Morning.
The Interull is over, and the last Arsenal man standing was Martin Odegaard who warmed up for what remains of the season by providing three assists for Norway as they beat Israel 4-2. I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty definite this now means he’ll get at least three assists per game for us between now and May 43rd when this campaign comes to a halt.
Please be aware, this is not advice for gamblers. I take no responsibility if this doesn’t happen, in particular the extra days. That’s just a hunch I have because every day I see the news and think the world can’t get more mental and then it does, so this just feels like a natural progression to all of that.
Note to self: when it happens, remake that Tom Cruise movie – Born on the 44th of July.
Anyway, the main point is that we seem to have – fingers crossed – come through this international break in good shape, bar the early setback for Riccardo Calafiori. We’re still awaiting more official news on him, but I suspect if it was actually a very serious injury we’d have heard by now, so hopefully that initial report of a 2-3 week absence is spot on.
I notice Brazil took an absolute hammering last night without Gabriel, going down 4-1 to Argentina. From what I can see he was replaced in the starting XI by Nottingham Forest’s Murillo – a fun player to watch – but with his side 3-1 down at half-time, he was replaced at the break. I went to have a look at the Forest Reddit, and saw this comment:
Murillo’s going to get dragged off at half time now. On a yellow card having contributed to all three goals conceded. Look how they massacred our boy.
That was his debut too. Ouch. Surely it’s not all his fault though, so I went looking for more evidence as to what went wrong. I did not have to dig deep. Turns out Brazil are managed by a man called ‘Dorival Silvestre Júnior’. Ooops. Silvestre, is it? Note to Brazil, do not consider any of the following men for the job of coach of the national team:
Felipe Mustafi Alves
Andre Denilson Campos
Mattheus Diawara Oliveira
Artur Papadopolous Macedo
Benicio Bischoff Reis
David Luiz Luiz
Fabio Chamakh Marques
Julio Emery Gomes
Steve Squillaci
This list is not definitive, but a good indicator of how to manage your hiring programme for one of the world’s great footballing nations. It’s also an indicator of life without Gabriel, so if the powers-that-be and the new Sporting Director are paying attention, get that new deal sorted for him asap.
Speaking of Andrea Berta, it had been whispered he might get announced this week. There are still a few days to do that, and given we don’t play again until next Tuesday, there’s time to get him bedded in before all the football starts again, so let’s see if anything goes down in the next few days.
Beyond that, all the focus this evening will be on Arsenal Women who take on Real Madrid in a Champions League quarter-final at the Emirates. We’re 2-0 down from the first leg, having conceded a couple of fairly preventable goals, but hopefully that 4-0 win over Liverpool on Saturday is a good confidence boost ahead of this one. Real are in a good shape after a week in which they beat both us and Barcelona, but hopefully we have enough to go through.
As ever, Tim has a full preview of the game over on Arseblog News – and if you’re at a loose end this evening and you fancy going along to support, tickets are still available here:
Right, there’s nothing else to report this morning, but if you’d like something extra to listen to later, you can join us on Patreon when we’ll have an episode of Waffle. That’s a podcast in which James and I answer questions about anything and everything except Arsenal – basically it’s like an Interlull Arsecast Extra … on acid. Sort of.
You can get instant access to that and all our Patreon content for just $6 per month (+VAT where applicable) at patreon.com/arseblog.
For now, have a good one!
