The Warm-Up: Arsenal are fun/not depressing to watch again
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Updated 23/10/2018 at 08:49 GMT
Plus Ronaldo returns to Manchester United in some rather different circumstances, and a former colleague shows his colours
Arsenal's German midfielder Mesut Ozil (L) celebrates with Arsenal's French striker Alexandre Lacazette after scoring their first goal during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
They’ve got their Arsenal back
The glory days have returned. Or at least the fun days. Or at least the ‘not crushingly disappointing, grim and depressing days’. Arsenal extended their fairly remarkable winning run to ten games in all competitions with a 3-1 defeat of Leicester which had its hairy moments, not least going behind to a Hector Bellerin own-goal and Rob Holding getting away with a handball in the penalty area, but for most of the second half at least was as delcious display of attacking football. The sort these fans frankly haven’t seen for a while.
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Arsenal's Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (L) celebrates with teammates after scoring their third goal during the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Leicester City at the Emirates Stadium in London on October 22, 2018
Image credit: Getty Images
Their second and third goals in particular, finished off by Pierre Emerick Aubameyang but the result of brilliant team moves, were a joy, but it was the performance of Mesut Ozil that particularly dazzled. The German’ position in Unai Emery’s brave new Arsenal might have occasionally looked a little shaky, left behind by the dynamism of others, but if he keeps playing like this then he’ll be integral to the side.
So 10 wins on the bounce, which could very well be extended to 13 when you consider their next three games are against Sporting in the Europa League, Crystal Palace in the Premier League and Blackpool in the Carabao Cup. This is still a work in progress, and they haven’t quite got the glory days back at Arsenal, but they’re getting closer.
Ronaldo returns, but how will he be greeted?
When Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Manchester United a few years ago with Real Madrid, he was broadly treated with the embarrassingly cloying welcome of a local dignitary allowed to keep his shoes on for dinner and invited to use the fancy towels. The PA announcer described the man who would ultimately knock United out of the Champions League as “the magnificent No.7”, rather than an opponent.
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Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United-Juventus press conference - Champions League 2018/2019 - Getty Images
Image credit: Getty Images
It will be absolutely fascinating to see how he’s received tonight, when he goes back to Old Trafford with Juventus, with allegations of rape hanging over him. Will the United crowd still regard this man as a returning hero and give him the requisite ovation, or will they at least acknowledge that this is a man accused of a desperately serious crime and accept that raucous applause might not be entirely appropriate?
Ronaldo himself was fairly certain about which way he thinks it should go:
I know I am an example. I know, 100%. On the pitch and outside the pitch. So I am always smiling, I am happy man, I’m blessed that I play in a fantastic club. I have a fantastic family, I have four kids, I am healthy. I have everything. So the rest, it doesn’t interfere on me. I’m very, very well… My lawyers, they are confident and of course I am, too. The most important is I enjoy the football, I enjoy my life. The rest, I have people who take care of my life. Of course, the truth is always coming in the first position [eventually]. So, I’m good.
Beyond this, there’s quite a big football match to consider. These two games against Juventus may go some way to deciding Jose Mourinho’s future as United manager: lose them both and his position is even weaker than it is at the moment. Plus, on a more basic level, this is an old-fashioned Champions League event, two giants of the game hammering each other on a chilly October evening. With a little luck, it should be a blinder.
Bolt from the blue
Congratulations to Usain Bolt for getting a contract offer from the in no way cravenly publicity-seeking Central Coast Mariners! Or, well, sort of. He hasn’t really got a contract offer. And apparently wants $3million, and the offer was $150,000. We’d describe the two sides being ‘some way apart’ in negoatiations.
“To ensure that there is no distraction to the Hyundai A-League squad in preparing for this weekend’s match versus Melbourne City, Usain Bolt will not attend team training this week, until and if, the club and Usain Bolt can agree to terms and formalise an arrangement,” the Mariners said in a statement.
What an entirely embarrassing farce. To involve a sprinter with little to no serious footballing ability in a publicity stunt like this then innocently claim they don’t want to distract from the serious business of football is at best laughable. They’ve got their PR, well done. Just don’t insult the intelligence of everyone else by suggesting it was anything other than that.
HEROES AND ZEROS
Hero: Leonardo Bonucci
The Juventus stopper gave an interview to the Daily Telegraph, and his answer about how he views defending is exactly what you think it would have been.
Defending is definitely an art […] I defend my goal as if it were my home. I do my best to defend it and not to allow anyone to score goals or penetrate that. It’s true. Defence for me is so important because I do not want anyone to trespass and invade my property because that goal is my property.
Zero: Sergio Ramos
The Warm-Up often thinks we’ve lost our sense of humour about Sergio Ramos: everyone seems to think he’s a wind-up legend, the sort of heroic character who’s an expert at getting under people’s skins and should be lauded for it. But in reality he’s a snide little bully, something displayed by an incident during Real Madrid training on Monday.
In what looks like a ball-keeping exercise, youngster Sergio Regulion accidentally brushed against Ramos’s nose, the sort of incident that as a seasoned veteran and captain of the biggest club in the world, you might expect Ramos to brush off and not victimise a 21-year-old kid over. But instead, Ramos picks on Regulion, booting a ball at him a few times, singling him out in front of the rest of the squad. The behaviour, in short, of a bully not used to not getting his own way. What a legend! Everyone loves Sergio Ramos!
HAT TIP
They’d been there for a while when the call came through to tell them they were standing in the wrong place. Raphaël Varane’s handball had actually been in the area, VAR decided, so instead of a free-kick it was a penalty, which was why just 14 minutes into this weekend’s opening game, Levante were 2-0 up at the Bernabéu, Real Madrid heading for another defeat and Roger Martí heading for the south-west corner, celebrating. On the opposite touchline Madrid’s manager stood motionless, hands in his pockets, gone. A few rows above, someone tapped the president on the shoulder and gave him a phone. Florentino Pérez took it, looked at the screen, lifted it to his ear, and a million memes were born: bring me the head of Julen Lopetegui.
Still, perhaps Sergio was distracted by the furore surrounding his manager, who it seems is not too far away from the sack. Sid Lowe sums up the situation nicely for the Guardian.
RETRO CORNER
Manchester United and Juventus’s most famous encounters were in the 1990s in the Champions League, but the first time they faced each other competitively was in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup. Here’s the second leg, won by Juve, featuring some outrageous necklines and chest hair.
COMING UP
The chaaaaaaaaaaaamppppiooooooooons. If United v Juve doesn’t excite, then there’s always the latest installment of the Real Madrid drama – if they don’t beat Victoria Plzen, then Lopetegui will find himself being flushed down a trap door he hadn’t previously known was there in Florentino Perez’s office. Plus Manchester City face Shakhtar Donetsk, it’s Hoffenheim v Lyon and Ajax v Benfica. Alternatively, there is some piping hot Football League action, if you like your football gritty.
Tomorrow’s Warm-Up will be brought to you by the always gritty Alex Chick's replacement - as he is on holiday.
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