Three subjects on the agenda today: Arsenal 3 Lille 0, the death of the wonderful Ken Friar OBE... and a bit more on the elephant in the room; Manchester City.
An ultimately comfortable win was achieved against a somewhat limited Lille side - here's my very short On The Whistle post-game video https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PEZsBjvSd1w - but it did take a while for Arsenal to click into gear. Fair enough, one might think, when Mikel makes 5 personnel and two positional changes - and whilst there was little cause for alarm at any point, it didn't make for the most interesting of viewing early on. In fact, as I said to my next door neighbour Sam halfway through the half: 'I'm Bored'.
Once Arsenal had got fully to grips with the opposition - it probably took 20 minutes - it was only a matter of time before their superiority shone through. As we often see from this team, to be honest. But there are nonetheless a few quick points worth making.
Firstly, MLS back at left back. With Arteta choosing to rest Calafiori, and with Hincapie out for up to a month, this seemed to be a wise move. Not that he spent that much time at left back, however...
Secondly, with Zubimendi - who would surely have started this game - also out we saw Bruno partnering Rice in central midfield. The Brazilian is more dynamic than the alternatives in the role, but it does feel a little less solid to my eyes. I'd add, by the way, that some of Bruno's histrionics and attempts to whip the crowd up were a little juvenile in my humble opinion (probably trying to endear himself to the Emirates crowd following years in the role of the pantomime villain at Newcastle, perhaps?).
Up ahead, there was a very unfamiliar look to the Arsenal attack. Gyokeres down the middle, of course - and once more rarely involved, unfortunately - and then Merino in the 8/10 position but not particularly influential, Madueke on the right and Eze on the left. These latter two roles bear some discussion.
Whereas Good Noni made an appearance on the left hand side on Saturday, it was Bad Noni on the right this time round. He struggled all evening to beat his man on the outside, and his crossing was frankly dismal - like a man with a club foot, there was little finesse and most were overhit. Nonetheless, he did make the assist for Timber's opening goal with a nice little reverse pass - but that was his only contribution of worth all night.
Eze is another not really suited to the role he was asked to play. Whilst he did go on the outside of his full back a couple of times, it is very clear that he prefers to operate more in the interior. I would personally prefer to see him in a kind of inside left role, but there's only room for one inside forward at a time, and Odegaard has got that sewn up. To be fair, they are entirely different types of player. Eze's goal - like most in his Arsenal career - was scored from a very central position. There is certainly a lack of like-for-like alternatives to our normal starters.
All the fun in the game occurred in the middle of the second half. As Arteta was beginning to panic and lining up his crack troops - my wife had asked me 5 minutes prior who I suspected the substitutes might be, and I'm not claiming it to be rocket science to have responded 'Odegaard, Saka and Havertz' - Timber's exquisite clip over the Lille goalkeeper (who was very much a Kepa lookalike, I thought, by the way... but I digress) found the back of the net.
But Mikel went through with his changes, and 7 minutes later key contributions from Saka and Havertz had helped convert the lead to 3-0 (a scoreline, by the way, that I had guaranteed to my son at half time). Game well and truly over - and all of interest that remained was to see Max Dowman's 10-minute cameo at the end.
We did - of course - see the return of 40-year-old Olivier Giroud to Emirates Stadium. He got a standing ovation from the crowd but I - a bearer of grudges - did not leave my seat. I won't forget his derogatory comparisons of Arsenal and Chelsea of a few years ago in a hurry. Anyway, he contributed nothing of significance to the game; apart from raising the handsomeness levels.
So no goals conceded, and 6 points from 6 for last year's finalists. That's 14 successive group stage wins for Arsenal over three seasons now. Whether that sequence continues next week is a moot point, because it's Bayern Munchen away; a proper test. They'll be without Olise, however - sent off for an act of petulance in a somewhat shocking 3-3 draw in Stavanger. And that is cause for optimism.
Moving on; and I'd like to take this opportunity to express my sadness at the passing of Arsenal stalwart Ken Friar OBE. Mr Friar worked at Arsenal from 1946 - when he started as a messenger boy - until he finally retired just a few years ago. He worked his way up from a role in the box office to become Company Secretary in 1973, and took over as Managing Director in 1983. I guess that his key role at the club was the work he did to help facilitate the move to the new stadium; he did an excellent job at that.
He finally retired after over 70 years at the club in 2020, became Life President of the club, had one of the bridge approaches named in his honour - the Ken Friar Bridge - and a statue was also unveiled on the stadium's outer concourse in his honour. Verily, a true Mr Arsenal, and his contribution to the club cannot be underestimated. Farewell, Mr Friar. In your own way, you have left a legacy as big as Arsene Wenger did.
Finally, a few more thoughts on Manchester City. I've been giving a bit more thought as to how I felt watching them play on Sunday. And it left me cold, frankly. The behaviour of the players is almost as reprehensible as that of their Board. Shameless, and with no self-awareness. The more I think about it, the more I'd like to see them expelled from the Premier League. Not once their appeal is concluded, but right now! I have no idea what we are watching, or why. They are surely finished; and we all need to be put out of our misery as soon as possible. A 19-team division would be preferable to this.
What I cannot understand is why the punishment has not already been announced. When the likes of Everton and Nottingham Forest were punished - for relatively tiny lapses - points deductions were announced immediately; not following the appeal. So why are the biggest cheats in football history afforded different treatment? Plus - and I have no idea if this is actually true - if they had been made aware if the verdict over the summer, as is now rumoured, why the hell were they allowed to spend a further £450m on players by the league?
The sooner this is over, the better. For all of football. It's nauseating.
Anyway, Arsenal move on to Nottingham on Sunday (with Michael Oliver named as referee; are ProREF taking the p*ss?), and then Munich next week. Let's hope we see momentum continue to build. COYG!
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