Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

  Euro 2024 – The Final     Sunday 14th July 2024     Spain 2 England 1 (Berlin)     Ah well, it was not meant to be. England had found a way past every team they had faced, but there’s no debate that the better teams were in the other half of the draw. Spain were clear favourites in the final, and ultimately deserved winners of the tournament. You can’t argue with their winning all seven of their games without the need for a penalty shoot-out, and six of those in normal time.   Southgate elected to start Luke Shaw ahead of Kieran Trippier, and retain the patently unfit Harry Kane. Kane had scored three goals in six games, which was an argument for starting him, but he’d done little else. His inability to make runs into space when England had opportunities in the penalty area didn’t stop them making the final, but he was a passenger in Berlin. (Those who know their Iggy Pop and his time in that city might enjoy that description). Southgate was ne...

Euro 2024 – Semi Finals     Thursday 11th July 2024     A pair of semi-finals that looked close on paper to enjoy at the Euros. Here’s my take on them   Spain 2 France 1 (Munich) Spain were weakened by suspensions and injuries, and pre-game Navas v Mbappe looked like a mismatch, which turned even worse after an early booking for the Spanish right back. For France, Rabiot came back in for Camavinga which felt harsh to this observer, and what followed backed up that view. Deschamps has his favourites, but I guess most coaches do. Mbappe not wearing his mask tempted a stray elbow, but then again, it would have been so blatant the perpetrator would surely have seen red.    That France had made three of the last four major tournament finals was to Deschamps’ credit, but the production line of quality players that France seems to produce definitely helps. The thing about the France is that young players get more exposure because the league is not as stuffed ...

  Euro 2024 – Quarter Finals     Sunday 7th July 2024     Friday and Saturday evenings saw me plonk myself in front of the TV for what looked like four fairly close matchups to determine the Euro semi-finalists. Here are my thoughts on the four games…   Germany 1 Spain 2 (Stuttgart) On paper tasty – arguably the two most impressive sides in the tournament. Plenty of cards, and the Spanish deserved to go ahead. Mind you, after that it was like Gareth Southgate was managing them as they seemed reluctant to get bodies forward and double their lead. And what do you know, a late German equaliser, which was also deserved. Mind you, that was after Havertz failure to chip the ball over the keeper into the goal. Where’s Robert Pires when you need him? If Wirtz hadn’t scored, Havertz would have been the scapegoat for the host nation’s exit. As it was we had extra time and the game settled by a Spanish winner rather than the lottery of penalties. I prefer that. I know...

Euro 2024 – The Round of 16 Wednesday 3rd July 2024 Back home after my trek round the group stages, and I had an appointment with an armchair in front of my TV for the first knockout round – two matches a day spread over Saturday to Tuesday.    After 36 games in 13 days to eliminate eight teams, it was down to business proper. Let’s face it, who had we lost that mattered, in terms of a potential winner so far? Croatia? Maybe. But aside from that, we saw the back of Hungary, Scotland, Albania, Serbia, Poland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. No likely winners amongst that lot.    Now four days, eight games and eight exits. No second chance. Much as the group stage produced some drama, mainly where underdogs were involved and England were not, this is where the tournament actually starts. Up until now it’s simply been a matter of jostling for position… and how well that worked out for England. All the best teams are in the other half of the draw, a little reminiscent of...

Day Fourteen – Thursday 27th June 2024 Homeward Bound It was an early rise on our day of departure from Germany and the Euros. I was up around 6.30 and headed out to fill up with petrol locally, given the extortionate rates charged on autobahn service stations. We had the hotel breakfast, packed up whetever we’d brought into the room the evening before and were on the road by 8.30am.   Our ferry was at 4.35pm from Calais, the drive just under six hours. Still, it’s best to get there by an hour before as the passport checks take a while, and we had to have a couple of stops for me to stretch my legs. It was another warm day and bar a couple of predictable jams near bigger cities, the ride was pretty dull. I’d seen enough motorway in the previous fortnight for a lifetime, and convenient as they are, driving on them bores me to tears.    I admit to fatigue and had a Red Bull at the first stop, followed by a Cappuccino at the second. It was good to reach Calais 90 minutes bef...

Day Thirteen – Wednesday 26th June 2024    Romania 1 Slovakia 1    Frankfurt Waldstadion – 6pm local time     Mentally, I was already in wind down time. Two more long drives and I could spend the remainder of the tournament not having to think about how far I had to drive, where to park, and collecting empty glasses after the game. This morning’s drive was long enough – Munich to Frankfurt. After our hotel breakfast we were on the road with one stop to stretch my legs and have a coffee. There were two separate delays for roadworks, and with a manual car, at times like this you can see the benefits of an automatic gearbox. It was burning hot, and the car doesn’t have functioning AC. The engine temperature crept up to 33 degrees, which felt a bit alarming, but it didn’t give any hint of giving up the ghost, which would have been most likely in the stop-start of the roadworks. My son slept a fair bit of the way anyway. It’s a shame he hasn’t learned to drive y...