230217 Raven Newsletter

February 17, 2023

HAIL GFOP!

I type with fingers filled with a giddy anticipation about how this finely-poised Premier League season will tilt next. Will our young protagonists, Arsenal continue to stall out after suffering through the trials of four games without a victory? All their momentum, joy, and belief now seem to be spilled in a puddle on the floor. One point in nine will do that to you. Manchester City are in full “Empire Strikes Back” mode. Erling Haaland seems less a footballer, more Pep Guardiola’s Angel of Vengeance. A Dark Destroyer who has blasted 26 goals in only 22 Premier League games. You bookworms will be familiar with the emotions we are all experiencing. This Premier League title race is a page-turning novel we simply do not want to put down, even though we have to wake up early in the morning. And might Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United be that character introduced mysteriously halfway through the book who might upturn the whole plot structure? Only the 2 Robbies know for sure.  

One beautiful piece I loved making this week. My interview with the truly magical Daryl Dike which is part of American States United, Presented by ESPN+. An hour sitdown with the USMNT and West Brom striker, a proven goalscorer and a lovely human being who has lived a lot of life over the past year. This is an incredibly human interview in which Daryl opens up about the mental challenges of being injured, watching the World Cup as a fan, and becoming EA Sports FIFA's strongest player. ENTIRE EPISODE HERE. Will also be up on our YouTube imminently. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

II. To the Football

i. Aston Villa vs. Arsenal (Saturday, 7.30 AM ET, USA)

I am old enough to remember when Arsenal had a seven point gap at the top of the table. Winners of the first half of the season, as they dropped just seven points in the process, they have seen eight points dropped, or “stolen” from them, in the first three games of this cruel, cruel second half.  

Even in darkness, there is light. The searing agony of the Manchester City beatdown served to highlight the gap in quality and depth of squads. But it also reinforced a sense of just how impressive the job Arteta has done is, defying the truth that in football, bottom line finances correlate almost perfectly to final position. What are we witnessing? A mere blip in the season or the achingly sad sight and sound of a bubble bursting? The beginning of an impossible-to-stop Correction? Arteta is attempting to channel defiance, proclaiming, "Psychologically, there is a marathon. I said that months ago. So, psychologically, there should only be tomorrow."

More: Are Arsenal out of Steam as Financial Gravity brings them down?

Also: Inside Emi Martinez’s plan to become Best Goalkeeper in World.

ii. Nottingham Forest vs. Manchester City (Saturday, 10 AM ET, P’Cock)

The Empire Strikes Back. Suddenly imperious City’s 11th straight Premier League victory over Arsenal restored them to their rightful seat on football’s sweaty Iron Throne, albeit just by goal difference, having played an extra game. They will take the field with Arsenal having already played/slipped up as Pep circles the wagons around the serious task of landing a fifth title in six years. Forest, hoping for a City hangover, will be no mere speed bump. Those Tricky Trees are unbeaten in seven league games at home and the noise by the River Trent will be vaguely audible all around the world. (See my friend Ariel Helwani’s terrific interview with Brennan Johnson).

iii. Manchester United vs. Leicester City (Sunday, 9 AM ET, USA)

After surviving the Nou Camp yesterday, Ten Hag and United have now won 12 and lost just one of their last 16 games. The games keep coming at buzzsaw pace. This clash is followed by the home leg against Barcelona Thursday, then the weekend march up towards Wembley where six long years of trophy famine could be brought to an end against Newcastle in Carabao action. Revel in Lord Rashford’s latest goal. 22 goals in 35 games in all competitions. 14 goals in his last 16 games. As potent as we had all dreamed he could be. Good things can happen to great people. 

More: Chaos churning below surface of United sale as Qatar and the Glazers collide. Today is the “soft deadline for bid.” More here.

iv. Chelsea vs. Southampton (Saturday, 10 AM ET, P’Cock)

One team have no manager. The other is led by a gent who desperately needs to prove his hand is vaguely on the rudder. Graham Potter lurches back from Wednesday’s blunt defeat in Dortmund in which they dominated often, dazzled occasionally, but fell apart in the final third. Essentially an expensive version of Potter’s Brighton. Worth taking a moment to marvel at Dortmund’s winner courtesy of Adeyemi’s scintillating counter attack blur of speed. 

v. Newcastle vs. Liverpool (Saturday, 12.30 PM ET, NBC Proper)

Newcastle have lost just once this season, back at the end of August when Liverpool came from behind at the last – Carvalho thrashing home – to clip them. The Toon’s thin, tiring squad will be without Bruno Guimarães, their everything, who is suspended for his third and final game. Their minds will be on next Sunday’s Carabao Cup which they hope will overfloweth. Post-Derby win, Liverpool will have Virgil van Dijk available and will be telling themselves, “Gakpo scored, Klopp fist-pumped and we finally took three points,” but they will also be utterly aware, Anthony Gordon’s Newcastle will be a much sterner test than Anthony Gordon-less Everton.

vi. Tottenham vs. West Ham (Sunday, 11.30 AM ET, USA)

Antonio Conte remains in Italy. His team’s drab form, drawing a blank in Milan, may have persuaded him to rest up properly after that shattering gallbladder surgery. His assistant, Cristian Stellini, will seek to build on his 100% record (one game, one win) as his boss’s stand-in. 

vii. Everton vs. Leeds (Saturday, 10 AM ET, USA) 😢😭

Battle of the Sads. Loser should be automatically relegated. Leeds are one point above third-from-bottom Everton. If interim manager Skubala wins, the job could be his for the rest of the season. Lose, and chaos and panic will descend upon Elland Road where Leeds appear caught between current owners and the impending takeover by the San Francisco 49ers group. Luckily for them, they are playing dank Everton for whom Dominic Calvert-Lewin is out again, so the Blues will not score. Leeds essentially have 90 minutes to see if they can summon the one goal they need to win the game.

More: Full Broadcast Schedule HERE

3. MiB! MiB! MiB! Proudly, The Worst 

i. YouTube is our Wembley: We are dropping a ton of brand new, exclusive content weekly - WATCH ROG'S INTERVIEW WITH MARTIN ØDEGAARD in which the Norwegian wonder reveals the source of his NBA Jump Shot Cele. 

ii. Also this week, the return of the Championnnnnnns, and with it, the return of our European Nights Podcast, Presented by Paramount+ with the one and only Rory Smith, The New York Times Chief Soccer Correspondent. It is so good to be back with Rory – I adore that gent – and it is a total joy to learn from his insights into the world's biggest club football competition. If you missed this week's episode, LISTEN HERE. We're back next week with more, including one for all you Napoli fans. 

iii. Our Pod feed is putting in Tyler Adams levels of work at the moment with new Pods dropping almost every day. If you don't already, SUBSCRIBE HERE, Rate and Review. Just two minutes of your time will help us create more football content. 

iv. Subscribe to our American States United Newsletter. The Big Stories (and deep cuts) about Americans playing their football abroad. Flies every Wednesday. Please spread the word about this beauty so we can do more new projects like this. 🇺🇸🦅

American States UnitedWeekly recaps of our American Men and Women on foreign shores

4. More Football Did Ya Say?

i. Lovely video tribute to Helmut Sonneberg. A Holocaust survivor who rebuilt his life through his fandom of Frankfurt and died last week aged 91. The last line “I want to be buried under the center circle” just gets you. 

ii. How does a manager's baldness impact on his win percentage in the Premier League? Bald Sabermetrics are the best Sabermetrics. Via u/F_redrik on Reddit.

iv. Ted Lasso Returns! Season 3 will premiere on March 15.

5. Canada. Do the Right Thing and Support Your Women Football Players. It’s 2023. This is a Battle you Cannot Win 🇨🇦💪

Last night, the US Women beat Canada 2-0 in the opening game of She Believes with a brace from Mallory Swanson. Revel in her first goal, the instinctual finish of a poacher with peak self-belief. Swanson stole the headlines, but the performer of the night was Andi Sullivan (my friend-in-pod from the Women’s Game) who thrived alongside Lindsey Horan, tearing into opponents with venom and covering ground like American Ngolo. The US will play Japan next on Sunday 3.30 PM ET on TNT.

The game itself was overshadowed by the Canadian players' ongoing battle for equality with their own football federation. Last week, the Olympic Gold Medalists went on strike, but were forced back to action as Canada Soccer threatened to take legal action against them. The men, who had their own fight with the federation ahead of the World Cup, rallied round the women’s demands for the same level of funding and treatment that the men's team (who also had their budget cut for 2023) received last year when it was preparing for the World Cup. The women took the field with their warm-up gear turned inside out, then walked on wearing purple jerseys proclaiming “Enough is Enough.”   

I honestly cannot imagine what it is like as a player to have to fight your own federation – with legal memos and briefs and conference calls off the field – then take the pitch to represent the nation. A surreal reality that must be mentally and physically shattering. I have admired Janine Beckie and the way she has spoken with such honest power this week. “It's pretty disgusting that we're having to ask just to be treated equally,” she said. “It's a fight that women all over the world have to partake in every single day but quite frankly we're really sick of it. And it's something that now I don't even get disappointed by anymore. I just get angry about it. We won the damn Olympic Games and we're about to go to the World Cup with a team who could win.” Christine Sinclair admitted post-game “I think we were just exhausted.” The battle against their own federation off the field did them in on it.  

This was the moment of the night for me, when the US Women, who know what it feels like to fight the grinding battle for equality, joined arms in solidarity with their Canadian opponents. To better days ahead for all.

6. Not Football and All the Better For It

i. The 50 Best Nikes of All Time. This is Nike Tiempo erasure. Top Five football boot.

ii. Let Teenagers Sleep. Producer JW says: As the parent of a two-year-old, I cannot ever imagine being in the phase where I need to be convinced to let my child sleep. 

iii. How to Take a Really Good Bath. Always bring a bottle of water in case of rapid steam-induced dehydration is a lesson I unfortunately learned the hard way.

iv. A Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled. I too would feel deeply unsettled if I found myself using Bing. 

v. The Coolest Caves in the U.S. You Can Actually Visit. Nice to see some good cave PR finally. Been a hard couple years for those guys after the whole [rhymes with shmuhan] debacle. 

vii. US cancer patient developed ‘uncontrollable’ Irish accent, doctors say. Remember when Brad Pitt did that crazy Jamaican patois in Meet Joe Black? No connection really to this story but I probably think about it at least once a day and have never before had as good an excuse to put it in here.

viii. Hobby Club’s Missing Balloon Feared Shot Down By USAF. Would you believe me if I told you this is a plot that comes up in not one but two different Pynchon novels?

ix. Titanic Is Still the Purest Expression of Who James Cameron Is. Can I have insults phrased like compliments for 200 please Alex!!!

x. Lana Del Rey and Billie Eilish Fall in Love. In which we learn (no surprise) that Lana Del Rey is an articulate poet warrior and Billie Eilish is...well...young. 

xi. German ballet director ‘smeared dog feces on critic’s face’ after bad review. "There are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the *new*." - Anton Ego, Ratatouille

xii. Selena Gomez Survived Social Media and, With Her New Music, Is Ready to Leave Darkness Behind. You guys aren't going to like me for saying this but I really think Selena Gomez may be our most undervalued popstar.

xiii. Sometimes the story is about the spies who aren’t there. Feels a lot like something a spy would write idk

That is it this week. I want to thank all of you for your incredible emails and Ravens to [email protected]. We have heard from City fans grappling with the legal challenges to their club and what it could mean to their memories, from Everton fans who are mourning a never-ending darkness, and also letters that put everything into perspective. None more than a letter sent by Rufus Isaacs, a Spurs fan, and Professor at Michigan State University, who wrote from Lansing the day after the tragedy at MSU. Rufus wrote searingly about the darkness which had descended upon his hometown, but also talked beautifully about how “out of this darkness, the football community is already coming together to bring light,” and the role the supporters of Lansing Common FC are playing in reaching out to provide “words of hope, comfort, and love.”  

Rufus’ letter was a reminder of the way football can, in moments of darkness, act as a connector, an energizer, a distraction. He finished by writing wryly that “by watching Tottenham lose to AC Milan in the Champions League, I can already see life returning to some form of normal.” To you Rufus. To all in Lansing with our love. To better days ahead for all.

May football give us strength and let us make great memories together. 

Let’s not take a second for granted.

Big Love,

Courage

ROG