Well, the World Cup is good, I cannot deny it. The football has been fun and the results are throwing out some shocks. Morroco taking down high-ranking Belgium is yet another to add to the pile. I don’t know why I enjoyed it so much, maybe it’s the golden generation tag? Maybe it’s persisting with a bland manager? Roberto Martinez will keep cropping up in conversations at the top clubs, despite not really delivering very much. How he has been allowed to deliver so little for a properly golden generation is beyond me… but to get linked to the Barcelona job as well? Beggars belief.

Anyway, good on yah Morocco.

This World Cup has also thrown up a lot of grey into the ecosystem of the game. There’s been a lot of indignation content from people taking money from places they shouldn’t be. There has also been a lot of painful virtue signaling from people with no real investment in what they are chirping about. John Barnes is the perfect case in point, a player who was at the forefront of grim racial abuse in the 80s, telling people to respect the culture of a country that has discriminatory policies, whilst pocketing money the Premier Inn middle east branches from the World Cup.

Then you have Bryan Swanson, who came out as gay on stage, next to Infantino, insisting that FIFA loves gay people and the criticism has been really harsh because he’s seen firsthand how much everyone just loves everyone.

When is it ok to respect cultural norms and when is it ok to fight them?

Is your opinion be valid if you’re pocketing BIG cash from major brands or organisations?

When is it ok to just focus on sport?

Is there too much sport in politics?

Can the British really wag their fingers at anyone after taking money from all sorts of grim places whilst turning a blind eye to their abuses because they spent cash on fancy players and raised the level of our game?

I had a big conversation before the podcast with man like Matt Kandela. He had made me making u-turns on some of my views. His point is that a lot of this is simply anti-Arab rhetoric because people didn’t want a World Cup going outside the usual places. His point was more focused on the idea that all of these issues are complex, they all live in the grey, but humans struggle to process much beyond good/bad.

I agree.

So I guess if you don’t have anything profound to contribute, you should just watch the game and enjoy the tournament, which has been excellent so far.

Some other little bits to round off on some Arsenal subjects:

Our players are a little too young to be getting the big game time. Only Saka looks like he’ll be playing in the latter rounds of the World Cup. Ramsdale, Ben White, Martinelli, and Gabi J are all benched. Thomas Partey will likely be exiting at the group stages.

Selfishly, this works for us. There are a few senior players at our competitors that already look in bad shape, particularly Harry Kane, who looks very tired. Even Son looked a bit leggy for South Korea.

Arsenal will look to make moves in the January window. Danilo is looking like the #6, with Mudryk seemingly the choice as a winger if we decide to move. Are those two going to be enough for us this season? Doubtful. But they do both seem like the sort of long-term sharp moves we need to be making. You also have to remember that we’ll have ESR and Big Mo fit for the run-in. We also can’t ignore some of the kids ripping it up in the academy or on loan. We have options, there are futures that could be realised with Arsenal, we can’t blow up careers for short hits of dopamine that we’ll regret longterm.

Or, enjoy our latest Patreon podcast. We cover off a wide range of topics including: Liverpool backroom strife, toppling City, the new winger we’ve been linked with, and the aging out of legends this World Cup.

🚨FRESH PATREON DROP!https://t.co/CJKYPxMWwy

— Le Grove (@LeGrove) November 27, 2022