by Bulldog Drummond
There is a definite change of attitude emerging among the media.
They have now stopped the semi-skimmed reporting of 16 (or sometimes 17) Arsenal supporters groups who have criticised the running of the club. (In fact I keep asking people to give me a list of the 16 (or 17) but no one can).
Actually there are a couple of supporters groups that have lists of registered members, and a couple more that act more informally, but that’s about it, and the media is now considering the “revolt” to be yesterday’s news – with no new story to tell, other than their opposition to the owner, that’s it, it’s done.
So we have now got such regular comments as Arsenal’s “unpopular owner Kroenke” as the Mail puts it today, but not much else on that score. All that effort and protesting and for what?
Anyway, we’ve had the second game, and as ever the satellite TV channel that is running it not only shows the game live but also does a series of repeats across the next few days to fill up their schedule. So if you missed it you can still catch it on the repeats.
Here is the team we put out…
Leno,
Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Sokratis, Monreal,
Xhaka, Willock, Mkhitaryan,
Ozil,
Aubameyang, Lacazette
Interestingly, all the talk about buying extra keepers seems to be coming to nought – we clearly have the first and second choice for the season, and I’d be surprised if any of the bonkers rumours about keepers turns out to be a reasoned prediction of what will actually happen. Leno and Martinez it is.
For this match there was a general feeling that Ozil really was back to being the old Ozil, always wanting the ball, always able to keep the game moving and always picking out the passes that could take the game forward. It is in fact a long old time since he got such a good press.Of course the negative media had to find something negative around this performance – the most common thought being that Ozil can’t play his natural game in this Arsenal team – but then for a guy this talented I’d say he has a multiplicity of natural games.
Personally I’d guess that the bust up he had with Germany and the accusations that were laid against him by some in the German camp affected him deeply. It is a very British thing to dismiss psychological issues as being something a real man doesn’t have, and being something that Brits can simply overcome. So he got a bad press, but the fault was with the notion of dismissing psychological issues as being important. The recently released statistics of the number of children in English schools who are self-harming and yet receiving no professional support shows just how awful this society is at dealing with psychological issues, and what a crisis it is facing.
That attitudes moves on to the press – real Brits don’t have psychological problems – so the issue of a player facing difficulties in that regard is either dismissed as unreal, or as something that stupid foreigners have and which doesn’t affect the Anglo-Saxon.
Anyway, whether I am right or wrong on that one, I think he looks to be back to the Ozil we used to see. Let’s hope it continues.
There was also widespread recognition that Joe Willock is an absolutely stand out player, among a whole group of youngsters coming through the club at the moment. Some reports even have Joe as the best Arsenal player on the pitch for the Bayern game.
Then we have Maitland-Niles, who seems to be able to play in a whole range of positions – although apparently midfield is where he is destined to end up. However he can play full back, and he’s improving all the time, aided by that ice cold calmness he seems to have.
There are tales of Bellerin not being ready to play for another couple of months, which means M-N could well be a regular in the team for the opening part of the season.
Here’s a link to the video of the goals, in case you missed them.
https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/11765401/highlights-arsenal-2-1-bayern-munich
Don’t forget our new series on The Media v The Arsenal – first episode yesterday, another one very shortly.
Supporters and the media against The Arsenal. How it all started.
At the start of the match we had 2 players from our own youth in Maitland-Niles and Willock.
At the start of the second half we had 3 players from our own youth with Martinez, Maitland-Niles and Willock.
At the end of the match we won it with 7 players from our own youth on the field : Martinez, Maitland-Niles, Saka, John Jules, Nketiah, Nelson, Burton!
@Bulldog Drummond
Go onto the Goonerholic blog site it has the letter sent to The Arsenal along with the list of bloggers .
It’s worth a read along with the comments
I really liked what I saw, especially from Auba and Nketiah. The young players were dynamic and drove at Bayern, were not intimidated nor were they laid back. I can clearly see the vast potential AFC’s academy and reserves offer us. If we strengthen a bit on the wing and centreback position, we can safely challenge for a top 4 spot. Emy Martinez was very,very strong and showed that he has it to act as backup to Leno, who was also very alert. So far so good!