Stoke at home is the perfect test for us right now. We know exactly what we're going to get, they're motivated, and we have the opportunity to impress the supporters with a commanding performance in a game everyone should expect us to win easily. Will the Gunners show up? I think so. I'd love for us to throttle the Orcs and run up the score early, so we can pull Mesut and play Lacazette alongside Aubameyang for a while. That said, we could of course do what we did against Brighton or Swansea. A test.
This World Cup in Russia thing has come along at a good time for a grand gesture. England should boycott, and every other nation should join them. It wasn't Qatar-level crazy for Russia to have been awarded these games, but it was thoroughly corrupt. And now we have Putin ordering hits on English soil, one after the other, to include serious injury to UK citizens in the process. That's after his successfully pushing Brexit. What are they waiting for, him to assassinate the Queen? Of course, the key test of such a move would be whether others, especially Germany, supported the UK and not FIFA and the TV networks. You may say it's sour grapes coming from an American (and Italy supporter). But really, did the US, Italy, or England stand a chance of winning the World Cup under any circumstances this year? Germany's the favorite, and here's a chance for them to seize moral leadership of the "Free World" as they used to say. I'm surprised I don't see a movement for this.
I should acknowledge the decision of at least five nations not to send official state representation to the Cup in Russia; that's good. But everyone's still sending teams; that's cowardly.
ReplyDelete