Morning.
As usual let’s start with the Arsenal players who were in Interlull action yesterday, beginning with:
Viktor Gyokeres: Another game without a goal for the Swedish striker, another game without a goal for Sweden as they lost 1-0 to Kosovo. It’s a result which more or less extinguishes their hopes of qualifying for next summer’s World Cup.
Once again he started up front with Alexander Isak, but neither of them – or any their teammates – could find a way through despite dominating possession. Gyokeres has now gone 10 games without a goal for club and country, and given the rate he scored for Sporting, you have to go back to end of 2021 for a similarly barren run. Back then he went from October to January without scoring for Coventry in the Championship.
We have a run of games ahead where he will fancy his chances of ending this particular streak, but it’s also a run of games where we’re likely to need him to do exactly that.
William Saliba: Played the full 90 minutes of France’s 2-2 draw with Iceland. His side were 1-0 down, then 2-1 up, before conceding a 70th minute equaliser. They sit pretty comfortably on top of their qualifying group though.
Leandro Trossard: He scored the fourth goal in Belgium’s 4-2 win over Wales. Very much of a case of being in the right place at the right time, and applying a left-footed finish to make sure of three points. Watch here.
Ethan Nwaneri: Played 79 minutes for England U21s as they beat Andorra 1-0. There’s a compilation of his game here if you really need it.
The last remaining batch of Arsenal involvement takes place today, starting with Brazil’s friendly in Japan which begins mid-morning in this part of the world. We’ll have more on that, and all the other games, in tomorrow’s blog.
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Meanwhile, there’s been an update on Martin Odegaard’s knee injury from the BBC’s Sami Mokbel who reports that the Arsenal captain will be out of action until after the next Interlull. He suffered damage to his medial collateral ligament in the 2-0 win over West Ham on October 4th, and I guess he’s targetting a comeback for the North London derby on November 23rd, all going well.
That’s a layoff of about 8 weeks, there or thereabouts, and to be honest that’s more or less what I was expecting. The fact he was in Norway this week to meet up with his international teammates after they more or less assured World Cup qualification was a good sign. It meant he didn’t need surgery, so on the scale of what might have been, it’s not as bad as the worst case scenario.
In the meantime, he’ll miss Premier League games against Fulham, Crystal Palace, Burnley and Sunderland; our Champions League ties with Atletico Madrid and Slavia Prague; and the EFL Cup clash with Brighton. Unlike last season, Mikel Arteta has options at his disposal, and I think over the course of these fixtures we’ll see all of Eberechi Eze, Mikel Merino and Ethan Nwaneri used in Odegaard’s position. Team selections will depend on the opposition, and perhaps the schedule, but it’s a long way from last season when we really didn’t have any depth in this position at all.
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Finally for today, away from football, my favourite podcast published it’s last ever episode yesterday. Marc Maron’s WTF has been a staple of my week, with a new one every Monday and Thursday, since around episode 250. Number 1686 is the final one, and I’m really going to miss it.
It’s a bit weird to say this about a podcast, because it’s usually something you associate more with music, but even thinking about it evokes memories of places and times. I’m sure you feel the same about a song or an album – it takes you back to a particular era in your own life. Maybe where you used to live. A house. A flat. A city or country. A relationship etc. I have albums I listen to and I can remember exactly where I was as a teenager or younger man, and the same is true of WTF.
So many early morning walks in the Phoenix Park with Archer when he was a puppy and a young dog. The mists rolling across the gallops, keeping an eye out for the deer in the long grass, and a German Shepherd who could go forever. All with the soundtrack of Marc Maron and whoever it was he was talking to do that week.
He began his show in 2009, putting him close to the forefront of podcasting, and I can say that as someone who started his own podcast in 2006. Talk about an old-timer at this stage! His show felt like something new though, and over the course of all these years we got to know so much about the guests because of his incredible interviewing style and the way people opened up to him, but also him and his own life which has had some serious ups and downs along the way.
It’s fascinating to me, because while I’m certainly not Marc Maron, I recognise that the long-running nature of the Arsecast and Arsecast Extra makes me a staple in so many of your lives. I’m at a bit of a loss now that he’s called time on his, and while I know there’s so much choice these days, you kind of feel the responsibility of how ingrained you get with your listeners and your audience. Despite the ubiquity of the medium, it’s also one that still feels personal and even intimate at times. You know so much more about me than I do about most of you, which is the nature of it obviously, but it’s also what has made podcasting something which has endured and developed over the years.
I get emails from people who have had the Arsecast as a kind of comforting soundtrack to the trials and tribulations of their own lives. It reminds you that there’s more depth to it than some people might think, and that the frequency and regularity is important. Not just for the ‘success’ of the show itself, but for providing something stable in an increasingly unstable world. That’s how I felt about Marc’s podcast anyway.
So, thanks Marc Maron. I loved your show. I feel lucky I had the chance to do a podcast with you once, when you were tired and jet-lagged on your arrival to Dublin to do a comedy gig, but an engaged and interesting guest. Good luck with what comes next, and I’ll miss WTF a lot.
Lock the gates.
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