Soccer News Soccer Match Reports, Football News
Morning all, welcome to a brand new week.
Obviously I went over the Newcastle game in yesterday’s blog, but I didn’t get a chance to go into much detail when it comes to specific players, so there are just a few things I want to mention this morning. Did I mention Ben White clattering Anthony Gordon? Of course.
And I know that fine well. I just wanted to mention Ben White clattering Anthony Gordon again, because I want as many people as possible to start their week with a smile. What makes it funnier is Gordon had fouled Ben just a minute or two before. It was in the passage of play when Saka and Odegaard combined for the headed chance for Martinelli. Next time the ball came out there, CLATTER. Ref played on, we kept the ball. It’s the little things, you know.
He got him again just before half-time, this time the ref gave a free kick (spoilsport), but it was funny because before the game Mikel Arteta was asked a series of questions about whether or not his players were too nice, or not nasty enough, as well as their need to engage in the so-called ‘dark arts’.
It’s an interesting topic, because I think every great team has to have a measure of cynicism to go with the talent, the tactics, the drive, and all the other things that make them great. There’s that clip from the Man City ‘All Or Nothing’ doc where Arteta himself is instructing players like Kevin de Bruyne to break up opposition attacks with fouls if they win the ball back, so he knows fine well it’s necessary. It’s not a subject he can really expand on in any substantive way publicly, because the first rule of the Dark Arts is that you don’t talk about the Dark Arts, but as he keeps insisting he wants us to be the best team in the world, this is the kind of stuff you have to be good at.
We know that Ben White loves to play football but not watch football, so I don’t know what he’s got planned for his post-game life. It’s unlikely he’ll be a coach or a manager, as that…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/02/monday-thoughts-the-dark-arts-jorginho/
Author : arseblog
Publish date : 2024-02-26 07:27:09
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