I didn’t watch last night’s World Cup qualifier between Scotland and Ukraine. In truth, like most international football to come in the next few weeks, it wasn’t really on my radar.
Ukraine won and will now face Wales for a place in the Qatar tournament in November. I don’t really have anything to say about the game or what victory means or what Ukrainian players have been through, but it reminded me that war and all the horror that goes with it has become just another part of the news cycle. and it’s kind of terrible how it goes.
I’ve seen the footage, the destruction, the injuries and deaths, and right now I’m sure it’s only scratching the surface of what’s going on because of the Kremlin warmonger owned by Chelsea’s friend, and whose companies potentially served the military Russian – until last week. It’s a bit screwed up, huh?
Still, we have transfers to fear and a suitable person test for the Premier League to ignore. We care about Ukraine, so no more Roman, but with Saudi Arabia bombing Syria, Newcastle is fine. Fog over the Tyne boys. Don’t breathe it, it could be white phosphorus.
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Either way, soccer is an escape once you don’t let your mind wander, and there was an interesting article in The Athletic (£) about Matt Turner, the US international goalkeeper due to join this summer. I liked that he was a fan of the Premier League and Arsenal, and that he sat in bars with other fans to watch the games. It’s funny to think that someone could have noticed a kid sitting there and now he’s going to be an Arsenal player.
What I found curious was that he was talking about his own game, and while I think we all know that there is a level difference between MLS and the Premier League, I wonder a bit about his own style of play:
“The style of play with Revolution is very old fashioned. If there’s pressure, we don’t really try to play too much.
“At Arsenal, the goalkeepers are required to play with the ball a bit more, to play into the system rather than just outside. They need to follow the tactics and game plans a little more closely. These are things that I know are valued with the national team and will challenge me more with Arsenal.
“In December and January, I was able to spend weeks at a time with the national team to prepare for matches. And in all those games, I feel like I’m pretty solid with the ball at my feet.
“Other than the one hit to Canada, pretty solid connecting passes, making the right calls. And then I don’t train exactly like that when I’m with the Revs, so I lose it. I get it for a few weeks and then I lose it. Now I will train this way all the time.
Given the importance of playing from behind – and this was in our most successful moments last season – it is perhaps a little strange that we opted for a goalkeeper who, from what I have read, is above all a good hitchhiker. but who needs to work on that other aspect of the game from him.
I guess we’ve done our due diligence and looked at it enough to assess that this is an area where it can improve, but it still seems a bit incongruous. It’s like the chalk and cheese thing I talked about with Tomiyasu and Cédric. To be fair, in this case Cedric was not bought to support Tomi, he was inherited from Raul’s tenure as head of football and, being as diplomatic as possible, I think there was practically no football strategy involved in that. decision.
This time, however, we have a goalkeeper in Aaron Ramsdale whose prowess on the ball has surprised people and directly influenced the way we want to play. Matt Turner, while not quite the opposite, is certainly different right now. However, as I said, they could see a lot of room for improvement in him, and maybe it’s also because we overemphasized the second-choice goalkeeper who, for the most part, will spend most of the season on the bench.
However, I would also be very interested to know who piqued our interest in him above all other potential candidates. Last summer, when Edu was promoting fellow Brazilian Neto, Mikel Arteta put pressure on Aaron Ramsdale. When Emi Martinez left, Alex Runarsson was brought in, apparently on the recommendation of the goalkeeping coach who had worked with him before, so there is a mixed bag in terms of decision-making.
Needless to say, as with any other signing, I expect him to be a success for us, and obviously any judgment is on his game. By his own admission, however, he has a lot going on.
Finally for today, yesterday we took a new step with Arseblog when Arseblog News turned 11 years old. We will continue to provide you with the best coverage in the club, men to women, top to bottom, while doing our best to separate the wheat from the chaff, the click from the bait, because there are just too many of them these days.
Many thanks to everyone who gets their Arsenal news, stats, ratings and transfer rumours, noted down with a Poo-O-Meter.
See you tomorrow.
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