I’m as miserable as the best of them in the aftermath of an Arsenal defeat.
I agonise, rationalise and sympathise until I’m thoroughly sick of it, until I can no longer stand to think about it anymore, I just want to switch off from football entirely and never have to think about it again (or at least until the following weekend).
I don’t want Arsenal to lose games, it’s annoying and irritating and uncomfortable. I’d rather than won everything there was to win, all the time and every season.
BUT
In 2025, football is almost non-stop. There is barely a weekday that goes by that doesn’t feature some sort of game in some sort of competition. If it’s not the Premier League, it’s the Carabao Cup, or the FA Cup, or the Champions League, or the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.
The point is, there’s a ridiculous amount of football to be played these days and only so much focus you can give to each. Given our injury record and our quite incredible run of bad luck, could we do with a little rest now and then? Could we do without an extra game on a cold Tuesday night in deepest, darkest November, sandwiched between a big six Premier League tie and a Champions League double-header?
Yes, I think we could.
With tomorrow’s game in mind, do I think it would be awkward and embarrassing if we went out? No question. Would I care for days and weeks on end? No, I would not.
I’m not willing us to lose, I never would, but I would not be averse to the manager fielding an XI entirely made up of youth team up-and-comers. Let the rising stars of our academy test themselves against Port Vale, give them free reign to play and impress. Goodness, it would even be great to see Miles Lewis Skelly, Max Dowman and Ethan Nwaneri let loose for a good run out. I think they could really do the business.
But do I think we need to see Bukayo Saka or Declan Rice line up tomorrow night? No way. If that means we risk an almighty upset then so be it. We have bigger concerns and bigger games to come.
A trophy would be nice, of course, but our focus needs to be elsewhere at the moment, particularly as the games start to come thick and fast.
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