Friday thoughts – observing the universe

Morning.

This might surprise you, but I woke up thinking about Bournemouth. I know it’s not the game people care about most, it’s not even the game I care about most, but I can’t help what my brain does and where my mind goes.

I was thinking about how much Mikel Arteta could change things before the second leg in Paris, and while I think he can shift a few pieces around, he’s going to have to use some of the players we’d all rather see wrapped in cotton wool. There isn’t really any other choice. And then if something happens to one of those players people will say ‘Why did you pick him?!’ which is a natural reaction, but there’s no way to avoid it in certain cases.

We’re quite light at the back, but you can imagine Ben White and perhaps Kieran Tierney starting. We only have two central defenders, unless we play Jurrien Timber and use White at centre-half, but Timber is one of those you’d probably like to see rested. Maybe Riccardo Calafiori will be available, and he’s played a lot at centre-half, but is he ready to start and play 90 minutes? Is it better for William Saliba and Jakub Kiwior to start this game, rather than be introduced as a sub at some point? Is that more risky in terms of injury than just playing a full game?

There’s no Jorginho for midfield, options are light in there too. Declan Rice will be required, probably, even if Thomas Partey comes back into the team. Oleksandr Zinchenko for Martin Odegaard? Ethan Nwaneri in for Bukayo Saka? Raheem Sterling in for Gabriel Martinelli? Means we have to use one of Leandro Trossard or Mikel Merino up top.

Unless, of course, Mikel Arteta does something very unlike Mikel Arteta and says ‘Sod this game, it’s all about PSG!’, and lashes in a load of Academy lads. Which, I think, is the least likely scenario of them all, even if Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Jack Henry-Francis, and Ismeal Kabia – who were all on the bench on Tuesday – would appreciate the opportunity.

Perhaps he will elucidate on those possible team selection decisions today at his press conference, but we know the message will be about how we have to give 100% to beat  very tough opposition etc etc. Which, I don’t think is unreasonable in isolation, and perhaps a good display tomorrow might be useful to some extent. Not a big extent though. Just some.

Anyway, who’d be a football manager, eh?

—

It’s quite interesting, and I hadn’t realised this until last night, but there’s no Europa League this season. What a development. It seems a bit strange to me that an entire competition – one we’ve been in a few times over the years – should cease to exist and ultimately render itself meaningless, but there you go. I don’t make the rules. I simply observe the world around me and raise a quizzical eyebrow at developments.

It’s quite rare an entire thing gets properly deleted. Not just ‘moved to trash’ from which it can dragged back onto the desktop of life. It’s sort of like when they put a car in one of those car crusher things and they squash it down into a small cube. It’s not a car anymore, but it’s still made of the same car bits, so if there was a decrushinator you could, perhaps, turn it back into its more natural form. But in this instance it crushes the thing into a form so tiny, so minuscule, it enters oblivion. A speck of dust that floats through the air, into the gullet of a passing wood pigeon who then, in time, shits it out onto the cars below.

A man opens his door to go to work. His windshield is splattered and gross. He calls inside to his good lady wife for some spray and some kitchen towel.

‘What’s wrong?’, she says.

‘Something on the window’, he replies.

‘What is it?’, she asks.

He pauses. Observes the universe. Replies, ‘I think, Mary, it’s the Europa League.’

‘Oh dear’.

—

April Charity update

Just to give you an update on our pledge to donate 100% of our Patreon revenue from the month of April to charity. As of this yesterday, all donations have been completed to our four chosen causes, and after topping things up a bit with some personal donations from me and the crew, we’ve been able to send €15,000 each to:

Those funds will go directly to help some of the most vulnerable people at home and abroad, and I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your continued support here on the main sites, and of course those of you who subscribe on Patreon.

Without you, we couldn’t do what we do in terms of creating Arsenal content, nor could we show our appreciation of that by giving something back during one month of the year. We never, ever take it for granted, and I hope you all know that we appreciate you for being part of this community.

Even if you just signed up for a month, you’ve played your part in helping us make a little bit of a difference, and to put some good out into the world.

Thanks again.

Andrew, and all the Arseblog team ❤️

—

Have a lovely Friday everyone. Don’t get deleted.