Arseblog … an Arsenal blog

Morning.

First up, well done to Arsenal Women who beat Rangers 6-0 in their Champions League qualifier last night. Caitlin Foord went full Arshavin and scored four, but this time in a game we didn’t let the opposition score the same amount. That was always the trick, you see.

Next up Rosenborg on Saturday, and if we win that we go into a two legged playoff to get into the group stage – the opposition for that will be drawn on Monday (thanks Tim!). You’ll find the match report, goal clips, and post-match reaction over on our dedicated Arsenal Women section on Arseblog News.

Elsewhere, five Arsenal players have been nominated for the Ballon D’Or this year. New signing Mariona Caldentey has been given the nod for the women’s award, while Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice, and William Saliba are up for the men. I guess the recognition is nice for them, but I’m not really a fan of individual awards in team games – beyond the ones you achieve on merit like being top goalscorer, most clean sheets etc. Those are based on performance.

The Ballon D’Or is chosen by a panel of journalists, restricted to the top 100 countries from the FIFA men’s world ranking (men), and the top 50 countries from the women’s world ranking (women, obvs!). Now, without wanting to denigrate an entire profession because that would be silly, there are some very good football journalists, and some not so good ones. That is true the world over. You don’t need examples from me, but suffice to say there are some people’s whose vote I wouldn’t pay much attention to.

Also, I don’t know know how anyone can take the Ballon D’Or seriously when Pavel Nedved was voted the winner ahead of Thierry Henry in 2003. That’s like Fabio Vieira being voted the World’s Strongest Man ahead of that gigantic Icelandic bloke who looks like he’s made out of boulders, or Fletch from TNT Sport winning commentator of the year ahead of literally anyone else in the world who could make even a mild grunting sound into a microphone.

Ok, Nedved was a good player, you can’t deny that, but was he better than Thierry Henry in 2003? The answer, of course, is no – because I don’t think there was anyone better than him at that point. While stats don’t tell you everything, he had 32 goals and 25 assists in 55 appearances to his name in the 2002-03 season, one which should have seen us retain the title, but then that Bolton game and then Mark goddam Viduka happened and … too soon, too soon, I know.

Meanwhile, Nedved produced a very average 14 goals and 11 assists in 46 games for Juventus who won Serie A (big deal, they were cheating all over the place as the Calciopoli scandal revealed and they were subsequently relegated), and lost the Champions League final to AC Milan. He didn’t even play in that game, I think he was suspended, and as I sit here writing this morning it seems clear that the whole thing was rigged. Just like so many Juventus wins down the years.

Is that harsh? Possibly, but then I’m still not over the Liam Brady thing, so it all balances out in the end. Dear Lord, what a sad little life, Pavel. You ruined Thierry’s night, completely, so you could have the trophy, but I hope now you spend some time getting some lessons in grace and decorum because you have all the grace of a reversing dump truck without any tyres on.

And so on.

Right, I’m gonna leave it there for this morning. We will probably have an Arsecast for you a bit later on, but for now, have a good one.