Morning all.
For reasons only the player, his family, the FA and Arsenal probably know, Ben White has left the England camp in Qatar and travelled home. The FA have released a statement saying:
Ben White has left England’s training base in Al Wakrah and returned home for personal reasons. The Arsenal defender is not expected to return to the squad for the remainder of the tournament. We ask that the player’s privacy is respected at this moment in time.
Arsenal’s response on social media.
We're all with you, Ben ❤️
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) November 30, 2022
Personal reasons could mean anything but like so many Arsenal fans I’m sure, I just wish him well and hope it’s nothing serious. For all we know, he might have just wanted to go home.
England are into the knockout stages as group winners after beating Wales on Tuesday. The USA are also through from the same group so the World Cup journey continues for Matt Turner, Bukayo Saka and Aaron Ramsdale. Despite losing to Tunisia yesterday, France finished top of their group so William Saliba remains in Qatar and by the end of today, we’ll know whether or not Takehiro Tomiyasu will join him. Brazil are already through to the knockout stage so we know Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli won’t be leaving Qatar anytime soon and neither will Thomas Partey or Granit Xhaka if Ghana beat Uruguay and Switzerland beat Serbia tomorrow.
So far, the knockout fixtures involving Arsenal players look like this:
- Netherlands v USA – Saturday at 3pm
- France v Poland – Sunday at 3pm
- England v Senegal – Sunday at 7pm
In one month time, the January transfer window will be open. Five days after our next Premier League fixture and so far, we’ve only played 14 matches so there’s still 24 to go which averages out at around five a month. Add in the FA Cup and Europa matches and Mikel Arteta’s rotation skills are really going to be tested. The World Cup is a pain in backside I know but so far, our players have played a maximum of two competitive matches since the 12th November which is less than they would had the the season carried on as usual. Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White and Gabriel Martinelli have played zero minutes and Gabriel Jesus, Takehiro Tomiyasu and William Saliba have been used sparingly. In fact only Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka, Matt Turner and Thomas Partey have been regular starters for their respective countries and even they, barring Turner, have played twice. Xhaka and Partey will play a third match tomorrow I know but if Ghana end up playing Brazil in the next round, which is looking likely, my money is on Partey joining his club teammates in Dubai next week. Tomiyasu too because I really don’t fancy Japan to beat Spain later today.
My point is, having ten players at the World Cup might have seemed daunting to begin with but so far, so good as far as playing time goes. I won’t mention the ‘I’ word though. Even so, I still think think this coming January is more important than it’s been in years because of where we sit in the league table. If there’s money available, surely this winter is the time to spend it in order to give Mikel Arteta the best possible chance of taking the race for the title as far as possible and making sure our great football club is back playing in the Champions League next season.
See you in the comments…
Nice one Rico, as we all know the internet if rife with rumour but I did read somewhere that it was something to do with his Mum – I hope that rumour is wrong for his sake, but there ya go, take care out there….
Thanks Kev, I thought it might be something to do with a family member being poorly. Just hope it’s nothing serious….
Morning Rico and all.
Totally agree Rico about Ben White, let’s hope whatever the issue is, it has a good outcome for Ben and his family
We can only wish Ben White all the best . It will be interesting to see if he gets on the plane to Dubai.
So far our players have been fairly underused which from our point of view is not a bad thing. Tite prefers Richarliason to Jesus and Martinelli is there for the experience .Ramsdale will not appear unless there is a total disaster in training . My worry is our midfield where we have both of our players playing every minute of every game
Good afternoon all.
Speculation about the reason why Ben White has returned home is unhelpful to anyone, just respect his privacy.
Unbelievable! England 506 for 4 on first day of the test against Pakistan. Four batsmen have already hit centuries.
Morning rico, all, thanks for report, and best wishes to Ben. I do remember Martinelli getting on for a few minutes, think it was first game, but very brief!
Rico, I know there is likely to be a turkey shortage for Christmas but rabbits? Really? 😉
Hi Geoff.
Don’t worry Potter, two more fixtures at best for Granit and Thomas I reckon..
Hi Andrew, the bbc match reports suggest he’s not played yet but it wouldn’t be unusual for them to make a gaff. Lol
Cheeky Cicero. Lol
Martinez to get the sack I reckon. How many chances did Lukaku miss….
That would be a bit hard on Martinez, after all he could only use what he had and many of the big names are getting on a bit. Lukaku has played only a few minutes since August and certainly looked a bit rusty. Tielmans still doesn’t impress me and being left on the bench for the vast majority of the game only reinforces my opinion of him. Would he be any better than Lokonga?
Dunno but one is playing international football and the other isn’t..
Japan! 👏👏
Germany out, Spain and Japan go through. No early homecoming for Tomiyasu.
Well done Japan.
You were right Rico, Martinez has quit as Belgian manager, he says it was agreed before the WC started that he would leave at the end of the tournament. I wonder where that leaves Thierry Henry.
I’m sure that it’s Tielemans’ agent who keeps our links to his client in the news and would Arsenal pay the kind of big money Leicester would demand for a guy who only has six months left on his contract, I doubt it?!
We’ve got a couple of months to make a decision on that one anyway.
Germany going out in the group stage for the 2nd WC In succession, are they entering a period of famine?
And Spain, don’t they look ordinary, I guess that every dog has its day…
France despite their defeat still look odds on favourites, but this is turning out to be the most open WC in living memory – well my living memory.
Saw some highlights from Rawalpindi and either England are amazing at batting or Pakistan are the worst bowling team in the world. Probably a combination of the two…
Delighted for Duckett after a mixed start to his England career, hopefully he can take this form forward and of course Crawley whose a bit unpredictable but he looked the part yesterday, Root missing out was odd but Brook looks a very accomplished player who seems to fit the attacking style we employ perfectly. Pope needs to do that more often but his century was very welcome.
Can Stokes punish them a bit more?
Another 200 and declare would be nice and then the wicket deteriorating would be handy…
I don’t think we will buy Tieleman in January, but I can see Edu making some sort of agreement with his manager to sign him for free at the end of the season.
Wel… making a (panic) CM/DM buy when the winter window starts is only justified if the person (Neves, Tielemans, Sangare, Danilo, Soler, Calhanoglu, Alvarez – did I miss anybody) would start playing for the first team in January against Newcastle (3) or latest against Tottenham (15).
I mean midfield reinforcements can be reasonable in the winter nonetheless, but the actual rationale that we have to dig deep into the (owner’s) pocket because Partey and Xhaka played are overstrain would be meaningless (bull) if the new guy would be involved only in March…
I watched some of it yesterday Kev. It was a mix but we batted so well..
Cicero, I am sometimes 😇🤣
I don’t think Tielemans is heading to Arsenal for money or free Geoff..
New post up now
It’s a cracker and no, I didn’t write it. 😂