Happy Saturday peeps. How we all doing?
I drank a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to myself last night, whilst making and then consuming a chilli con carne, listening and watching the two respective managers talk about the game on Sunday.
Firstly, Sky Sports were all over Pep, featuring him again and again and some of his comments on Arsenal ahead of the game. He knows very well about marginal gains, so he wasn’t minded to do anything other than give plaudits and clearly block any calls that could be used as motivators for Arteta and his team. When asked about Rodri’s comments about us playing for a draw last season and whether he agreed with Rodri, he just shook his head. When asked about us and why we had improved season-upon-season, he declined to comment, saying that he would be accused of mind games. I kind of get it to be fair; he was asked about Rodri’s comments for that very reason – to make it seem like he was doing mind games, then he was asked about our strengths, in which he listed the different ways and styles we can adopt as a team. Then he was asked to say nice things about Arsenal and I think he got to the point where he’d basically had enough so started to just shut down a few conversations. I would have done exactly the same if I was him.
He was also asked about the fact we’ve been playing away and with less prep time, to which he then said he could show many times when they have played more games and then had to have less time than an opponent. Which is true and clearly what goes around comes around with this sort of stuff, but I think what is different in this situation is the type of opponent you are facing. I’ve just gone on to Google to look at the last time City faced back-to-back away games. It was the Scum away on 14th May and Fulham away on 11th May. A Tottenham Team who played Burnley on the same day as they played Fulham and then a side who I think given the nature of the game were never going to be much of a match for City. There’s also the fact that the Scum played on the same day – so prep time is equal for both teams. The time before that? They played Palace away, then played Real Madrid away, but what was their follow up match from that?
Luton at home.
It’s why – whilst Arteta tried to make less of an excuse or soundbite on the fixture list yesterday in his pre recorded press conference. I wonder if the fact it was pre-recorded and with just one journalist was a bit of a public statement by the club in itself; Arsenal saying without words that the prep time we have for this massive match is so short that we can’t even get the assembled journos who are normally on the Arsenal beat in to the press room at London Colney. He referenced the extra day when asked the question, said
“we wanted the same as them, we’re not getting it, so we have to adapt and make the most of the time we have today and tomorrow and on the morning of the match to prepare in the best way”
I think he and the Arsenal coaching staff are probably quite pissed off about it. It’s fair enough when you are playing a team not in Europe, but playing another European side and for it to be such a massive game too, feels like we’ve been dealt a harsh hand here. And I mean that metaphor too; it is just unlucky, because it’s nobody’s fault. The Premier League’s fixtures came out first, the Champions League fixtures came out months later. Perhaps what they could / should have done is change some of the scheduling around, which is more on UEFA than anyone else. Man City’s round of away matches in succession comes in November, but as opposed to a local derby, the Champions League, then one of your expected-to-be rivals that you play away from home, City are facing Bournemouth away, Sporting away, then Brighton away. Brighton will not be an easy game, for sure, but it isn’t like they are playing us away with a day less to prepare and in Europe. When we play them in February? They have Club Brugge at home, then the following week Newcastle at home.
It is what it is, Arteta will not even be making a single mention of it to his team, they just have to get on with it and much like the NLD in which we had injuries and absentees that handicapped us a little bit, we have to go out there on Sunday and perform.
The only other soundbites we got from yesterday’s video is that there are no fresh injury concerns (thankfully) and we still don’t know what the situation is with the duration of Odegaard’s absence. I’ve seen a few fans suggesting they think it’ll be a January return for the Norwegian, but based on the physio accounts I follow, if the information they have interpreted from the club and Norway, it shouldn’t be that long. I suspect the best we can hope for is post the next international break. Let’s hope that we get some positive news at some stage in September about his recovery.
And that’s about it for today. There will be a bit more of a match preview from me tomorrow as we gear up for a huge and – frankly – quite scary game at 115 Charges FC’s home ground.
Catch you all tomorrow.
