This will probably be a short one today because there’s little going on in the Arsenal world. Hopefully this is because Unai is already in a darkened room trying frantically to work out how the heck he’s going to turn Shokdran into a world class defender and how he’s going to help Iwobi to learn not to run down blind alleys.
It might take him a while.
Plus we’re in that post-season lull in which everything’s finished, but the World Cup is still a few weeks away and I think most of the footballers will be off on their holidays, so we’re getting close to prime ITK rumour territory. The worst time of year to be honest with you.
Still, I wouldn’t be a football fan if I didn’t engage in a bit of schadenfreude, which is why OI’m taking this morning to have a little chuckle at the scousers and also breathe a sigh of relief.
Ha. Karius. Wowsers mate. Wowsers.
In truth, i’d feel sorry for the people of Liverpool and also the club, if it weren’t for some of that fanbase. They really can be unbearable at times. Granted there are loads of great Liverpool fans who know their football, but there are so, so many of them who are quite unbearable. And i’ve had a bit of stick from a few as an Arsenal fan over the last few months as they all believed they were bound for glory, so to see them fall at the final hurdle, well, it does make me smile. People in glass houses and all that.
Perhaps you could say the same about me but our house has already been smashed to bits and boarded up, so we’ve gone through it and hopefully we’re coming out the other side soon. That’s the feeling I have at the moment and I must say it’s exciting to have that with the whole summer ahead of us. When the football starts it will all be back down to earth again but for now, the possibilities feel endless.
I’m also loving that emphasis that Emery had in his press conference about ‘pressing’. I love watching teams force others into mistakes by a high press and i’ve long wanted Arsenal to adopt more of it. I’m not tactical genius but to me pressing feels like the easiest thing in the world to coach. As long as you can do it as a collective and not as individuals, you don’t particularly need lots of skills to be able to instigate a pressing game. You just need to be organised and also fit and I suspect that Emery and the supposed organisation he will bring will change the way Arsenal play.
And I love the thought of that. I love the thought of teams being caught out because we press high and in packs. Like Barca used to do. That would be utopia for me and with people like Aubameyang and Lacazette in the team it feels like we could have that kind of front line that try to force errors. It’s almost a shame Alexis had to go running for the megabucks because in a high press he’d have been devastating, but his Arsenal chapter is closed and hopefully his United one continues to be as indifferent as it has been so far.
I think the high press also leads to getting the lead earlier on in games too. I have no statistics to prove it because quite frankly I can’t be arsed to check, but it feels like when teams start quick, press high, particularly when we’ve been away from home, they’ve caught us out last season. It would be nice to do the reverse to teams next season.
So yeah, I’m pretty pumped for this new regime, new style and hopefully we start to see some green shoots after many years without.
Anyway, I think i’ll leave it there for now, so I’ll catch thee in the morrow.
Laters people.
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