Gabriel Ballon d’Or Martinelli. OKAY, Hear me out. Gabriel Martinelli is not a traditional winger. And he isn’t (yet) a proper striker. What is he then, you ask? He is the same profile as Madrid years Cristiano Ronaldo. CR7 in those years wasn’t a pure winger, but he always started out on the left. He […]
Football, wow! An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective Unapologetic happiness. So rich and carefree that I forgot what inhibitions were. There have been a handful of times in my life that I didn’t care and let loose like I’d just received my 5th Grammy. Pulling over on the way to Albury so I could […]
Creativity, Simplicity and Determination An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective Not quite a game of two halves but we certainly saw two different things. The first 39 minutes were mostly frustrating. Not through lack of effort or an unwillingness to follow instruction. I found them to be risk free. As if we felt that […]
Creation 1 Denial 3 An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective This game was an odd one. It seemed like we were playing ourselves. Leicester are so predictable. Played the same way in the same formation for so long. Coming up against a team that has a smart coach with a smart backroom team killed […]
There is no player in the Arsenal team that has divided opinion during the years more than Xhaka. He joined us in 2016 and there was confusion about what type of player he really was. He took the captain’s armband in 2019 and got stripped of it in the space of a few months. And […]
‘Electricity brings fire’ An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective Even though I haven’t been to the Emirates this season, I’ve started to take for granted that the crowd have become the 12th man. After the game on Sunday I was wondering why it seemed like a beautiful inevitability that we came back from 0-1 […]
Actually, unsurprising An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective A derby is supposed to be where form goes out the window. A different type of event where no excuses are expected. You just show up give your best and win. If you want to go back into your slump afterwards, then fine, but it’s a […]
Well, that was a hugely frustrating match. In fact, frustration is my overwhelming emotion after being held to a goalless draw at home by, let’s not forget, a Champion’s League challenging team, in Newcastle. I am sure we are all frustrated at Newcastle’s footballing approach, which in all honesty, changed completely after we totally dominated […]
‘He wasn’t there’ An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective I’m writing and scrolling through social media at the same time here. Everybody seems to have the same opinion. That we needed somebody from the bench to change the game. Funnily enough I think that this would’ve been only half the solution. Maybe it would’ve […]
An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective by Mike McDonald Would it have been better to have won that game 0-3? Maybe. We would have a better goal difference and the confidence of a clean sheet.. I’d take it for sure. Maybe it’s the coach in me but I think in the long run […]
