Munchester City v Arsenal. Tongues of fire and blood stretched above, Shivering with fear, I heard the infinite scream « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager

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Making the Arsenal

By Billy the Dog McGraw

Munchester City was created by Edvard Munch, a painter who went on to found a football club in north western England.

The club’s deeply evocative psychological themes of hope mixed with failure and decay, plussymbolic resistance and futility, has influenced much of English football ever since.  And the city of Munchester too.  The recently built Commonwealth Games Stadium, known universally as “The Scream”, because of the despair it engenders, is one of the most horrifying locations in the UK.

The Scream exists in four parts of the UK – twice in Munchester (City and Untidy), once in Liverpoodle, and once in Totteringham.  Before these clubs came along, football was calm and tidy, there was no problem.  But they, between them, brought a darkest side of the dark side.

The Munchester Scream was sold in May 2012 for $119,922,500, – a sale which caused many clubs to consider introducing Financial Fair Play and stopping the crowds at the various Munchian grounds sobbing or dealing in fine works of art.

Munchester Untidy is one of the  most known football clubs in the world.  Munchester City would like to be the same, and so have spent lots of money: the agonized figure of the manager reduced to a skull in the throes of an emotional crisis is one of the most recognisable monuments to football and an icon for local fans.

Munchester City offers us the study of the soul.   As their manager recently said, “I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous, infinite scream of nature.”

And so the modern Sheikh Rattle and Roll of Munchester City began – the story of nature  screaming in the blood of those who live in the diminutive principality but share nothing in the wealth of the nation.

After the arrival of Munchester City I gave up hope ever of being able to love football again – but then Arsenal keep plodding along, doing the impossible, setting aside the rape of civilisation, living as they live.

Munchester City communicate a meaning immediately to almost everyone who is interested in football.  Few clubs have ever managed this before.  This is who we play, this is the Scream that we face.

“We need to learn to win ugly sometimes,” said Arteta.  “You get through that and you are still winning.”

Unbeaten this season there is resilience in the New Arsenal – resilience enough to defeat the Scream of Munchester.  “Sometimes when you play ugly and win that will give you six, nine, 10 points at the end of the season and that will make a big difference,” said Arteta.

“Arsène is very clear how he wants us to play and that’s not just admired in England. Over the years if you had to choose a game to watch then nine times out of 10 people would choose to watch Arsenal. And that’s for a reason: because they were exciting, they had great players and they always play the same way.”

Thus spake Arteta, but for a further review I spoke to Dennis Bergkamp at this allotment in Enfield this week.   He made the point that even when faced with this scream of horror Arsène comes in and says ‘no, we are going to play the same way and we are going to hurt them here and there’.

There sheer excellence and fun of selling players to a club with no money that doesn’t need them, is an excellent backdrop for Arsenal.  Song the bench-sitter, the unused sub (except once) earning more than you or I could ever imagine.   While others scream at the Scream, Arsenal just keep playing the Arsenal way.

“When you look at the depth of the scream coming from Munchester you know they have many ways to hurt you,” said Arteta.  “But we have the real strength,” said Dennis.  I agree.

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The team…

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Mannone

Gibbs Vermaelen Mertersacker Jenkinson

Arteta Diaby

Carzola

Podolski Gervinho Giroud

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Since Mr Wenger always does something different I am putting Giroud on the wing – but effectively we have three centre forwards promoted by Carzola whose job it is to find which one is in space and ready to score.

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Arteta and Diaby soak up the pressure and lay the ball forwards – either directly to the front three or to Carzola.

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Here’s one other word.  The Telegraph says that Wenger has found in Carzola a new Fabregas.  No, Carzola is more than Cesc, and we made £15m profit on the deal.