Trying To Embrace The International Break
Mar 28th, 2015 by 'holic
A Friday night and Saturday evening have been dedicated to watching European championship qualifiers. Regular readers know I blow hot and cold over international matches these days. In the long run I wonder how long the clubs that generate massive wealth and supply the expensive players will be governed by the apparently corrupt bodies running football today. That is a question for a bigger post than should grace a blog.
The beauty of having become over time an Arsenal supporter first, and an England supporter second, is that I have no qualms about watching the other national sides and appreciating them in a way that I will never be able to take pleasure in any of our domestic rivals successes.
First up was the land of my birth and the pleasure of watching Danny Welbeck grab a sixth goal of the qualifying campaign and also providing an assist for Rooney. Danny was unanimously declared the man of the match, but succumbed to a knee injury late on. It was confirmed earlier that the injury is serious enough for him to miss the friendly against Italy in the coming week. More than that it would be unwise to speculate as to the extent of his knock.
Likewise that apparently suffered by Aaron Ramsey this evening (Saturday) as Wales cruised to an impressive win against an Israel side that went into the match with a 100% record. Rambo, like Welbeck a goalscorer and creator for his country, walked off when substituted so let’s hope that it proves to have been a sensible precautionary measure with the match already well won.
Thankfully there are no further reports of mishaps suffered by Arsenal’s internationals, but we won’t be heaving a collective sigh of relief until Tuesday’s international friendlies have come and gone.
Elsewhere Mesut Ozil took on the captain’s armband for Germany when Sammy Khedira went off against Australia after an hour of a watchable 2-2 draw with Australia. The full ninety minutes will have done him no harm at all. I caught the end of the Czech Republic’s home match with Latvia, which was handy as I saw the hosts equalise in the last minute and Tomas Rosicky walk off after his one hundredth cap for the Czechs. The full ninety should help him too.
Olivier Giroud will escape any blame for the 1-3 humbling of the French by Brazil. His appearance as a substitute was limited to the final six minutes, while central defenders Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel stayed firmly seated on their respective benches. Santi Cazorla too made only a late appearance from the bench as Spain overcame Ukraine.
David Ospina had a relatively easy time of it as Columbia scored six without reply against Bahrain, while Alexis Sanchez was a second-half substitute as Chile slipped to defeat against Iran.
That aside, I enjoyed finding out that Australian Gooners are just as frustrated as us when the international break comes around. I spent an enjoyable hour or so chewing the cud on the Gunners Down Under podcast on Friday and this surfaced earlier today. Thanks to Matty B and the BFG for putting up with me as I coughed and spluttered in the background, and spouted my usual gibberish.
That’s pretty much it for now. I am watching the Netherlands and Turkey not worrying if anybody gets hurt, and hoping it improves in the second-half. Tomorrow I will definitely try and catch Brazil against Chile, and possibly Alexis against Gabriel, at the Grove. I hope they have been reminded not to tackle each other. Ooh, Turkey have taken the lead. This game just took a turn for the better.
One last thing. We have a competition coming up this week with a Campo Retro shirt as the prize. This week though you also have a chance to buy one at a big discount. The offer is simple, it’s a 20% off promo code (EGG) that is also redeemable against already discounted products so ‘holic readers can get up to 35% off. Perfect Easter presents! Click on this link to check out their excellent range of Arsenal shirts. http://bit.ly/1CIfcnP
Have a great Sunday all.
37 Responses to “Trying To Embrace The International Break”
Oooooh
Bring ’em all back and let’s play real football.
I am now on Crayolas Soldier-Talk so I really need some help.
Evening cba 🙂
SSY, good to see you too 🙂
It’s nothing like a trophy.
Trust me.
howdy ‘holic
crackin stuff on Ray Kennedy
with tabs trev and thunder T adding brilliantly
always a pleasure droppin in for a jar
even if i don’t always remember landing or taking off
*coughs and shuffles awkwardly ’bout last night*
.
😉
Howdy ‘Holic and assorted other folk.
Just wondering.
Is Le Coq keeping it up during the interlull?
Interesting piece Holic.
There appears to be a perception that everybody loves Harry Kane. I heard Jason Cundy wonder out loud why Arsenal supporters love him( with Cundy he was making one of his subtle points about Chelsea being the only club that ever win anything) .
Lest there be any misunderstanding I don’t give a toss about Harry K, Stevie G, Wayne and all the people that the media tend to fawn over.
Kane has been impressive this season but I have a real feeling he will be a one season wonder .
I care less and less and watch less and less international football. In the seventies I went to every England game at Wembley. Nowadays I would have to think hard about drawing the curtains if they were playing in the garden.
Let the Rochdale and Plymouth fans get their fix of international football and drape their banners over Wembley . All it does as far as I am concerned is get our players injured
Don’t you dare shuffle awkwardly, cba. Always welcome here.
Diversity, I think some buggers call it 😉
Love the last para, Ttg. 🙂
Handy link, ‘Hols. Will deffo check it out…hope they give you a little “taste” in exchange for the referrals.
Here’s hoping the injuries are merely niggles.
BMBD
I have never ‘got’ this hatred many believe we have to have for anyone non-Gooner. I was one (of the presumably few) who admired players like Jennings and Campbell before they moved down Seven Sisters Road.
Similarly I have always appreciated Stevie G’s play and, in my opinion, few if any take a better pen than Rooney (except the last one!). I like all of our players better of course, but I have to wonder whether those who never have a good word to say for any but gunners actually enjoy watching good football well played, or do they only ever see the game in terms of one-upmanship, tribal warfare? Which I think is sad, because they miss so much that is enjoyable (to me anyway).
Which is my way of leading up to saying I think Kane has something special, and I hope he proves it (for England) for years to come cos we certainly need a fresh infusion of talent in the national side. He may well prove to be a one-season-wonder (as some here hope?) but let’s wait for the evidence, puhleeze.
And if the animosity results from where he plays his club football, well … if he’s as good as he might be he won’t be a spud for long, will he. 😉 Heck, he might even follow the Jennings and Campbell route!
Öskar
Interesting round up H. Hopefully we will sustain no further gratuitous injuries at the hands of the International game. Seems like Bladder is a bit nervous about the possibility of a boycott of his next two tournaments. Frankly I doubt if it’ll happen but I do wish the FA had the bottle for it.
Otd@10: well said about Kane. He seems to score a lot of goals from distance and when unmarked. Question is whether next season defenders will learn to shut down his shooting outside the box and pick him up better inside it, or whether he has the talent to keep the goals flowing if they do.
There was a time when I’d be glad if Arsenal players did well on international duty. Now I just wish they’d all retire from internationals.
Ned: another question is how he well can keep up his focus and be on top of his game every time he plays. So far, he’s most likely still riding the buzz of everything being new, which means that every game he plays is still more or less the biggest game he’s ever played which means he gets a lot for free in terms of staying focused. When it becomes an everyday grind it does of course become a bit more tricky.
That said, I have to admit I don’t think he’ll be a complete one-season wonder. He’s shown he can score goals in more ways than one, so I don’t expect him to finish next season on six goals or something like that. I do think he’ll struggle to replicate the success of this season, but I’d be surprised if he doesn’t score quite a lot next season as well.
However, I really don’t get why we’re supposed to be happy for him or like him as pundits and others suggest. There are plenty of players playing for other teams that I like for various reasons but I’d like to reserve my right to like whatever players I find likeable as I see fit. And Harry Kane is not one of them.
Lars spoke for me there. Nothing to add.
Chile and Brazil really going for it, not looking like friendly at all, hope Alexis comes out unscathed.
Whoa! Alexis, all I can say is am so glad he plays for us. What a player.
Trev spoke a couple of bars ago of having spotted the possible return of wit.
May I claim to be the firdt to report the return of tumbleweed?
Curse this interlull. Curse its children even unto the third generation. Curse the horse it rode into town on.
COYG
Just watched my seven year- old grandson’s game on You Tube yesterday. They won 9-0 and the team they beat might have been stretched to hold Lithuania but what struck me was the amount of effort that went into the goal celebrations. My little fella has a variation on the Sturridge theme. There they were running around in pink boots and virtually no tackling . Football nowadays eh!
The big point about it all is the enormous responsibility the big stars have to act as role models. We are off to Portugal for a long weekend over Easter and the little chap wants to get the latest Portugal Ronaldo shirt. I do worry that some of these role models may not quite be up to the job.
Lars@14: good point about Kane keeping focus. Applies to all Premiership strikers. Remarably only 13 players in th history of the Premiership have had two or more 20 goal seasons — Shearer, Henry, van Nistelroy, Ferdinand, Cole, Wright, Hasselbank, van Persie, Tevez, Suarez, Fowler, Drogba, and Rooney. Another 22 had one 20-goal season. So assuming Kane makes 20 this season, he is going to have to match some pretty elevated company to do it again.
Watching an old NLD on SS1. God, I miss the old days… Lash it in, Tony. Left foot, bang.
Includes this – one of my favourite Bergkamp goals ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOvaxECYrrw
Goonerholic article on Ray Kennedy linked on Arsenal.com in the “best of the blogs” section, with a couple of additional pictures that weren’t in the original article.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150325/a-gentle-giant-remembered
Cheers H! Harry Kane is a cunt. And he looks like Brucie. Here’s hoping he get’s a bonus whack in the puss one of these days.
@ OTD-10, who do you like more Harry Kane or Mesut Ozil? 🙂
Ned: only 13? Blimey, I would have guessed that there were far more than that. I would definitely have thought Aguero would have had two 20+ seasons, but then again he’s been injured a lot so I guess that’s what’s stopped him.
Anyone saw Alexis play against Brazil at the emirates/ he toyed with them and it was a pity he did not score but boy he made them look ordinary.
Giroud scored, Ozil had a great game and hopefully this interlull does not spoil the momentum the team had built. pool over the weekend is a must win for various reasons least of all being it is 3 points and another step towards the right direction.
Henry’s pass in the gerrard testimonial makes me wonder whether he can one short stint here, he was fabulous.
With no other news, Theo’s contract and the stalling on it apparently has us been linked to sterling. I mean who would we rather have? Theo who we have stood by for years or rahem who is raw potential, though sterling deal seems to be more fantasy than reality. Personally, i would want neither and instead have Reus.
Vinay,
yeah I watched the game and what I will say now is probably most likely to be almost a blasphemy, but time and time again I thought “he hogs the ball a bit too long” during that game.
Dont get me wrong, he has been amazing signing and is amazing player and some stuff he does is simply dazzling, but he could get even better and become truly unstoppable if he sometimes released ball split second earlier (not comparing those two but this is also a trait Jack has).
I am still, however, so glad we have him and sometimes I find myself wondering “is he really playing for us?” and then realizing that he does and I am happy (same goes to Mighty Fishgod).
Eandy @ 29: Not a blasphemy at all, but a very accurate observation. Both him and his buddy Neymar has the same problem, or for that matter Tevez when he was at his pomp. Also the fact that he tends to get frustrated when the solo stuff doesn’t work contributes to that. Without affecting his creativity he needs to add a bit more patience to his game, and a bit more craftiness when the va-va-vroom style doesn’t work.
I think a pre-season with the rest of the gang will get him there.
But if the referee had not stopped play and Alexis had gone on to score this
https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CBRv_jGWUAAzUkL.mp4
I would have applauded slightly
Yeah wuif, he has that capability of really rendering bunch of opposite players useless, he just needs to balance a bit when to take on whole defence and when to simply pass the ball to the free player.
And with that I am going to watch his goals for us this season:P
http://outsidewrite.co.uk/why-is-arsenal-so-popular-in-scandinavia/
Malin says it all in that last sentence 🙂
Heh. Nice one Malin. Spot on.
Cynic
Thanks for that Bergkamp clip. I remember that game. The Swampies were only level because they retained possession after we kicked the ball out because one of their players could receive treatment. Then Adams and Dennis rendered that irrelevant. It was one of the first moments when we realised that the club was on a major upward curve with Wenger in charge. A Spud friend admitted that the reason we won was because we tried to after they settled for a draw. And that Wenger loved beating Spurs!
Embrace the Interlull? I think we should be out protesting it with these folks.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/02/the-moscow-protest-photo-that-wasnt-what-it-seemed/252681/
I’m docking Cynic’s retainer for not advising me, as he usually does, that I didn’t amend the bloody time setting yesterday 😉
I very nearly had the next post publishing at ten instead of nine!
So do pop back in seven minutes to have a chance to win a Campo Retro Arsenal shirt.
Almost >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>