Morning all.
Who to watch?
Bernd Leno and his German teammates take on Iceland. If you’re really lucky, Alex Runasson might be between the posts for Iceland too. Two birds, one stone and all that.
Daniel Ballard, currently away from Arsenal on loan is likely to be in Northern Ireland’s squad to face Italy tonight. Ballard has been getting very good reviews at Blackpool but facing the Italians should be a tougher test for him.
Kieran Tierney and his Scotland teammates line up against Austria this evening. I hope he doesn’t play in all three fixtures and with the last one taking in place in Tel-Aviv, sitting that one out would be beneficial to Arsenal.
Granit Xhaka – he’s in Bulgaria tonight with Switzerland. Two World Cup qualifiers and a friendly fixture lie in store for him.
Mohamed Elneny – Egypt’s international fixtures are qualifiers for the Africa Cup Of Nations. Tonight’s match against Kenya takes place in Nairobi.
Thomas Partey – also involved in the Africa Cup Of Nations but unlike his teammates, he’ll only be involved in just the one match because of the Covid travel restrictions and that match is tonight against Sao Tome and Principe.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Like Thomas Partey, he can only play in one of his country’s Africa Cup Of Nations matches because of Covid travel restrictions and that one’s tonight against DR Congo.
Lastly, Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah. Both called up for England Under 21’s. Tonight’s fixture against Switzerland takes place in Slovenia. In fact all three of the European Championships will take place in Slovenia.
Bukayo Saka has been ruled out of tonight’s England fixture against San Marino because of a hamstring injury. Mikel Arteta being smart I wonder?
Martin Odegaard – man of the moment for Arsenal and now captain of Norway. He and his teammates played last night against Gibraltar and won 3-0. Norway had nearly 90% of the possession, 29 shots on goal with nearly half on target. Gibraltar had just one corner and one shot all game and they came very late.
Worryingly though, Martin Ødegaard limped off the pitch during the first half after twisting his ankle.
Odegaard taken off at half-time for Norway with what looks like an ankle injury. pic.twitter.com/KonUcY9w9N
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) March 24, 2021
But he’s ok as after the game, Norway head coach Stale Solbakken was positive about the injury, telling reporters:
It’s not a serious injury. I have big hopes that Martin will be fit for the game against Turkey on Saturday.”
I twisted my ankle, but I think I will be fit for the game against Turkey Saturday.
It’s been a difficult month or so for myself, I have worked hard and stayed dedicated and that has added to the frustration. It is a part of football but one that you don’t want to be involved in.
I believe in my ability so obviously I think I am capable of playing and helping the team. It is frustrating not playing but you have to channel that frustration in a good way, use your time wisely to work hard and prepare for when that opportunity arises.
Eddie is right, being left out is part of the game, especially after he’d enjoyed a lot of minutes prior to Christmas but the reality is, he didn’t really make an impact on the team. Judging him on that period though would be wrong in my opinion, because the team in general were all over the place and goals were hard to come by for all our players. In hindsight he should have gone out on loan. I’d imagine he’s got a big decision to make this summer in as far as where his future is. Mind you, he’s not alone and for a few, I’d imagine the club will make the decision for them.
Anyway, as far as which game to watch goes, the England under 21’s would be top of my list for tonight. Although MasterChef will probably win or perhaps something on Netflix.
See you in the comments.
Morning Rico, nice informative post! The U21s are on this afternoon @2pm… one I will definitely be watching!
As for Netflix, I’m struggling on there atm! So am on BBC iplayer watching Two Doors Down 👍
Morning Sue. International weeks are so boring…
Darn, I’ll be missing the under 23 fixture..
G’day Rico, Sue. Eddie is England captain today, at least according to the Telegraph he is.
England v San Marino? there will be more interest in the great British sewing bee. 😉
No Saka tonight, if he’s not fit he shouldn’t be in the squad, and however slight Odegaard’s injury is there is no way he should be in the squad for Saturday.
Hi Cicero, I agree re Saka and Ødegaard, both should be back at Arsenal recovering for the next two weeks.
Good evening Rico and everyone.
This is so hilarious…..coming a few days after the financial reports of Barca and Real. The higher brass are peeing in their trousers at the thought that RM and Barca will not qualify due to financial difficulties…..and came out with the following. SIMPLY DISGUSTING.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/25/football-financial-fair-play-rules-to-be-ripped-up-after-covid-crisis
What did FFP ever achieve DG? A few transfer bans usually with half te sentence suspended and delayed long enough for the clubs to find ways to circumvent the sentences anyway.
Always saids that FFP was wide open for a coach and horses and that the monied clubs would work a way round it.
Well HH came up via my bookmarks today so that’s good.
Without reading the post, which I shall do in a moment, I can already catch your drift by the headline so for me it will be YouTube as it increasingly is these days as the woke’ish nature of terrestrial television in this country these days leaves me seriously underwhelmed.
I’m not interested in box ticking so I’ve moved on…
I’ll watch the U21 highlights on YouTube a bit later on I reckon Rico, plus any other interesting snippets of an Arsenal slant.
Having said that deciding what to watch on YouTube between international football and watching someone build a log cabin is a bit awkward because I find the latter more entertaining in my own way. We all have our little foibles don’t we? 😁
Kev as far as the U21 match goes, stick to the log cabin. I wasted an entire afternoon struggling to stay awake while simultaneously watching a very poor game.
I do hope the seniors produce a little more excitement this evening.
Rico… you didn’t miss much!! ⚽️😴😴😴
Afternoon Devil, all.
Terrible result for the under 21’s who now have to beat Portugal to qualify. Oh well, at least ESR and Eddie will have a restful summer.
Good news Kev, I was hoping things were ok now as mines been fine thanks to a genius behind the scenes.
I’m glad I missed it Sue.
Auba scored for Gabon… confidence boost before facing the scousers!
So San Marino are the lowest ranked team in world football,exciting or what? It’s a good job It’s behind closed doors.
What a farce.
Cheers Cicero, I swerved it as you advised and am watching an old Star Trek episode.
They don’t make like that anymore.
Beam me up Rico… 😆
That might be his goal for the month Sue. 😜
Ha ha Kev..
I just checked the score, blimey, no issues with the quality of our players but question marks over the quality of our coaches…
Which score Kev?
😂 Rico… that’s all right, only 6 days of the month left haha!! 😜
Touché Sue, I forgot April is almost upon us. Lol
MasterChef it is then, Rico? Did you watch SU2C Bake Off on Tuesday?
I did Sue, with Dizzy. (Spelling) I loved his ‘it’s science’ comment.
He’s brilliant!! The last person I was expecting to see in the tent, Rico!!
Ditto Sue, there’s been a few surprises which is what makes so good I think.
U21 Rico, with Portugal and Croatia in our group I reckon we’re out already.
Not that I’m too bothered…
Got it Kev. Agree, good players not playing very well.
I’m not surprised Cicero, they’re probably trying to generate more interest and a bigger fee.
New post up now
According to Spanish paper Marca, Arsenal have no chance of signing Odegaard as Real see him as a key part of their long term plans.
Morning all.
Cicero, we saw RVP as part of our long term plans 🙂
That’s just one example.
Players and agents hold the cards.
Marca are as reliable as Football.London, both are click bait toss pots, but maybe we can take him on loan for another year Cicero, as we did with Ceballos and look how that turned out!
We have Smith Rowe who was doing a good job before Odegaard arrived, we have Miguel Azeez who must come into the reckoning for a 1st team squad place next season and we have Cirjan who is a year younger but a major talent.