BIG EXIT IN THE BACKROOM TEAM... ALREADY?

HOT RUMOURS DOING THE ROUNDS, ARE THEY TRUE?

Gotta bang out a quick one today because there is no time to do ALL the things in life I want to do in this particular 24 hour cycle.

How many times did you watch that freekick? Be honest. Ok, that’s disgusting. You have to get some help right now, but only after you read the blog.

There are rumours that Arsenal have moved on the Head of Recruitment, James Ellis. That story is utter nonsense and it’s not happening. That’s good news. You can’t let someone new come into a rocketship setup and start pushing people out who have, objectively, done a really good job. There’s no way to make assessments about talent in such a short space of time. The only people who should be leaving Arsenal are those who have better jobs lined up. I’d also question any of them leaving right now… we’re on the cusp of winning it all. Get the trophies, take credit on your résumé, get an extra bump for your next job.

The HUGE news yesterday was Vinai V, ex-CEO of our wonderful club, took the job at Spurs. Quite something. That’s a man who did NOT leave on the best of terms and he’s going to a club that must be seriously lacking ideas. But, good for him. You have to wish him the best. He worked at Arsenal for a very long time, he was a part of our turnaround operation, he never got the credit he deserved for literally anything… and he’s left and probably landed a monster payday because he now has Arsenal FC IP. One might imagine his experience shifting KSE to full ownership might be part of the interest in his services… maybe Spurs ownership is looking to sell up now the job of moving stadium is complete.

It’ll be interesting to see what he does on the sporting front. Arsenal clearly have a number of people in their backroom that’ll be taking calls as Berta looks to implement his ideas, so it’ll be interesting to see if people who work in sport care about rivalries as much as we do as fans.

Madrid are in, what the British would call, a bit of a tizzy. I actually didn’t know they had fan media channels. I just assumed that was the preserve of the British. But, they do, and it’s been quite cringe to watch its wheels spin into action with some terrible memes. This one really had me dry heaving. Their media has been trying quite hard to flame up the game as well… but the ideas being pushed are… quite lame. It’s a serious leak right now that Madrid are going to make a motivational video for their players. They might… close the roof. The club also tried to get their Alavés game moved to today but the league said no. It’s also delicious that they have to play a proper team against them because if they lose, they’re out of the title race with Barcelona. You can sense the panic in the air and it’s wonderful.

They know that Arsenal chasing goals would have been tough… but this squad, with our manager, dropping a disgusting, joyless 90 minutes is so natural and organic, you could find it on the shelves at Waitrose. Did that work? It didn’t. I’m sorry. Really wanted that to fizz and it just kind of flopped. How about:

‘Arteta and Sufferball: a more deadly duo than bird flu and chicken coups’

Still not really vibing on the line, but you get the point. Madrid are worried because they know when the music goes on this Wednesday, Arteta will have his best moves, ready for the world to enjoy.

One last thing on the Champions League… if we escape Spain with a win, PSG in the next round serves us up a bit of luck with how the fixtures drop. Palace is our game before our quarterfinal in midweek. Palace have their biggest game of the weekend—that’s against Aston Villa in the FA Cup. They won’t want to be chasing around after Arsenal players, so will likely rotate heavily. Then, Arsenal get the weekend off because we’re terrible in domestic cups. So we basically have a week to prepare IF we make the CL semi’s.

Arsenal vs Brentford is the most pointless game of the season. I know we have to care. But I don’t. I’m dreaming of Spain right now. The problem that I’m getting at here is players are people too and this sort of game today is the very type that can have the team losing focus. No one wants to be tired, no one wants to get injured, and that can lead to the levels dropping… and against Brentford, that can be bad news.

Second in the Premier League this season is still important. We’re going to qualify for the Champions League, but the symbolism of consistently finishing in the top two for three seasons running speaks to a progress of sorts. Well, not of sorts. It’s an achievement, however you cut it. It’s not the achievement, but in board meetings, no one is going to get flayed for finishing second.

So we need a big game. I’m expecting to see rotation with our fullbacks. Get Tierney out there for a full 90 minutes, get Benny B at right back. I want to see Ethan and Jorginho on the pitch. Then we can get some nice cameos in the second half to keep our starters FRESH. We have to have a whole squad mentally tuned into the game, seeing it as an opportunity to secure a start on Wednesday. That’s the skill Arteta has to pull off here.

Ok, we’ll be going LIVE after the game. Come and join us by signing up for a membership RIGHT now.