Martin Odegaard kicked by small man

Morning.

Let’s start today by reminding everyone what a thunderous little prick Bernardo Silva is. I’m sure many of you haven’t forgotten, but just in case a busy work life and the trials and tribulations of this world on a day to day basis have gotten in the way, I’m here to help.

Norway played Portugal last night, and Silva was guilty of a nasty foul on Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard. He kicked him after the ball had been played, it wasn’t just a bit late, it was deliberate and snide. Odegaard, as you might expect, did not appreciate it one bit, and his reaction told you plenty. Because of the kind of player he is, he’s a guy who gets kicked quite often, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen him take umbrage to a challenge in the same way previously.

That’s because it’s not a challenge, I suppose. He wasn’t trying to win the ball, he was trying to hurt an opposition player which, unfortunately, seems to have worked. I’ve seen various reports that Odegaard was limping at the end, and you’ll remember it was on international duty around this time two years ago that another bad tackle saw him pick up an ankle injury that really impacted his season.

I think we can all live with, if not necessarily appreciate, a player getting hurt when two guys are going for the ball and one is a bit late. It happens, it’s split-second stuff at times, but at least there’s generally an honest attempt to win it. We know when someone’s late on purpose, we know when they go in a bit too hard, but at least if the ball is there you can typically accept as part of the game.

This was not that, however. Maybe Silva was a bit crotchety, frustrated by the fact everything he ‘achieved’ at Man City is now viewed through the prism of their industrial scale cheating, but it felt a bit personal too. Kicking out at the Arsenal captain, the player who lifted the Premier League trophy last season after they finished second. There’s been no love lost between the teams down the years, so it’s hard not to draw the line between that and what happened last night.

To be fair, this isn’t a new development. He’s always had that nasty side to his game, and even in the World Cup this summer he was at it. From my blog on July 7th:

Merino’s first involvement was to get clattered by Bernardo Silva who just jumped into the Arsenal man shoulders first and looked astonished to get a yellow card, because he typically gets away with that stuff in the Premier League.

Portugal did have a late chance when Bernardo Silva headed over, then started some aggro with his very recent former teammate Rodri, which was lovely to see. He’s so perpetually irritating he should have ‘Chlamydia’ on the back of his shirt.

Anyway, let’s hope it’s just a sore one for Odegaard and nothing more serious, and let’s not forget that Arsenal host Real Madrid in December. The Arsenal skipper certainly won’t forget, and I’m sure there are teammates who won’t have appreciated Silva’s kick either. In the meantime, I hope he steps on a stray piece of Lego every time he gets up in the middle of the night to take a leak, and his role at Madrid becomes so peripheral he is the guy Jose Mourinho asks to carry his printer to away games. The little twat.

—

Beyond that, I just wanted to take a moment to point you in the direction of the newly update Arseblog apps for iOS and Android. There’s been a major overhaul, with lots of new features including:

• A new matchday centre for all teams, with stats, line-ups, notifications for key events (goals, cards etc)
• Offline reading
• Improved podcast player
• The option to choose news categories
• Patreon integration, so you can sign in and listen to all Patreon content in the app
• System font matching
• And lots more, with new features to come as the season goes on

The matchday page will also have a big button for the ‘traditional’ Arseblog live blog too, so you’ll see that on the day of the games, don’t worry. As ever, the apps are free, and we don’t collect any personal data (although you can share usage anonymously which helps us fix bugs and implement new features), so if you fancy the update, you can go get it now.

iOS – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/arseblog/id369606006

Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.milkbarstudios.arseblog

—

So that’s just about that for this morning. James and I recorded the Arsecast Extra yesterday, and as you might imagine it was dominated by the big story of the weekend, Man City’s cheating and being found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges. If you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, the podcast is below.

For now, have a good one folks.

Download – iTunes – Spotify – Acast – RSS

The post Martin Odegaard kicked by small man appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.