Good Monday morning, TSFers! I hope everybody loved the World Cup Final yesterday. And now that the sideshow is over, we will flip our consideration to Arsenal and the Premier League. The league season begins 4 weeks from Friday, and the Gunners face Manchester City within the Community Shield on August sixteenth.
Alright, we will spend a bit extra time speaking concerning the World Cup.
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The Gunners did have three winners, in any case: David Raya (who didn’t play a minute), Martin Zubimendi (who performed his first minutes in further time within the remaining), and Mikel Merino (who scored the profitable objectives in Spain’s Round of 16 and QF). Merino additionally made two essential defensive interventions to maintain Spain 1-0 up — blocking a Leo Messi shot along with his face and sliding via to intercept a deep cutback. He does all of it on the pitch. Arsenal keenly felt his absence within the late winter and spring, and I don’t suppose anyone actually gave sufficient thought to the impact his being out had on the squad.
Rodri seemed annoyingly again in direction of being one of many prime gamers on the planet, though I’d counsel that the slower tempo of the worldwide sport fits the 30-year previous significantly better than does the pace and physicality of the Premier League. Pau Cubarsi, Pedri, Gavi, Lamine Yamal — Barcelona (La Masia) simply retains churning out proficient footballers, doesn’t it? If Hansi Flick ever figures out tips on how to coach up a semi-competent protection…
On the opposite aspect of the pitch, Argentina didn’t cowl themselves in glory. Their antics after the match — attacking Spanish gamers — have been notably gross. I suppose that follows on from attacking gamers throughout the match. Enzo Fernandez can’t assist himself, can he? He’s all the time been an ill-disciplined participant.
I’m wondering what a Spain-England remaining would have seemed like. I’d guess a bit extra aggressive than Spain-Argentina, however Thomas Tuchel’s weird choices to not play Bukayo Saka and to take off Declan Rice within the semifinal ensured we didn’t discover out. Ah effectively. Rest up, lads. I actually hope the experiences that we could not see both of them till after the primary worldwide break — the final two weeks of September — are untimely.