Tag: Mikel Arteta

Secret maps

Amy O1 Comment

We woke very early in Cambridge and had breakfast at a Pret a Manger in probably the fanciest building we’d ever encountered for this establishment. A man was seated nearby waiting for his friend, while a man at another table drolly asked him if he intended to attend the parade to celebrate the Battler of Agincourt’s 575th anniversary. The Battle of Agincourt was one of few battles won by the British in the 100 Years’ War with France. The man waiting for his friend responded he would not attend the fictional parade; rather he would celebrate later with a bottle of wine. “Not French wine, I hope,” quipped the historical savant.

My husband had won the aBode shower lottery for the second day running. Warm for him, lukewarm for me. We headed for hopefully greener pastures with a fairly uneventful trip from Canterbury West to Charing Cross. The train had been nearly empty leaving Canterbury but became jam-packed, stop by stop, by the time we reached London. We had been wondering how on earth the Southeastern train system is able to run with any form of profitability considering how empty almost every train we’d been on over four days had been. It appears to work similar to Christmas for retailers. All the money must be made on trains as they approach stops close to London.

By the time we arrived in London, it was raining again, but our hotel was reasonably close by way of a funny alley. Our new hotel in London, The Grand at Trafalgar Square, met the new financial criteria to which my husband and I agreed before the trip. They weren’t ready to check us in, but checked our luggage and showed us to a nice lounge where we could regroup and make a latte. The hotel seemed pretty fancy for our new price point.

We were intending to meet a friend later in the day who was coming into London from California with her adult children. Their original flight had been cancelled and their new flight would be later. So we bought tickets for the Secret Maps exhibit at the British Library to stay occupied. We’ve been to the British Library twice in the past, once for the Treasures exhibit, years ago, and once for the Medieval Women exhibit earlier this year. The British Library has super interesting documents to start with, and they pull together such interesting narrative and themes for their exhibits.

This exhibit about secret maps was the best I’ve seen there. It just never occurred to me how interesting the history of maps is and how they were used–to share information as well as to obscure, deflect, and mislead to maintain an upper hand–commercially, politically, in warfare. Also, how many different kinds of maps there have been to be used for these purposes, including maps of land masses, trade routes, the heavens, escape routes, war equipment and assets. And how maps were shared with the right people.

After viewing the exhibit, we checked into our hotel, learning that The Grand is part of the Club Quarters chain. We’ve only stayed at this chain once on one of our trips many years ago. There’s a lot of work and lounge space in the hotel and it’s quite fancy. I noted that this would have been a good hotel for the times I worked from London last year. In contrast, the rooms are pretty basic and small. But, hey, hot water both days we need it. A win.

Speaking of maps used for deception, it’s long been a thing that Mikel Arteta keeps things close to the vest in his press conferences before a match. He tells the truth and nothing but the truth, but with regard to injuries, it’s often not the whole truth. There is often someone who came off the last match limping, of whom Arteta will truthfully say in his next press conference before a match whether the player has been in practice that week. But often he’ll say they’ll evaluate them on match day and see how things stand. Then that player may show up as a starter, or as a sub, or we’ll find out after the match he’ll have surgery tomorrow and will be out for at least three months.

Gabriel Magalhaes, big Gabi, came off in the match against Atletico Madrid with about 20 minutes left to play and it looked like something was not quite right with him. Arteta had said in his pre-match press conference for Crystal Palace that he was unsure whether Gabi would play against Crystal Palace. “Let’s see how he evolves,” he said. Arsenal is having a wonderful defensive season and a lot of the reason has been the play of Big Gabi. His partnership with William Saliba is considered among the best in the Premier League. And obviously, he’s been important for delivering goals from set plays. Either he heads it in himself or places where someone else can finish up the job.

But Arsenal’s defense is not only good because of Gabriel and Saliba; the whole team contributes to Arsenal’s overall stability. Arsenal has held every team goalless since September 28, yes, but teams hadn’t even been able to register a shot on target. And we’ve seen some great play from the person who can deputize Big Gabi, Christhian Mosquera. So losing Big Gabi would not be ideal, but it’s not a horrible situation either.

Arteta also used his press conference to encourage fans to bring the noise and spirit. “Play the game with us,” he requested. “If we’re going to win the league, everybody has to turn up.”

On that backdrop we arrived at the stadium the next day having spent a morning walking in the Tower Hill area and having had a nice lunch. We got to the stadium a bit late but still made time to walk through the Armoury and, as has lately been our habit, buying nothing. My husband and I were sitting apart from each other but both in the west stands. He was high up near the half way line; I was in Club near the North end. My seats were just about even with the D at the top of the penalty box. We had had a pretty easy time getting tickets for this match, none of the usual drama and not very many clicks.

I arrived at my seat with very little time to spare before the teams came out of the tunnel. There was something odd about my section that made it a little less straightforward to access from any direction and it took me some time to find the right passages. My section had quite a few human season ticket holders in it, and I’ve found that those areas of Club are almost as much fun as being in other parts of the stadium. Lots of spirit.

The whole stadium seemed to be taking Arteta’s request to heart. A lively atmosphere considering the opponent was Crystal Palace. Technically a derby, but usually one without as much of the usual rancor. This even though Crystal Palace managed to produce a tie in our last match at The Emirates.

One possible point of drama was that Eberechi Eze came to us from Crystal Palace. As I recall, he scored one of the goals in the match at the Emirates last year. The woman to the left of me wondered aloud whether Eze would celebrate if he scored a goal against Crystal Palace. There is some nonsense where players who score against their former team will not celebrate so as to be kind to their former club. To date, the Crystal Place fans have been notably classy about losing Eze to Arsenal. He did a lot for them. They appreciate that. Eze has played pretty well for Arsenal but has only scored one goal this season, in the Carabou cup. It seemed we probably would not find out the answer to that question on the day.

In contrast, Declan Rice came to Arsenal from West Ham under similar circumstances but while producing £105 million in revenue for his former club. Money that could be used to strengthen the West Ham team beyond replacing this one player. But Declan Rice gets tortured when he plays against West Ham. They do not forgive him at all. Rice didn’t score against West Ham in his first season with Arsenal. He did manage to score against them in early October at the Emirates. And while he did not celebrate the goal he scored right in front of the visiting fans, he appeared to make eye contact. A bit of a glare, I felt.

An example of a player who did celebrate against his former team: Arsenal had a player named Emmanuel Adebayor from 2006 to 2009, when he was sold to Manchester City. The first time Arsenal faced Man City at Man City’s stadium, Adebayor scored a goal against Arsenal and then ran the whole length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans, who rioted. I’m sure he was receiving a ton of schtick from the Arsenal fans before that decision. The process of losing players was so painful at that time. You felt so insulted when someone chose to leave.

I was so late to my seat I didn’t have time to check out the line-up. As soon as the players came out of the tunnel, there was Big Gabi, clearly in the starting line-up. Quite a relief. And Eze, of course.

All the usual ceremony took place. Good old Arsenal (blah), North London forever (yay) and finally the kick-off.

Many times I’ve been asked why I fell in love with Arsenal. Although I fell in love well in advance of the Premier League being picked up by NBC sports in 2013, I remember a great article in the sporting press in conjunction with the rollout campaign for NBC about how, now that everyone would be able to watch every match, someone could go about selecting a team to support. It was described as being akin to the sorting hat in Harry Potter. Just watch the soccer and a team will be magically chosen for you.

I was watching soccer with my kids and husband on Fox soccer channel well before that and had that sorting hat experience after watching Arsenal a few times. When I try to verbalize why Arsenal was chosen, I say I’m a sucker for beautiful, flowing soccer. Arsene Wenger, Arsenal’s manager at the time, also appeared to have a weakness for that beauty. His teams were stacked with players with technical ability. People who could complete the beautiful pass, deception with the ball, a tricky dribble, a back heal, a lovely, arcing shot. But Arsenal was also naive in spirit and porous in defense. The Arsenal of old could also not break down a low block, but it was very susceptible to counterattacks.

But now, Arsenal is not that. This is not really a pretty team. So why has the sorting hat not rethought my options?

I’ve heard it said that the reason is Arsenal fans are hypocritical. Speaking only for me, I think I’ve become more mature as an appreciator of the sport. Not just the overtly pretty things, but things that are less obvious. I have learned that what I want and what Mikel Arteta wants are often two different things. And when someone knows more than you and sees things you never could and whose job hangs in the balance, it may make sense to try to respect that. And try to learn what that person is attempting to achieve. What is the objective when working from the back? What is the objective of the horseshoe of death (as we call it when Arsenal’s defenders are passing from right to left and back to right)? Why has Arteta selected this player in this situation and a different player in another situation? What are the different ways Arsenal attacks a set piece? I’ve learned to appreciate winning a duel, laying down a great tackle, working in concert to ensure our defensive team is the last line of defense and not the first line. And, of course, all the different ways to produce a deceptive set piece.

And when I approach a match with not just excitement, but also curiosity, a match that might have felt tedious to me feels interesting and like a learning experience. The Crystal Palace match, especially in the first half, was probably the poster child for a match I would have formerly found tedious, but at this time found fascinating. And with regard to my fellow fans at the stadium, I would say almost every time they might be starting to feel frustrated, they reacted by trying to lift up the team with chanting. Arteta’s request had clearly been heard.

Crystal Palace of course deployed a low block and Arsenal of course struggled to unlock it. I can only remember one shot on goal. And when Arsenal did unlock it, guess how?

Set piece again, olé olé. One of the Crystal Palace’s players briefly lost the plot near the end of the first half and fouled Saka, giving up a free kick, which Declan Rice took. At least 20,000 fans in the stadium picked up their phones and started taking video, including the man to my right. The ball Declan kicked naturally came to Big Gabi, who was facing Declan and away from the goal and who headed it back toward the edge of the penalty area. Eze came running in and struck the ball in a very odd way. Since the match, I’ve heard the kick he made referred to as a karate kick, a scissor kick, a hitch kick, a forward bicycle kick, and probably a few other things.

Whatever. It rocketed into the net.

Answer to the question posed at the top of the match by my seat mate: Eze did not really celebrate. He kind of also did not not celebrate.

We celebrated enough to make up for whatever it was he was doing.

At halftime I went to concessions and stood in a long line of people getting beer and ultimately picked up a cup of tea. One of the beers Arsenal is now serving at the stadium is Guinness. It takes a long time to pour a Guinness–I wonder if they regret that? The lady next to me complained fiercely to me about the inefficiency of the process of serving beer. Beer is available at no added charge to those in Club. Ergo, a lot of people want one. I appreciated her decision to read me into her frustration and nodded sympathetically, even though my empathy was not really piqued.

In the second half, Arsenal had a lot of chances right in front of me, just no success scoring. Hitting the bar, goal keeper saves, a lot of excitement, not much payout. Some set pieces that did not produce a goal.

Arsenal’s former player Eddie Nketiah was introduced late in the match to the applause of both home and away fans. Eze was withdrawn about 5 minutes from the end of normal time to the applause both home and away fans.

Toward the end, everyone seemed so tired and Crystal Palace did make some progress challenging toward the goal. I think Arteta was very willing to trust our defensive stability and not worry so much about scoring again. As much as Arteta does not worry. Whatever we are seeing on the field and however we might try to understand and appreciate it, there appears to always be something more he is looking for. I guess we are all growing up together but he’s working on it well ahead of most of us.

The match ended 1-0. The only shot registered by statisticians as being “on target” against Arsenal was this weird thing from Eddie Nketiah that David Raya easily caught. Arsenal’s six matches in October ended with no goals scored against it and only one shot taken by an opponent–Eddie Nketiah’s–being ruled “on target.”

My husband and I normally meet after the match at the Arsene Wenger statue. I got confused with the unusual set-up of my section and headed the wrong way out of the stadium. It took me forever to figure out my mistake. So long, and with crowds so thick. it just made sense to keep walking. It was raining again and when I arrived my husband was waiting under building near the statue.

We walked in the rain back to Arsenal station, 3 points in our raincoat pockets and plans for a nice dinner with our California friends.

I’m not a robot

Amy O2 Comments

At the time we flew to London, both my husband and I had tickets for the Nottingham Forest game but only I had tickets for the Man City game. That remained true across thousands of clicks on the Arsenal web site. Each time I logged in to try to get a ticket, I had to affirm that I was not a robot. Sometimes I had to prove it by reviewing photos and click on all the ones, for example, that contain street lights. And sometimes even though I seemingly passed all the anti-robot tests put in front of me, I could still take repetitive action on the ticket exchange that made the exchange believe I might have fibbed about being a robot. Then you get the white screen of death and have to start over. Fortunately, I finally found my husband a ticket the very day before the match.

That was the day we travelled back to London from Norwich also. Tracks from Ipswich to Colchester were under maintenance so we had to take a bus for that leg of the trip. It was well organized by the train service and it occurred with very little drama. As we walked from Liverpool Street Station to check into our hotel, The Clayton Hotel London Wall, we crossed through the very pretty Finsbury Circus Gardens. Upon reaching the hotel, my husband was ready to relax. I was feeling inspired by the garden so I set out to find the St. Dunstan in the East Garden. This is a garden associated with a church. It looked lovely and peaceful, except on the day I visited there was a large contingent of goth-dressed women and photographers doing a photo shoot. I took advantage of the poses for my own photos.

Sometimes I recognize what a shame it’s been that we’ve visited so many hotels in London but not really used the opportunity to rank hotels. It happens that we had previously visited the Clayton Hotel London Wall in the past, but I had forgotten what a good option this is. The rooms are spacious, there is tons of storage, and the bathroom is nice. The mattress was like a concrete slab. I happen to be a fan of the concrete slab mattress. This may seem like a weird thing, but the bathroom has an enclosed shower with a ledge that prevents water from entering the rest of the bathroom. You’d be surprised how many do not. The only downside of this hotel is that it’s located in the business district so a lot of restaurants and pubs nearby are closed on the weekend.

We booked a play to attend that night, The Full English at Baron’s Court Theatre. This was a one-woman show by a linguist, poet, and actor Melanie Blanton, literally about the English language and how it developed across time as England both was impacted by migrating, and sometimes invading, forces as well as England’s own experience colonizing other countries. The Baron’s Court Theatre is a tiny space in the basement of a pub called Curtains Up. Before the play people gathered in the pub and then brought their drinks into the space and during intermission, they repeated. The theatre was so tiny that it was in my mind that it would be really bad to sleep in this play because the actor would for sure be able to see that. I was at my alert best. Perhaps because I’d for once had time to acclimate to the time change having been in England for a week. Two older ladies in the first row did not get the same memo. They both slept through a lot of the play. Then again, they availed themselves of several pints. In a warm, dark space we all know what that can lead to for us aged folk.

What I just said might sound like not a ringing endorsement of the play, but I actually loved it. It was entertaining and I learned a lot. I feel like this whole trip reinforced for me how England developed. We’ve spent time in London in the past looking into the Roman invasion, but this trip (including this play) gave insight into the migration of Anglo-Saxons as well as invasions by Vikings and Normans.

The match was the next day, Sunday. Unfortunately, that morning my husband tweaked his back and really could not walk or sit without a lot of pain. He’s had this problem before so he always travels with muscle relaxants which helps get through the night or a long flight in Basic Economy. However, those aren’t good for getting through a day or a soccer match so we invested a bit of time trying to find an electric heating pad or something to help loosen things up. We were successful in locating a disposable heating belt that you can affix under your clothing and that heats for 12 hours. A great solution for our day and for the plane trip back on Monday and it seemed to help quite a bit.

We didn’t want to overdo it so we decided to keep it simple that morning by only visiting one exhibit at the British Museum, the one displaying the treasures found at Sutton Hoo. As you may recall, once it was established that Edith Pretty had full rights to the artifacts found on her property, she donated all of them to the British Museum. One of the most interesting objects was the helmet found–crushed, where the burial compartment of the Anglo-Saxon ship in one of the mounds had collapsed. The British museum made two efforts to put the pieces together, one that they felt good about. The actual reconstructed helmet is displayed, as is a replica of what it may have looked like originally. The display also includes coins, dishes, and other objects of Anglo-Saxon life. Fascinating exhibit and a perfect follow-up to our visit at Sutton Hoo. The British Museum, like many other attractions in London, is free to visit but so expansive it’s really nice to be able to feel like you can just see what you want to see on the day without feeling guilty about wasting admission.

After lunch we travelled over to the Emirates for the match. It took more time than usual to get into the stadium, at least where I was seated in the North Bank. I was lucky to be in my seat as the teams were coming out on the field. You’ve heard me speaking about how much I love singing and being in the stadium as “North London Forever” is being played, but there is a song played at every Arsenal match that I despise. It’s called Good old Arsenal. It’s played both before the first half and the second half. It sounds like it was invented in the 1940s, but my quick google just now tells me it first made its appearance at the stadium in 1971.

Good old Arsenal

We’re proud to say that name

While we sing this song

We’ll win the game

They usually get through it 2 times before the rest of the pomp happens. I was in my seat for it and it annoyed me, like always. I do sing it because while we sing this song we win the game. How can I decline? I’m a model fan. Note: it does not always produce the results it claims.

With Martin Odegaard still injured, Mikel Arteta started exactly the same midfield he had selected for the mid-week Champions League match. He made one change in the forward line, replacing Eze with Leandro Trossard. This was maybe a bit surprising considering the opposition. Kind of a very secure but not very adventuresome lineup. William Saliba was restored to his normal center half position after an ankle injury having not played much since then. He seemed a bit rusty.

If you consider the totality of the match, we were mostly successful at being secure. But there was this one insecure moment pretty early in the first half where there was a turnover on a mistake and Man City’s excellent striker, Erling Haaland, got forward on a breakaway where Man City had three players on two Arsenal players. Haaland didn’t have the ball early in the breakaway but he was clearly the one you didn’t want to see the ball come to. We didn’t have him covered well and he did get the ball. He had no problem placing it in the Arsenal goal beyond David Raya.

All through the match Man City was pretty much bunkered in and we were unable to find a way through. Although I understood after the match everyone watching seemed to find it boring, I thought it was a fascinating match. Kind of like watching chess. I know not everyone likes watching chess when they came to watch football. But obviously frustrating, going at them again and again and never finding a way through.

After halftime, the Arsenal team came out to the the sound of “Good Old Arsenal,” like always. But this time, Man City didn’t come out for ages. It played 6 or 7 times. I enjoyed it less than usual which, as I mentioned, is not at all.

Mikel Arteta made increasingly creative substitutions across the second half and we did start to make headway in penetrating the Man City defense, which by now was just a big, old bus parked in front of the goal. He even removed a defender to put on an attacker, Gabriel Martinelli.

Everyone refers to the players who start the match as “starters.” Lately, Arteta has notably been referring to players who are substituted on as “finishers.” I don’t know where this started but I do know this is terminology that Sarina Wiegman, the winning manager for women’s Euros, used to describe her very accomplished substitutes. One of whom was Chloe Kelly, the Arsenal player who visibly improved the England team in many matches and scored the deciding penalty kick in the final. In my opinion, language matters and I think this is a good development for Arteta’s players. All of the players are good enough to start, but not all of them can be selected. Instead, Arteta needs to be able to use them to change the course of the match. And they are just as important to the match in their different role.

While Arteta was replacing defenders with attackers, Man City’s manager was replacing attackers with defenders. Even Erland Haaland was removed. (The manager said afterward he did this because Haaland said he was tired.) Both managers wanted points from this match but Man City’s manager was definitely working from the preferred position.

It seemed like the match was going to end a Man City win as we entered injury time. But never say never. Eberechi Eze, who ultimately found himself playing, managed to slip a ball over the Man City defenders to a breaking Martinelli, who managed to evade them as the goalkeeper rushed out toward him. The lightest loft of the ball with the edge of his foot and the ball was floating into the air over the keeper and against the far netting. Then a roll into the back of the net to the excitement of an entire stadium. A finisher’s finish. Until it hit the back of the net from my seat–closer to where the ball was lofted and farther from where it nestled into the netting–I was not sure it was in.

With the few minutes remaining, we continued to try to score and Man City made more offensive progress than it had tried in a while. In the end, a 1-1 tie was all we could get done.

Sometimes a late tie like that feels like a win but in this case, well, even though I was really happy the goal happened, it mostly felt like a tie. And you know the stadium DJ was feeling it, too because he played another song I’ve come to really hate at the Emirates, the song he usually plays for a tie (and I think maybe also for a loss): Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Maybe I once liked it, but now I’ve been conditioned. It’s like a song you associate from your youth with the summer some boyfriend broke up with you. Bah. Dislike.

Better luck next time? We shall see.

After the match, Mikel; Arteta took a shellacking in the press conference and in commentary for the week for the starting line-up he used which, again, was the same forward and midfield line as in the Champions League win on Tuesday. “Why are you keeping the handbrake on?” I’ve already seen an “Arteta Out” message on social media. A writer on Football 365, which lately has been on a clickbait tear, likened Arteta to Donald Trump. Admittedly the writer is English so he may not have the clearest picture of Donald Trump’s traits, but I can assure anyone that whatever you might dislike in Trump and whatever you might dislike in Arteta, these are NOT the same traits.

Such is the state of his life. No matter what Arteta does, it’s used as a stick to beat him with. This is a great, young manager in his first head coaching role. He has a large, excellent, diverse team with 8 new players to incorporate, and figuring that out takes time. Which members of the team work together well under the varying conditions you can expect or that unexpectedly are in place?

A 1-1 tie against Man City nearing the end one of the most difficult early schedules in the Premier League while we’re sorting that out? Whatever Mikel does at this time, I’m with him. While Social Media and football commentators try their best to get me riled with media’s proven strategies to rile, I am capable of resisting.

Because, remember, as I have sworn so many times to the Arsenal web site, I’m not a robot.

Singing the New Songs

Image Amy O2 Comments

People sometimes ask me how I came to love the Arsenal. The answer is I started watching them….and something spoke to me. I’ve heard someone describe picking a team as akin to a “sorting hat,” a la Hogswarts. The beauty of play was special, and I was fairly quickly sorted. Never to be unsorted. At […]