as long as they get everything else right, which they quite clear haven’t.
Will I get my money back? History tells me, ONLY if I chase and chase and chase.
Is it worth the hassle? No. And they know that.
To say I’m disappointed is an understatement.
Forgot to say that it went down again at HT after about 5 minutes.
One thing that did annoy me was after purchasing the early pass I got no online confirmation at all from Arsenal to say my application was successful by way of a receipt or similar.
Pretty poor really.
Mick Shelly
Exactly what I said at the time on here. All very vague.
All that came up was a page that said. PPV PASS SUCCESS, so okay confirmation of sorts, but nothing personal buy way of a receipt or anything addressed to me.
I’ve been on the web site today, and I cannot see any acknowledgement of any issues last night, or an apology, let alone information on how to obtain a refund.
I may of missed it of course so if anyone has see anything from Arsenal please direct me.