Last night in Madrid, Arsenal took another tentative step towards their first ever Champions League/European Cup title. Yes it should have been better, but when you’ve watched football as long as I have and followed the Arsenal through thick and thin, you know that these things happen. There is not doubt that it was not a ‘clear and obvious error’ from the Dutch ref and for whatever reason VAR refereed the match. The sooner a 30 second timer is put on reviews the better.
A match every three or four days for both teams
Maybe I will feel a little less sanguine if things don’t go our way on Tuesday night, but for now all eyes move to 1730 on Saturday and Fulham in the League. All of which means that by the time City turn out against Everton on Monday evening, we would have played three times since they left the Wembley turf! Now I’m fully aware that this it what success brings and if we had been a little more focussed against Southampton in the Cup, it would have been a lot worse. Also, in the spirit of fairness, although City are currently on a rather pleasant eight day break, the Everton game is the start of a run of six matches in 20 days.
Not forgetting the International matches
Now throw in the International matches that most of our players have also to turn out for and you are looking at a season of up to 70 potential games – then the World Cup starts!! So when your nation of birth or choice plays in 30 degrees heat and 99% humidity, you need to bear in mind what there bodies have been put through. Can you really expect Declan to perform like a horse in every match or big Gabi and Wilo to be able to focus their minds for another six weeks? I don’t and nor do I think that they should they have to. Sadly I see this already bloated tournament being cluttered with poor, slow matches and some of the European giants falling at unexpectedly early stages.
And then just 33 days after the WC Final, guess what? The new Premier League season begins!