NORTH WEST BIAS CRIME REPORT
Listen, you’re gonna have to put up with this sort of post because we’re in an international break, the writing equivalent of being offered the crumbs at the bottom of a bag of NikNaks.
Gabriel Jesus is being persecuted by the bent coppers in black because he lives in London and plays in a red shirt.
Last season, Whoscored were tweeting that Gabi J had committed 20 fouls and received ZERO bookings. Whilst at City, he enjoyed the Big North West Team privilege of being able to do what he wants, only picking up 6 yellow cards across 3 seasons.
This season? He’s on the verge of a suspension with 4 yellow cards in 7 games. Has he been a saint? No. He’s one of the most prolific foulers in the league, one foul behind Scott McTominay, with 14 to his name.
… but man, isn’t it weird refs have only just clocked he’s a problem now he’s wearing red?
Referees treat you differently based on how big your club is and where it is located.
This is case closed. We’re going to sentencing next week.
Matty Turner has landed at Arsenal and I don’t think it has been easy for him. There have been some shaky moments, we’ve seen some errors, and he’s looked a little overawed by the moment he’s in at times.
… but, he is new to the Premier League, he’s clearly one of the best keepers in America, and they don’t produce average keeping talent. The player has been talking about what he’s learned (MLS SOCCER)
‘Just the speed and the intensity of everything, every single day. Mikel doesn’t accept anything except full-gas at training sessions, so you have to bring it every single day, or else you get found out pretty quickly out there on the pitch.’
‘For me, it’s the consistency that I have to bring every day in training, being ready for moments where I’m going to be able to get to play and overall just the speed, technical execution of things, making saves against world-class players every day in training, sometimes getting found out by world-class players in training. But all the while learning.’
It’s also great to get a bit of insight into how Mikel Arteta focuses in on things like body language.
‘We were playing a small possession game and it was really, really tight. I tried to make a pass and I gave the ball away. I sort of visually got frustrated and upset and he [Arteta] just came up to me and shoved me. He was basically like, ‘I don’t want to see that. I don’t like seeing that reaction. I want to see you pick yourself up and keep going.’
‘I think that really set the tone for my mentality within the club and just to keep going no matter what. If you fail, that’s alright. What matters is how you react and not about the failure in itself. That was a really nice moment.’
The keeping position at any major club really is sink DEEP or swim. There’s rarely a middle ground. What I mean by that is you can’t plod like an Ainsley Maitland Niles dropping 6s and it being ok. If you drop into the team and you’re bad as a keeper – often, that’s it. You don’t get the chance to make errors because any lapse is a goal. If the team thinks you are going to lapse on the regular, there’s no trust afforded you, and your rep in the side dies.
That’s why Matt Turner has to really work hard and make sure he’s impressive in every game. I was speaking to an elite-level goalkeeper last week, one of the interesting things I’ve never really thought about is the difference for keepers as they go up levels in the game. I was told that when you move to a big club as a keeper, the speed is really shocking at the highest level, but the other element is the precision of the ball striking, and the unbelievable power. Literally, two weeks ago, I was ranting off that all 30-yard screamers were the same. Well, I was wrong. What does bide time is hard work. So let’s hope Matt is putting in the big hours and let’s hope he’s not absolutely ruined by our keeping coach Mikel Arteta seems to sit outside the non-negotiables mindset.
Right, that’s all you’re getting today. Jump on the podcast. What? Yes, it’s true. The AOP was Top 10 in America AND Great Britain for football. Give it a listen and a FIVE star review.
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