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The more The merrier
Many, many, many years ago I started and stopped and deleted and re started many Arsenal blogs. I must have tried no less than 6 times. The main reason why I stopped was because I had no real confidence in my writing. I wasn’t sure I had what it took from a tactical analysis stand point nor did I think I had a good enough style of writing. Self doubt crippled me from a lovely endeavor.
Through my life as a professional musician I have learned to cope with the impostor syndrome and I have acquired tools that have allowed me to face fears, to not doubt myself, to believe in what I’m doing and so on and so forth. The principles are applicable to anything, but I just never actually did it in the blogging world.
One of the factors that held me back was the insane amount of blogs that existed. It’s absolutely insane to think about it. So many options and why would anyone ever read what I have to say about Arsenal?!
I kinda still do feel that in a way BUT I’m taking the same approach here as I do with TAWP… My goal is to add value, to motivate, to challenge, to inspire and empower. I am a champion of all things AWFC and if you are reading this and feel you want to create something but aren’t sure, I’m here to tell you that you are not alone and that you are not alone, know what I mean?
All things considered, the AWFC content landscape is not very populated. There is only a handful of podcasts, a small number of YouTube shows and same goes for blogs. The more content, the more options, the more alternatives the better.
If you want to start a podcast, please do it. Same goes for a blog or YouTube show.
I understand how tough it can seem and how intimidating it all is. I’m here to tell you that not only do I know you’re capable of doing it, but also to remind you that it has never ever been easier to do anything life this in the history of ever.
When I started my first podcast about 7 years ago it was so damn hard. Now anyone can do it in a fraction of the time, with logos and editing and everything in between sorted out in minutes. Don’t even get me started with AI which an be an omnipotent tool.
But it all depends on us. On taking action. On actually doing it.
This is why I’m writing this blog.
I’m not a journalist. I’m not an author. I’m not pretending to be a respected voice in the community… I respect those professions and those positions so much.
I just really love the idea of consistency and giving.
Thanks for being here with me.
d ❤
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a week to remember
Wow.
Just WOW.
These two results, back to back have been something very special to witness. Comeback wins, each in a very peculiar way, has shown that this squad has so much spirit and fight. I didn’t always see it to be fair, and it’s been a glorious thing to witness.
The two elephant sized ACLs in the room (or are they ACL sized elephants?) in the room are very ironically missing… we all know Beth and Viv are out for a while and we also know how much their personalities drives the team. We have seen them getting so emotional after the Conti Cup win, crying and cheering on the team.
At some point I felt that their absences were just too much for the team. You just cannot replace people like that. Right when I started feeling that, the girls started to prove me wrong, as I usually am. They started playing better and you could almost feel like they were doing it for them.
I do have to say that the rough period I felt magically coincided with Jonas benching Katie McCabe. Of course I’m being sarcastic. To me they were always intrinsically linked. KT makes any squad better, all the time, no matter when you are reading this. Moreover, any squad without her is depleted and made very weak.
I spoke about that HERE and I also did a full podcast on Katie back in September of 2022 (here) .
I can’t not think that having a full squad isn’t a better situation. I would be crazy to write that we would be better off without 6 of our best players and as crazy and silly as I can be, I’m not THAT crazy.
The best way I can describe what I’m feeling is by saying that anything is possible. Which is very different than saying or thinking “there’s no way we can win vs ______”
This team!!
d ❤
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women’s football made me a better person
My first memory in life is watching the Dutch national team with my grandma back in Venezuela .I love football. Always have and always will. I’ve been obsessed with it, much more than I’ve been obsessed with music, believe it or not.
At one point I wanted to be a footballer for real. Watching countless matches and playing the sport helped me become a better player, a better teammate, a better athlete. It made me develop consistency and all the things associated with sport, even at a very, very, very low level.
You guessed it right: I sucked and I never ever had an actual shot. However, I bloody loved it and still do now more than ever.
As a fan, with my whole heart invested in Arsenal and the dutch national team, I experienced so many emotions and learned about loyalty, authenticity and developed a sense of belonging. Ironically this sense stemmed from not belonging but that’s a topic for another post.
I’ve never actually had my heart broken in a relationship, but as a football fan I have lost count.
But for all that love and obsession it wasn’t until I started watching women’s football that my life as a football fan truly began. My life has been exponentially enhanced by it and I am convinced that I have actually become a better person all around.
My mind, heart and soul opened up to a whole new world in which everything seems aligned. It has also allowed me to put into practice more than ever a social responsibility I feel I owe to the Arsenal community. A world of inclusivity, of patience, of empathy, a place where my expectations where challenged (not of the sport itself but expectations of ME as a person and fan) and much more.
To draw a quick parallel to music… my friend Max and I were on tour last year and as we’re sitting on out plane we were talking about how much we loved punk and hardcore music, as we always do. And then he said something that I actually heard him say about 7 years earlier but had forgotten how perfect the statement was:
“Listening to jazz makes you be a better musician. Listening to hardcore makes you a better person”
Arsenal women are my hardcore.
If you’re reading this is because you already get it and you already feel that way. We care about these players on a deeper and more profound level than with any team we’ve ever supported. As I mentioned on the previous post re KT etc… we care about their hearts, their emotions and mental health.
The other day I was driving and started thinking about how these women, from all clubs, have always been and continue to become role models for young girls. But given that I am self absorbed I started wondering how that affected ME. I thought about how I wouldn’t have the same access to the players if I was on pitch side or at a signing or something like that and how I feel alienated when I hear interviews or programs and they only talk about players being a role model for young girls.
Like… what about me? haha
Seriously though, what truly made me open my eyes was that as silly as my complaint was, imagine how alienated women have been from the sport basically FOREVER. It’s absolutely wild. Forget about women’s football for a second, but just how hard it’s been for women to be involved in football in general.
It’s wild.
To a degree I feel I owe to every single woman who has ever kicked a ball, who has attended a match, who has covered a tournament, who has photographed a training session etc etc etc. I owe you for your bravery, your patience and your love for the game.
If you are reading this and this applies to you. THANK YOU
d ❤
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we can breathe now.
YESSSSSS!
According to Vera Pauw herself, Katie’s injury is NOT long term and there’s no fear for her World Cup hopes. Phewwwwwww. (You can read the whole article here)
This makes me so very happy in every way possible. KT deserves to be at the WC and her health is paramount to her country and AWFC as a whole, so this is positive news all around. We’re gonna miss her vs Man City but that’s a given. Her mind, heart and WC hopes is all that matters.
I have to admit I haven’t researched any injury updates regarding Kim Little today, but the reality is that we have a squad without Viv, Beth, Steph, Kim and/or Katie. How absolutely insane is that?
Imagine the men’s squad without Saka, Odegaard, Zinchenko, Partey and Martinelli.
Oh my days…
That is the nature of the sport, though but FFS… to have all missing at once is pretty absurd at any given time but specially at the run in of the season.
Beyond the depleted squad itself, facing Wolfsburg is always tough for sporting reasons but my heart is also jolted. Dom and Jill are 2 of my favorite players ever and if you know me, you know my obsession with the oranjeleeuwinnen. Both Dom and Jill are among the reasons why I love women’s football and I can never forget that. I have also followed their career very closely since they left Arsenal and couldn’t be happier for them. I don’t like to watch them lose. They are stellar players and it’s gonna be a tough ask to beat them, specially away in Germany but there’s something special happening at our club and I believe we can make the finals.
I predicted we could beat Bayern and there’s ZERO doubt in my mind that we can beat them.
Man City next @ 4:30am my time on Sunday.
Can’t bloody wait to set that alarm.
d ❤
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5:37am
I can’t sleep.
Woke up at 5:37am and drank some water and started thinking about the match and my adrenaline shot through the roof.
After some breathing exercises I managed to get my heart rate down and was almost back asleep when the image of Katie McCabe in crutches flashed through my mind. Needless to say I was wide awake seconds later.
I’m not going to talk about the injury or potential time on the sidelines for her and what it means to the club. What I will say, however, is moments like these can be a great lesson in empathy and also regarding what our priorities can be as fans.
What I mean by the latter point is that my first thought was: “KT, please be ok for the World Cup” and I didn’t think how it affects Arsenal. What did you think? Did something similar cross your mind or did you think about AWFC? Very curious.
I’ve said this so many times in my podcast but the way I care about the women’s squad, the way I’m emotionally invested in their well being is unlike anything I’ve ever felt with the men’s game.
Injuries to our players don’t instantly awaken a sense of “how is this going to affect the club” instead, my heart goes out to how the player is feeling, their own hearts, their emotions, their fears and all of that. I know you feel the same way.
I’m also stalling and refreshing my twitter every 6 seconds to see if there are any news or updates. Again, I just want her to be healthy for the World Cup.
It’s what she deserves.
d ❤
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CL Semi-finalists
Wow.
Just wow.
What a display…
The tenacity, the focus, the drive, the will, the injuries.
I don’t think there’s a lot I can say about the match itself because I’m still beyond excited and pumped about what we all just saw.
It was a surreal day starting with the fact that I was a co-host on The Highbury Squad with Sophie Nicolaou and our guest was none other that one of the goats, Shebahn herself. It was just a true joy to speak with her for any and all reasons.
Us 3 were mid show when the updates started coming in and I am glad they were there with me because I would’ve been such a nervous wreck if I had to watch the full match. My wife was with me the whole second half and I’m so glad I got to watch it with her, as we did the Conti Cup Final.
To be in the CL semi finals after a few years is truly special and I have all the confidence in the world that we can reach the finals and even win it.
The caveat to this is Katie McCabe’s foot. Hoping to get good news soon.
d ❤
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Trust your own eyes
A few days ago I went on a slight rant on twitter, as one does. I had been triggered by seeing this overwhelming embrace and positive analysis of a player that I don’t particularly rate highly. The reaction of a lot of people was in my opinion incredibly over the top, but like I just stated: it’s just my opinion.
One of the constants that I try to have as a common thread among all my arsenal women content is positivity. Criticizing a player isn’t positive or constructive and that is not what I’m trying to do here at all. My aim is and was to remind people that read blogs or twitter accounts to trust themselves and their own thoughts and how they view players and matches.
It’s ok to not loooooooove a player. It’s ok to think that we deserve someone better. It’s ok to want them out of the club etc. It’s just an opinion and opinions are neither correct or incorrect. We just have to be nice about it. Sometimes I’m not good at that and I need to be more careful.
I know for a fact there are a lot of people who hold bloggers, journalists and pundits on such a high pedestal that they stop trusting themselves. I know because I am often one of them. I LOVE pundits and bloggers. I absolutely love them. To me, Laura Woods, Shebahn Aherne, Suzy Wrack, Karen Karney, Ian Wright can virtually never be wrong. And that doesn’t mean I always agree with everything they say.
For instance… if Ian Wright thinks X player had a great match and I don’t agree, it doesn’t mean I’m wrong. However, Ian is an expert and has more football knowledge in his toe nail than I could ever posses in my brain so he is probably correct. My point is that I don’t have to change my mind just so that I feel that Ian and I think alike.
We need to have our own, original, personal thoughts, because it can be said that lots of your favorite bloggers, podcasters etc don’t know that much more about football than you. They might be better with words and have tools to analyze matches but none of that means they’re correct. If you agree with them that’s great and not agreeing is great too.
Being good at asking questions about tactics for example does mean that the person who asked the questions knows anything about them.
Believe in your football watching identity and also be open to grow and see things from a different perspective.
Lastly, please know that this is mostly a note to myself 🙂
d ❤
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Blogs were monumental
I’m gonna go ahead and assume that I’m older than most of you. I’m in my 40s (3 months away from being 41 to be precise) and I’ve been an Arsenal fan since 1996ish.
Today is not the day that I tell you why and how I became a fan. However, I’m here today to mention that besides the club itself, the players, Highbury, and all the glory that is associated with our beloved club; one of the reasons I was able to become a fan was due to the blogs that I was able to find.
Back in those days there wasn’t any social media or YouTube, and getting info on the club was really difficult. Especially living in Venezuela, it wasn’t like I could just walk to a pub and watch AFC matches among lots of fans that would teach me about the history of the club. As a matter of fact I don’t remember meeting a fellow Arsenal fan since I moved to Boston for college in 2000.
There were 3 blogs that I grew to love. When I say love I mean obsessed over. They were all very important to me and all had different ways of fulfilling my life and giving me the arsenal related sustenance I needed. All 3 had different styles. Totally different and unique ways of expressing their thoughts, all the inside info the provided and the opinions they shared. I held onto their every word and I am forever grateful to them.
Those blogs were The Arsenal Muse which was written by someone I have not been able to track down… The Arsenal News Review by Myles Palmer and last but not least Le Grove by my dear friend Pete. The latter has one of the best AFC podcasts out there called THE ARSENAL OPINION PODCAST.
You might be asking why the hell I’m sharing all of this, right? Well, the truth is that I don’t know yet. All I know is that I owe a lot to their consistency and effort to keep a blog going. It’s really tough.
I tried a ton of times, trust me.
Maybe I don’t feel I’m that good at writing. Maybe I don’t feel I have much to say or share anything worth typing because I don’t know what comes with growing a blog itself.
All I know is that I love ARSENAL WOMEN and if I can help add something to the landscape, and it comes from a good place, then I feel accomplished.
My podcast aka THAT ARSENAL WOMEN PODCAST is there for you to listen and I will be migrating my twitch stream shows to YouTube very soon.
For those that like reading more that listening, I’m here for you too. And the point of this blog is to also speak my mind regarding things adjacent to the club, the matches and players.
Is this confuses you, let me tell you that I’m confused too.
d ❤
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Welcome
Hi friends,
Thanks for stopping by.
This will be a blog version of my Podcast dedicated to Arsenal Women.
Said podcast is called That Arsenal Women Podcast.
This blog is called That Arsenal Women Blog.
It’s not that I’m trying to be super funny and witty, it’s that I didn’t know what else to call it. That’s what it is though.
Expect very subjective and feelings based opinions.
If you’re looking for stats and deep match analysis I am here to tell you that this is not the place for that. I’m not that smart nor do I know that much about tactics.
I appreciate you understanding.
Thank you.
d ❤
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A very subjective look into AWFC 