Campione, campione, olé, olé, olé! I could get used to this trophy winning business at Arsenal.
A blog post a day earlier than I committed to. Aren’t you lucky? How could I wait after such a monumental victory?
Yes, yes. It’s only the Community Shield. If you win it, it’s a trophy that counts, if you don’t, it’s just a glorified friendly. But – it is equivalent to the UEFA Super Cup in that it’s the “best two teams in a country/continent” up against each other.
And look – anyone taking the piss out of the Community Shield – my belief is it’s harder to win the Community Shield than it is to win something like the Carabao Cup. Do you know why? Because you have to be champions to be in with a chance to win it.
Anyway – truth of the matter is I didn’t watch the game live. I’m currently sitting in Cornwall with the family. Mrs OddFather is 6 months pregnant with our third child. And I’m wise enough to know to pick my battles in when to argue with her and when to stay silent.
It’s somewhat of a tradition that I don’t watch the Community Shield finals live since Arteta took over. This isn’t a conscious decision, it just so happens I’ve had conflicts when we’re in the finals.
The last time round I had committed to paint our newly extended bedroom. In fact – in 2023 Mrs OddFather was pregnant with the OddSon too.
So, I guess I was wise enough to know when not to argue with my pregnant wife.
If I’m coming across as someone that is scared of his pregnant wife – let me tell you…
I am.
On the flip side, if Arsenal are having a Community Shield drought – all I have to do is get my wife pregnant again. See the commitment, people?
Anyway – having seen the short highlights of the game, I have to say this was an impressive performance by the lads. It did get a little worrying during some of the earlier preseason games in that the performance levels weren’t quite there. But maybe it was just about you know… getting minutes into players’ legs to ease them into the ACTUAL season?
Odegaard playing at a level close to a couple of years ago is great to see. He had a pretty decent World Cup, now he just needs to maintain this level and not get injured.
I also am really liking Tzolis on the left. Two assists in this game is nothing to be sniffed at. Who knows, maybe he’ll prove to be every bit as good as a player you might pay north of £120mil on?
It’s interesting Martinelli and Nwaneri were not in the match day squad. And Jesus, but that ship has sailed.
I’m surprised by the Martinelli omission. It would be different had we had a replacement, but as positive as Tzolis has been, we are lacking on the left wing, and until we don’t get another body in we surely can’t be getting rid of Martinelli. Unless we’re close to doing something that hasn’t been reported yet?
As for Nwaneri. This saddens me. Like every other Arsenal fan, I really want him to breakthrough properly at Arsenal. The last game against Como I thought he looked good. Could we not just find a good loan for him somewhere?
Are we really in a position where we’re being forced to get rid of our young talent? If we are to get rid, I would want us to profit at least £50mil on Nwaneri. When you look at some of the other ridiculous figures being payed for lesser players in the premier league, we have to at the very least not get ripped off.
Don’t get me started on the whole MLS stuff. Hopefully the great assist in the first minute today knocked some sense into whoever was toying with the idea to get rid of him.
The new Premier League season kicks off on Friday. I’ll try and see if I can make time for a quick bonus predictions piece before that game.
For now, we are champions… again. And the Captain America shield is ours once again.
