Morning all.
It’s hard to understand why in 2025, racism is still prevalent in this world and in sport. England’s Jess Carter being the latest victim to online abuse. Yes, she had a poor game against Sweden, certainly by her standards but that had nothing to do with the colour of her skin! Other England players had a pretty poor game too, certainly in the first half but I very much doubt their white skin was mentioned during criticism. Jess Carter was born in Warwick, England. Which part of that seems so difficult for people to understand I wonder.
Was nothing learned after the Bukayo Saka, Rashford and Sancho post penalty miss abuse?
It saddens me to think that whilst many England fans want our country to well in these big tournaments there are still ‘people’ out there in this world who think it’s ok to vent their racist opinion online.
As Sarina Wiegman said in an interview, it’s sad that the squad have had to be occupied by “ridiculous and disgusting discrimination”.
England players won’t be “taking a knee” before the game against Italy in Geneva tonight. They will remaining standing. “It is clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism.” That was the message from the England camp and I think it’s right. In fact I’ve always believed that to mimic the actions of what happened in America in few years ago was an odd way to send out a message about standing against racism.
I hope Jess and every one of the England players have a great game tonight and make it through to the Euros final once more. Not for those who have been cruel, but in spite of them. Plus of course, I want to see them lift another trophy, especially as a number of Arsenal players are in the squad.
Back to the Arsenal and the boys are in Singapore. Mikel Arteta has already faced the media during which he was asked about Viktor Gyökeres’ expected arrival.
“I cannot comment on any player who is not part of our group yet. When we have something concrete to offer in any case to any player we will do that.”
I’m not sure Arteta needs to worry about players joining us who are yet to be part of the squad because the rest of the footballing world is. Sporting haven’t been shy either. Both he, Cristhian Mosquera and anyone else coming to Arsenal this summer will arrive soon enough I guess and as much as we’d all have liked them through the door by now, sometimes that doesn’t happen. Especially when Arsenal are involved.
Talking about the transfers, Arteta said:
“I’m very pleased, that’s all I’ll say. There are a lot of parties and things that we have to bear in mind to get a player over the line and here. I’m very hopeful that we are going to do it very soon. There’s still a long time in the window and we are seeking still, in terms of numbers, we are short and we have to improve the depth and quality of the squad.”
Amen to that. Depth and quality. My guess is as well as Gyokeres and Mosquera, we could see one, maybe two creative players join. After all, creativity hasn’t always been Arsenal’s strong point, especially against teams who are defensively compact. I was just about to hit the publish button only to see that Mosquera is on his way to Singapore to join up with his new teammates according to The Athletic. More on him tomorrow
Catch up in the comments.
Well said Rico! Racism makes my blood boil. I’ve always disagreed with taking the knee since I found out who Black Lives Matter really were. Some people appeared to make a lot of money out of it if I remember. Nothing on the official website regarding Mosquera yet.
G’day Rico, as always I’ll await until I read it on the club website. The Athletic must have a crystal ball or the Arsenal boardroom bugged. 😉
Nice one Rico,
I agree the taking the knee is just ridiculous. Everyone you hear from or see seems ultra confident about tonight,which in itself could see complacency creep in. I hope not.
It’s getting to the point where unless Gyokeres or any other striker is signed up very soon they won’t be fully ready for the start of the season,only 3.5 weeks away.
I’m relaxed about a striker not joining up for the tour,they might be better off training hard in London Colney,and playing in some practice games at home.
I’m looking forward to seeing new faces in the team though.
Morning Cicero, Limey, all.
If England are on their game, I fancy them to make the final.
Agree re the official site etc etc but The Athletic are seldom wrong.
Limey, I suspect Arteta will use Havertz against Utd anyway, to start with at least. He does like to break newbies in gently.
Thanks Hath.
Rico, it’s yob culture and ignorance in so many racist remarks .
A black player scores for us and applause rings out for him and in the same game another black player does a dirty tackle or scores against us and bananas are flung with vile songs.
We are living in very uncertain times and IMO this is leading to more and more people,especially keyboard warriors gaining momentum.
I think it goes deeper than being a yob Kelsey, imo, it’s parents handing down their old fashion views on life. Some people just can’t accept life has moved on.
It’s going to be strange seeing Granit Xhaka lining up against us if he does join Sunderland…
Sadly racism is endemic in society as a whole and it matters little where individuals stand on the issue . We are going through an enormous social change and that’s where the problem is coming from . It’s not so much colour as culture that is being seen to be eroded
The name racist is thrown around too easily and both sides of the argument have their moderates and their extremists . As always it’s the extreme that gains the publicity and fans the fires of discontent .
It’s not unreasonable to want the status quo to remain but it’s how that is achieved , whilst we have a divided society in many different forms it will not be solved by torching hotels or sinking boats , it’s our leaders that have to solve it and currently they do not seem able or even have the desire to do it.
We are still fighting old battles , the left versus the right , leave versus remain , the government versus the people , the phenomenal debt that is being racked up with a split government trying to patch things up with hard left dogma versus a softer socialism with unions demanding more of what is not available .
Kind of reminds me of the run up to the Thatcher years with sunny Jim ,Healey and the winter of discontent.
I feel sorry who ever takes over because the ship is out of control and whoever gets in has one hell of an uphill battle to turn it round.
Good afternoon rico, House. Romano Here We Go at last!
You’re right Potter…
Evening Andrew, what’s he said now.. lol
RIP Ozzy – you were one of a kind….
Good evening Rico and all
Good post Rico. Especially the part tackling racism. I find it hard to understand why people are nasty to others. Something ain’t right between their ears.
But personally I dont think its racism when someone fails a penalty. Its not the colour of the skin. I still remember Baggio missing the 1994 WC final penalty, and even though Baresi missed one as well it was Baggio who received the lion’s share of criticism and abuse – this after playing a whole WC on one leg and carrying Italy up till the final (which they didn’t lose in 120 mins). Back then there was no internet however one could still send letters, which Baggio got quite a load of.
Saka got it as well when he missed against Italy.
To the people who shout abuse at them??? I tell them well you are crap yourself seeing that he was the one taking the penalty and you were watching the game on TV.
Potter I agree with everything you said except one thing…..why the people against the Govt??? Isnt it the people who elect the govt?? Unless they are naive and dont think before voting, or are being led through their nose by a barefaced liar.
Seems that Gyokeres deal has been agreed and soon the player will jet out to join his new team.
We all had long faces when Edu upped ship and left. But what face now?? Oh man, Andrea Berta has made Edu look like a rookie in just weeks after being appointed as our new sporting director. Now that is what I call doing serious business in the summer transfer window. Those are the kind of signings you make in the summer and tell the fans to be excited about….
Eberechi Eze has also told Chelsea and Bayern Munich that his preference would be a move to the Gunners.
So we have signed Kepa, Madueke, Mosquera, Zubi, Norgaard, Gyokeres and tied down MLS, Nwaneri and Gabi.
Berta cooks.
We dine.
Yep, Rico, very sad day indeed. I’ve often thought he had written “Paranoid” especially for us Arsenal fans … Even though, thanks to the Fairs Cup in particular, there was nothing for us to get paranoid about back in 1970, was there?
The Arsenal summer 2025 neverending story, now – or is it the end of it, actually?: “L’Equipe” has it that Gyökeres is a €75m done deal !!
Evening Devil, thanks.
I’ve just seen that The Athletic are reporting the Gyokeres deal is pretty much done too and that he hopes to jet out to Asia in the next day or so.
Until these guys play though, I’m holding off from the Berta praise..
Lg, you’ve lost me on the paranoid bit.. lol
Rico 5.38, Romano’s HWG for Gyokeres, he’s rarely wrong when he says it, but reported verbal agreement, and we know what happened to G’s last verbal agreement!
Come on England, get a grip of this game…
Ornstein is on it now Andrew 😂
Diary of a Madman is my favourite
These Italians do like to go to ground…
Italians like going to the ground???? Noooooo. What makes you think that 😅😅😅
Welcome to the real world Rico
I was just about to say we needed more and better from James, now she has been subbed, I doubted she was fully fit from the start and her weak attempts on goal seem to confirm that.
What a chance for Hemp but she couldn’t quite finish it.
It’s probable that out of everyone here I am the one who has watched the most Italian games. And if I got one pound for everytime an Italian goes to the ground during matches in the last 50 years (ever since I began watching Italian football) I would rival Stan Kroenke for Arsenal ownership.
Italians are hard nuts but touch them ones and they go down just like they have been poleaxed.
I love Italy though, especially as my grandfather was Italian.
Time to bring on Chloe Kelly.