PSG LOOMS...
Arsenal vs PSG is set to be a matchup for the ages, I can’t wait. It’s a shame before all these massive games, the narrative is always about the ballot process. I’m not deep enough into it to really give a full-on perspective, the only thing I will say is this: the idea that new people get the chance to see the team is a valid one. You want to build the fan base, give the world the chance to see the club.
But… it’s also kind of mad that the people who stuck with the club during the really drab years aren’t able to get tickets at all because the lottery system is so overstocked with, I guess, the jolly-come-latelys who weren’t interested when Mustafi and Rob Holding were on the front of the program.
All of these problems are complex and layered. The byproduct of being successful is that things cost more, more people want them, and it’s really hard for the business to do something fair and just.
But… to scrap loyalty to the degree they have feels like a miss.
I’d say there will be a cost to this… but in England, you can treat fans however you want, and they’ll still show up. It’s the beauty of our game. In America, fans are treated with far more care, because their attention is more elastic. The Premier League? You might get a drop-off, but very few clubs in the league have to run ticketing campaigns… the main thing that drops is Premium seats.
I hear you… ENOUGH of the ballot chat, it is boring.
Ok, let’s chat about the game.
PSG warmed into the weekend with a rough outing… conceding 3 goals from 3 shots on target. They rolled with a VERY strong team, which was surprising considering the game was a Friday nighter. They rotated heavily for Tuesday, so I’d imagine the hope from Lucho was a confidence-building mega win. The underlying results were good… they created 3.16 xG, so we shouldn’t get our hopes up.
BUT… the vulnerabilities were there for all to see. Nice waltzed through the middle for the first goal, their Italian keeper caught flatfooted. The other two goals were poor marking in the box. Donnaruma is getting hammered in the French media.
The key for Arsenal in the home leg is to get at PSG early on and try and break up some of that fancy football they like to play. Madrid were hammered because they couldn’t do the things they wanted to do. Their midfield passes were eaten up by our midfield, they couldn’t play out of the back, and we molested them in midfield.
It’s basic, but Arsenal has done a great job making brilliant teams lose their confidence. Teams like City, PSG and Madrid are a little like the tall handsome kids at school that go their entire lives getting things their own way… then they get in the real world, their athletic abilities mean shit, and suddenly… they feel vulnerable and have a total meltdown. When you’re the best, week after week, and suddenly, the ugly kid is smacking you up… it’s hard to find the tools to get over that.
Maybe calling Arsenal ugly is unfair… we’re high-class bullies. Rich parents, no doubt. But we have the sort of rich parents that make you work in the garden to clear apples or build crazy paving for 7 hours. We have resilience because dad is walking up the stairs at exactly 6am yelling ‘THIS IS NOT THE FOGGING A-STANDARDS.’
In games like the two we’re about to face, I don’t want to be the family with the parents who were hippy beat poets or NGO board members. There’s a clear delineation in styles and strengths, but for once in the last 20 years, we have the strength of power, resilience, and brutality.
There aren’t really that many questions that need to be answered. Trossard, a player in fine form, will play a false 9 role, rotating in and out with Merino who will act as a false 8. We’ll have power dropping into midfield to clog up PSG’s rhythm, and we’ll have options around the box when we try and break them down at speed. Arteta needs Arsenal to be a vortex of power and speed in the home leg so they are whimpering for the second.
All of this, on paper, sounds like incredibly bullish prose, spat out by someone who knows what he’s talking about… but, this is Champions League. The competition is fucking crazy, and when you’re down to the final 4, the biggest indicator of success is usually geared around how many individual freaks with ‘I WANT TO BE A HERO’ mindsets you have in your team.
PSG has a lot of those freaks… Dembélé, Barcola, Doué, Ruiz, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Neves… those are players who just do wild things. Arsenal has fewer of those artists and that was the difference last season against Bayern. They had bang-bang and we… didn’t.
So, it’ll be an unpredictable night. The game likely won’t be decided in the first leg. We can overturn anything. They can overturn anything. It’ll be pure Champions League and I honestly can’t wait.
Ok, that’s all I’ve got for you today. I am going to watch a hockey playoff later. The Blues are playing the Winnipeg Jets. Should be fun. If you want to check out a Before the Whistle, we’ll be doing a special one for PSG that’ll be a freebie. So keep your eyes PEELED for that one. Isn’t the idea of peeled eyes gross?
Also, get the latest Therapy session.