Is it safe to come out? Did every Arsenal player make it out in one piece?

It sounds like it to me. Even in the early hours of the morning with the Brazil game, mercifully Big Gabi and Martinelli were both unused subs, as the Selecao went on to lose 1-0 away to Bolivia. That sounds like a bit of a shocking result but when you realise that Bolivia play their national team games ay one of the highest altitudes in the world (13,000+feet – that’s just over three Ben Nevis’  by the way) you can understand why they get a bit of an advantage over their opponents. The air is thinner and so you can see why, in an elite sporting match, Brazil might have suffered a bit. I read somewhere that FIFA banned playing in stadiums above a certain altitude, but clearly that rule has gone out the window here.

Anyway, neither of the Gabi’s played and hopefully they are already making their way back to London’s altitude, which is around 80 feet in altitude, thank you very much (they’ll be saying). And whilst they might not have had the most fun time with their national team, it seems most of the other boys did, eh? Odegaard for starters, was part of a record-breaking 11-1 win of Norway over Moldova and it is games like that which, if you’re the Moldovan manager, you kind of just want to have a towel you can throw on to the pitch to end it. Odegaard bagged a goal, got a couple of assists, made plenty of progressive passes, won many duels (Arteta will be happy) and by the sounds of it had a lovely ol’ time.

As did the England boys. Declan Rice put in a man-of-the-match performance with general assured play, he bagged two assists, he was all over the pitch in both an attacking and defensive sense and bossed the midfield overall. There was no MLS or Eze, but to me that isn’t a problem because it means they should be fine and fresh for Forest at the weekend. There was another start for Madueke though and he once again put in a very assured play, capping it off with also a very good run and finish to double England’s lead in the first half. I’ll level with you, I watched the game last night, but my reasons were purely Arsenal related; I was interested to see which of our England lads would get on the pitch and how they would get on. And from what I saw, you have to be pleased, because not only did they both play well, but I think the confidence-booster that it will give both Rice and Madueke will be really valuable for us in the coming months. Remember this time last year? Rice was coming off the back of a somewhat disappointing Euro’s, there was some suggestions he wasn’t fully fit, which also impacted his start to last season if you remember. This season he looks fit, he’s playing well and a game like yesterday evening for his national side will have done him the world of good. Then, on that right wing, we have ourselves a guy in Madueke who has bagged a very tidy goal indeed. It was a good run, it was clever to make sure he got in front of the defender and then the chip over the ‘keeper was smart. What I watched with Noni last night was a guy constantly wanting to give the ball and spin his man. Then, when he wasn’t doing that, he wanted the ball to his feet so he could run at his full back. With Saka out as we know right now, we need a guy who is going ‘do numbers’ as the kids say and Madueke has already shown in these early stages that he is going to work hard to impress in both an Arsenal and an England shirt.

And I think as fans that is all we ask for. I didn’t want Madueke. I made that clear on here and podcasts. But the second he walks through the doors at Colney or The Emirates, he’s one of ours and all we want is for him to thrive. I was sceptical about how that would happen, but with Saka’s injury happening so quickly into the season, it has given Noni the opportunity to get minutes on his favoured right hand side position. That will do wonders for his confidence and much like I’ve heard a few podcasters suggest that Gyokeres getting a run in the team without having to ‘take’ the shirt off Havertz by putting in impressive cameos, maybe the same is true with noni that he knows he has a few weeks to get a few games under his belt and if he performs well then the initial fan scepticism of people like me will very quickly dissipate. It already is with displays like that one at Anfield and for England last night and if he can follow up that display with another good one on Saturday in front of the Arsenal crowd, then I think by the time October rolls around you won’t have many questioning the fee, the attitude or the ability of our new Gunner.

Finally for today, a shout out to a happy Piero Hincapie, who will be pleased with Ecuador’s 1-0 win over Argetina, despite losing Caicedo on 50 minutes to a second yellow card. Mind you, Argentina were also down to 10 men, and for earlier in the game as Ottamendi was sent off, so you have to take that into account when looking at the numbers from the game. Hincapie played in at left back of a four and played the whole 90, so my assumption is he’s good heading home in good nick. And so, it seems, are the Ecuadorians, who move up to second with that win on 29 points, although they are still a solid nine points off Argentina in the extended group table that they do in South America.

So that’s it. We are free of these internationals and can now look ahead to a reunion with our old ‘mate’ Big Ange. I really hope there isn’t a new manager bounce that goes on, as there always seems to be against us, but I’ll do a bit more on that tomorrow I think. Until then, have a good’un.