Good morning from London.
Somewhat unusually Mikel Arteta’s press conference took place yesterday (Thursday), which leaves a big gap between now and Monday night when we face Burnley. With the game still some days away, there was little he could say about player availability, other than to confirm the injury to Ben White. There’ll be more to say about that game closer to the time.
I did notice some questions about what might happen if we beat Burnley on Monday, leaving open the possibility the title could be won if Man City dropped points to Bournemouth the following night. Arteta’s response:
We’re not thinking about that type of thing, the only focus is Burnley and winning the game. That’s the thing that we can control.
I said this on the Arsecast yesterday, but this season feels like the drama has gone to new levels. Perhaps that’s just my experience as an Arsenal fan, and football has always had its dramatic moments and denouements, but now it’s a near constant flow of stories and reactions and overreactions. In part because of the media landscape we live in, where the traditional outlets are competing with fan made content, and in many cases dumbing down in a very serious way in order to do that.
Just to be clear, there’s still good stuff out there made by fans and journalists alike, but there’s an awful lot of crap. I have to think this out a bit more clearly, but I am convinced that the ‘watchalong’ culture and how that makes people behave in front of their cameras, and how audiences then react to that, has had a deleterious impact on football discourse generally. That’s possibly a bit simplistic, but when you have so much content rooted in performative dishonesty, especially when it’s as popular as it is, how could it not have influence?
So, in that context, I understand why Sky might ask if the Arsenal players will get together to watch the Bournemouth game on Tuesday night. I also understand Arteta’s dismissal of it, because it simply feeds that content machine if he says anything else. I think we’re quite fortunate to have a manager whose instincts, generally speaking, are to ensure he gives nobody any ammunition. Yes, his touchline behaviour can be energetic, passionate, a bit spiky at times, but I don’t really think that sets him apart from lots of other managers – and it’s quite funny he’s often held up as a bad example when others do, and have done, much worse.
The one time he didn’t, the ‘desgracia‘ at Newcastle, is very much an outlier in terms of how he reacts. And that was two and half years ago now. Maybe three second place finishes demands a level of circumspection, but I think it goes beyond that. There are other managers who inadvertently or otherwise could make what is already a dramatic season even more so, and as we look to try and get this title won, I’m glad Arteta deals with stuff the way he does. His press conferences aren’t particularly interesting, but his job is to win football matches, not entertain the press.
If we do what we need to do on Monday night, and Tuesday’s result goes our way, I suspect his next presser might be a bit more lighthearted and jovial than they usually are, but ultimately that comes down to doing the work.
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Meanwhile, as the Arsenal Women departures continue, Arsenal announced that Katie McCabe would be leaving the club this summer after 10 years. My theory on why I became an Arsenal fan is that as a young Irish lad growing up in England, I saw the likes of Liam Brady, David O’Leary, Pat Rice, Sammy Nelson, and the other Irishmen and felt a kind of connection to the club. Our Irish history is strong, but on the men’s side, it’s been a long, long time since we had significant representation.
So, I’ve lived vicariously through Katie McCabe and what she’s done for Arsenal Women on the pitch, and I know that off the pitch she has represented this club in so many brilliant ways that never get mentioned because they’re never made public. Katie has written a piece on the official website here, and there’s no better man than Tim to really delve into her time in red and white – you can read that over on Arseblog News.
I said this week I feel like Ben White is a player who epitomises the Mikel Arteta era. For me Katie McCabe is someone who is very aligned with a period when the women’s game and Arsenal Women grew considerably, and it’s indelibly linked to Tim’s incredible commitment to producing top class content of our team for this site. There’s no question she is a player and a character that’s easy to connect with. Aside from her quality as footballer, she is committed, driven, and someone who you absolutely know would have your back if it got a bit scrappy.
An Irish Arsenal legend, no question 🇮🇪.
Right, I’ll leave it there for now, but there’s an Arsecast below to listen to you if you haven’t already. Have a great Friday folks.
