Afternoon guys.
Arsenal’s women kick off their defence of the Champions League crown tonight with a really tough fixture against Lyon. The reigning French League Champions are in scintillating form, having won all of their four opening domestic league fixtures. Marseille were brushed aside 3-1, Saint-Etienne were defeated 2-0 before both PSG and Lens were battered 6-1 and 8-1 respectively.
Arsenal however have found the start of the new WSL season a bit more of a challenge and already find themselves five points behind Chelsea who sit top of the league. Two wins, two draws and a defeat is not the ideal start for Renée Slegers players, not if they are to knock Chelsea off their perch.
Manager Renée Slegers:
We’re very excited, it all starts over again, so we start from scratch. We’re very proud of what we did last year and there was a lot going into that, but we all start over again, and everyone is constantly developing. Teams change and we’re going to play against an extremely strong opponent tomorrow. They’ve made a lot of changes as well in their squad. They have a new coach, so we’re extremely humble, but we of course also look forward to this occasion tomorrow. (Tonight)
Unlike Mikel Arteta, Slegers has an almost fully fit squad to select from with just Leah Williamson ruled out of this game.
I hope the women can begin their CL campaign as well as the men have theirs.
Talking about the men, we as a club have many players away on international duty. Here’s a list of when, where and against who they are playing:
Thursday, October 9
Belarus v Denmark (Norgaard)
World Cup qualifier | Zalaegerszeg, Hungary | 7.45pm
Malta v Netherlands (Timber)
World Cup qualifier | Ta’ Qali | 7.45pm
England (Lewis-Skelly, Rice, Saka, Eze) v Wales
Friendly | Wembley | 7.45pm
Friday, October 10
South Korea v Brazil (Gabriel, Martinelli)
Friendly | Seoul | 12pm
Moldova U21 v England U21 (Nwaneri)
Euro U21 qualifier | Chisinau | 5pm
Sweden (Gyokeres) v Switzerland
World Cup qualifier | Stockholm | 7.45pm
France (Saliba) v Azerbaijan
World Cup qualifier | Paris | 7.45pm
Belgium (Trossard) v North Macedonia
World Cup qualifier | Brussels | 7.45pm
Saturday, October 11
Spain (Merino, Zubimendi, Raya) v Georgia
World Cup qualifier | Elche | 7.45pm
Estonia v Italy (Calafiori)
World Cup qualifier | Tallinn | 7.45pm
Sunday, October 12
Netherlands (Timber) v Finland
World Cup qualifier | Amsterdam | 5pm
Denmark (Norgaard) v Greece
World Cup qualifier | Copenhagen | 7.45pm
Monday, October 13
Sweden (Gyokeres) v Kosovo
World Cup qualifier | Stockholm | 7.45pm
Iceland v France (Saliba)
World Cup qualifier | Reykjavik | 7.45pm
Wales v Belgium (Trossard)
World Cup qualifier | Cardiff | 7.45pm
England U21 (Nwaneri) v Andorra U21
Euro U21 qualifier | Derby | 7.45pm
Tuesday, October 14
Japan v Brazil (Gabriel, Martinelli)
Friendly | Tokyo | 11.30am
Spain U21 (Mosquera) v Finland U21
Euro U21 Qualifier | Castellón de la Plana | 5.30pm
Spain (Merino, Zubimendi, Raya) v Bulgaria
World Cup qualifier | Valladolid | 7.45pm
Italy (Calafiori) v Israel
World Cup qualifier | Udine | 7.45pm
Latvia v England (Eze, Rice, Lewis-Skelly, Saka)
World Cup qualifier | Riga | 7.45pm
It goes without saying that like most Arsenal fans I’m sure, I hope the respective international managers are sensible in the way they use their players. I totally understand they will want to play their best/strongest team in the World Cup qualifiers but in my opinion, there’s little point in flogging them to death in the friendly matches too.
Tuchel said that it could be a problem if players aren’t playing regularly for their club, well surely the same rule could kind of apply for England too. Everyone who is or could be called upon, needs to be playing with their international teammates too. After all, there’s more to football than simply being a good guy who is happy to sit on the bench….
I think that’s what he said about Myles…
Catch up in the comments.
2-1 down at the moment…
FT, 1-2 so not the best of starts but a long way to go yet..
Two gifts through errors playing out from the back. 😕
Our regular Wednesday swim is off tomorrow, pool maintenance.
May nip for dip at Cromer…….May not! 😉
The sea is probably still warm.. 😜
On that note, good night 💤
Morning Rico and all,
Looking at the list above, I glad we have a deeper squad this season,
Morning Geoff, you and me both.
I’m not sure the North Sea can ever be described as warm, Rico.
14.4 centigrade. Think I’ll give it a miss. 😉
Early rise for you Cicero. Morning btw.
Ha ha re the North Sea, it must be a tad warmer here..
We’re on our way to Wembley!
Only for a while though as plans for a stadium upgrade are finalised. The Emirates capacity is to be increased to seventy plus thousand.
A good idea?
If it means more fans get tickets, good idea imo..
England manager Thomas Tuchel:
“You need to accept your role and what being the best teammates is. The only way we can make things happen at the World Cup is if we arrive with a strong team. I watched a documentary with the New England Patriots and there was a quote ‘don’t collect the best players, we make a talented team.
Hypocrite!
Apparently Rico, the waiting list for season tickets is now around one hundred thousand. We would have to more than double the stadium capacity to satisfy the demand.
Getting planning permission could take up to two years and construction another two.
Who knows what the cost will be, but because it’s infrastructure it doesn’t impact the PSR situation.
Dealing with the NKVD, more commonly known as Islington Council, is going to be difficult and endless and then there’s all the local residents, many of them wealthy and influential BBC/media types who hate football and football fans. I thought maybe the summer of 2028 before any work could begin but Cicero could be right?
How much will it cost?
How will it be financed?
What effect will it have on recruitment because we’ve been here before and Stan was in charge then?
I wonder what the difference in cost is from doing repairs and extentions comparired to pulling it all down and restarting from scratch and making some area ready for more seating in the future.
We might have won the league or champions League by then Cicero so those numbers will go up.
Stan wasn’t sole owner then though Kev, my opinion is that since he brought the big fella out, he’s probably proved himself to be one of the best club owners in England. What he’s done to support Arteta cannot imo be overlooked.
I used to hope Usmanov would buy him out but boy I was wrong to wish for that.
Morning all.
Morning Rico and all
I think the Kroenkes are quite happy as long as we qualify for CL every year to invest knowing the stadium will be filled with more and more corporate or half and half scarf fans, whilst the ticket paying fans will probably be paying even more, though I remember when The Emirates (hate that name ) was proposed to be built there were several caveats thrown in by the council .No gooners wants us to play at Wembley again.
This isn’t anything new as it has been in the pipeline for a year or two and being the intelull the media started to focus on it .
I also remember how stringent the council were when our stadium was being built so it’s not a given that all or any of these proposals will go through.
Morning Kelsey, I think the Kroenke family want more than just top four… more importantly, so does Arteta.
At the start I believed that Stan was happy with a top 4 finish, however since Josh has got involved and the investment of money into new players I feel that they will want silverwear very soon.
Yes Rico, I was the same about Usmanov but Stan has been good since he took total council.
Understandable really looking back Kev..
I think so too Geoff.
Having another go at posting as it’s been all tit’s up for a couple of days.
Once on the site Potter hit the refresh button, that’s seems to do the trick.
Up in Leicester with my son, going to the darts later this evening, never been before but it looks absolutely mental on the TV.
One hundred and eighty….
Oh no,I didn’t realise potter. Rick mentioned having a problem but I assumed he was the only one..
Wear earplugs Kev 😜
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-15177225/Man-United-agreed-Viktor-Gyokeres-transfer-Sporting-Lisbon.html
sounds like Potter and Rick have the same issue that I mention a few days back, I have to open it then hit refresh as it might say only 4 comments after resrefresh it then might show 9 comments
Morning Gooners
Rico, that Gyokeres story makes signing him feel even better and of course Yanited have never gone behind anyone’s back before, perish the thought!
Rico, the darts was absolutely amazing, met some really nice people, everyone just having a great time, Kier Starmer would have hated it. How those guys get up on that stage and play darts at that level with the noise and commotion going on is truly impressive.
Morning Kev, all.
I liked the story too. Proves too that what the media report and what’s actually going is is quite different.
I’ve never been to a darts tournament Kev but on the television it always seems like it’s a great event with a fab atmosphere. Glad you enjoyed it.
New post up