002 - OK Computer

The football gods appear to have been kinder to the likes of Michael Carrick than myself this week as I was hoping to write this off the back of another clean sheet in Europe... But to be honest I'm quite comfortable with pretending that last night's second half didn't really happen. 

William Saliba is the best defender in world football but he’s probably not the best defender at our football club… Try and work that one out? When we learned that we would be without his services for an extended period of time with the potential of back surgery being whispered in the background, it felt as though it might be the end of the world... Everything hurts a little more in the summertime. The absence of a player of his calibre from our starting XI felt catastrophic for our ambitions this season. Mikel Arteta was questioned in his press conference before the Slavia Prague game about the delicacy of his recovery following his return to full training on Monday and atypically volunteered all of the information regarding his availability. All. Of. It. 

 

“He feels very comfortable. He played 45 minutes behind closed doors last week and he feels ready to go now. So whether we use him or not now is a matter of what the team needs. Now you are in, or not. And now he’s in and he’s in like anyone else. All the preparation has been done to measure all the load and all the steps he had to do to minimise that risk. Now he’s in a really good place. He’s built the capacity of what is needed and now it’s about giving him minutes. A centre back normally has to be available for 90 minutes and that’s why all the preparation that we’ve done to build him (up to this place).”

The timing of such an announcement has caused me some angst, particularly with the international break fast approaching. We cannot allow a scenario to develop where the idea of him joining up with France next week is at all plausible. To be honest, I was hoping that Saliba’s involvement around the squad this week would merely focus on pick-pocketing activity rather than elite level sporting participation but as we sit here now, I don't think we could comfortably rule out some minutes vs. Hull City on Saturday. This week's training pictures will be indicative of whether this has real potential from how well groomed the Frenchman is... He looks a tad overdue a trip to his barber. Keep us posted Stuart.

Somehow we have arrived in November having lost just 1 football match in real time, which came away from home against Brighton, at the hands of the baddy Fabian Hurzeler, whose barnet also requires immediate attention, by the way. In the context of our season so far, that result looks more like it can be filed under "a bad day at the office" (story of my life) against top Premier League opposition, which I suppose is acceptable. Full credit to Brighton & Hurzeler, they are a serious outfit.

Despite Saliba's absence, much of our success so far this season can be attributed to the continued competence of our defence. 9 clean sheets out of 16 in all competitions. Ezri Konsa covering at RCB has felt seamless. Albeit during the summer, with our attacking options feeling quite light, there were question marks over whether spending £55m on a 29-year-old centre-half was necessary, especially with the promising young Cristhian Mosquera available. With the gift of hindsight, the decision to move forward with this deal has aged excellently. Mikel Arteta currently has the luxury of 9 (healthy) quality players at his disposal for his back 4. It's all about availability, man. I asked the computer how many variations of a back four these players could make up whilst remaining in their positions and you won't believe the answer it spat out. This must be one of those wild dreams Mikel has spoken of.

Fingers crossed for Saturday. COYG.