Football Daily | Arsenal and a 100% success rate boosting hopes against Madrid
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After leaving Thomas Partey, Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Sako on the bench for Arsenal’s match at Everton, Mikel Arteta could scarcely have made it more obvious he had an eye on the Bigger Cup quarter-final first leg with Real Madrid if he’d started with Gunnersaurus, Ty from AFTV and Win the training ground pooch at Goodison Park. As it happened, the players he did pick were in total control until Everton were awarded the kind of weird penalty that will have done little to deter the conspiracy theories of some Arsenal fans who are convinced English officials have an agenda against their club. At least they can go into Tuesday’s match safe in the knowledge that it is being refereed by a more accomplished and less gaffe-prone foreign referee. Specifically, one who prompted outrage by inexplicably ruling out what appeared to be a perfectly good goal scored by RB Leipzig against – oh dear! – Real Madrid in last season’s Big Cup.
Is the Manchester derby even an elite match anymore? What barometer can we use to measure the significance of this mid-table clash? Close observers of Pep Guardiola will know that during the top, top clashes, such as El Clásico, Der Klassiker and City v Liverpool, absolutely every time he’s on camera, Pep is hocking phlegm on to the touchline. It’s as if the mere possibility of a goal causes his juices to flow. For 90 minutes at Old Trafford he did not produce any spittle. Not even the tiniest dribble. All he offered was a half-hearted, resigned flob in injury time. This is all we need to know that the Guardiola-era has finally run dry and this former hotbed of salivating football is now unable to produce even the slightest bubble of moisture in the spittle glands of the Spaniard” – Jimmy O’Brien.
During the United-City snooze-a-thon, the camera panned to a stoic Eric Cantona watching the match from a secluded location. Even with the grey beard, flat cap, and oversized granddad sunglasses, Cantona looked like he still could do a job as a playmaker without too much effort. Same with the grizzled, haggard, and looming presences of Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane, etc. glaring at the field. I know, I know that the 90s’ version of United wouldn’t last for a full match against the current generation. But are we sure that they couldn’t get to half-time with a 0-0 scoreline if we had a semi-serious friendly between the sides? Are we?” – Mike Wilner.
Seeing the weed-addled old Wembley stadium looking like a location from some sort of post-apocalyptic zombie film/TV series (Friday’s Memory Lane, full email edition) was disconcerting. Although obviously watching the England team at new Wembley is a totally different proposition to watching some lumbering undeads shambling around desperately searching for brains” – Matt Leuw.
