By Tony Attwood
Etihad Airways considering legal action. Am I free to write that?
So what might happen to ManC when they are found guilt
- “Arsenal transfer mistake exposed as major gamble gives Mikel Arteta problem”
- “Gunners fans rue crucial summer misstep after punishing international break”
Those two headlines are enough to tell us that disaster is just around the corner especially as both come from the same source: The Standard
So we look on this morning with horror and trepidation.. “Gunners fans rue crucial summer misstep after punishing international break,” says the next heading in the Standard…. it is getting worse and worse.
But hang on, what’s this, I return to the Standard’s website and the headline is gone to be replaced by “Arsenal release new training footage to confirm quadruple injury boos” Could somebody be having a bit of a malarky about?
In fact the page is rotating – dragging us in with the fears of injury, but then as we get there replacing it by an “it’s all ok” piece. This is jiggery-pokery of the strongest kind! Does it really bring in extra readers, or just create annoyance (the latter in my case). Actually I rarely get the chance to use the phrase “jiggery-pokery” in an article so do take every opportunity, but I still wish they wouldn’t do that.
Anyway what we have is subheadings that says Arsenal have released new training footage to confirm a “quadruple injury boost” which ultimately, when the jiggery stops pokering about, leads to this page. which in case you can’t find it because its been jiggered around, says,”Mikel Arteta handed quadruple injury boost as Arsenal release new training footage. Good news for Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta as the international break draws to a close” But watch out, these rotating pages have a mind of their own. By the time you get there it might say Tottenham has been eaten by a shark. Or something.
So the(after swatting aside the pictures of what in my youth we might call “brazen young hussies” we have the headline that says…
“The Gunners went into the new extended international break with concerns over defensive pair Ben White and Cristhian Mosquera after they both missed the 3-0 defeat to Brighton.
“White sustained a groin injury during the 2-0 win over Sunderland on September 12, while Mosquera has been absent for a little longer having not featured since limping off against Aston Villa on August 31.” So in essence “Mosquera was believed to have been closing in on a return from his muscle injury, with the three-week international break providing plenty of time to make a full recovery.”
And they also tell us that Noni Madueke, Illian Meslier and Kepa Arrizabalaga, who were not selected by their countries, thank goodness, have been in training and so had far less chance of getting injured in a pointless match. Also seen around and about were Theo Julienne “who made his senior debut in the Carabao Cup third round win over Ipswich”, and “summer signing from Tottenham” Elijah Upson.
But of course even with player after player returning from injury or getting through pointless international games, we still have two injuries with Kai Havertz and Christos Tzolis “after they both picked up knocks while on international duty.”
Argh!
Premier Injuries show us now with six men down. We can ignore the players who are returning but still not 100% for the moment, and of course Saliba is still out for the long term, but Declan Rice is shown with a hamstring, which is not surprising given the amount of time he played on with various injuries.
So six men down is high, but not as high as some. Brighton has 11 men out, Manchester United 10, Hull nine, Newcastle 12, Chelsea has eight, Villa, Coventry nad Brentford each have seven men listed. Others are just below Arsenal as indeed are Tottenham with six, But that’s what you get with international games. Everyone get injured.
Elsewhere the ManC case rumbles in the background but everyone now seems to have settled down to mumbling rather than saying anything new, although I did like “Let there be blanks instead of Manchester City’s name on trophies: there was no honour.” from the Guardian. Although why Arsenal should not have a mention for three second place finishes, I don’t know.
Elsewhere some players seem to be squabbling over whether they should have medal having been playing for ManC during their “Dark Days” (that’s my phrase, and I think it works for now) but no one seems to have resolved anything in the last couple of days.
So for now the negativity of international football reigns supreme as ever as revealed with the story in the Mail “Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson was forced to end his press conference early after his players were accused of using a racist term by an Israeli journalist one day before the two nations are set to meet again in Nations League action. ”
Some Ireland players, you might recall, wanted to cancel the game because of the Israel Hamas conflict. I wouldn’t dare comment.
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