Interlull round-up + Calafiori on English football

Morning.

Let’s start as we normally do during the Interlull with a look at which Arsenal players were in action last night. Just to be clear, I’m not really that interested in how they played, because it’s not especially relevant to me. William Saliba conceded a penalty for France, but when you look at the clip, he slips and can’t stop himself clattering into the forward. Oh well, Youri Tielemans blasted the spot kick over the bar, and France still won 2-1.

It looks like Leandro Trossard was a busy man at the other end of the pitch, with 6 shots, 3 on target, which suggests he might have been a bit wasteful, but again, that’s a problem for Belgium. If he’s saving his goals for his Arsenal return, that’s fine by me. If that leaves him hungry to make up for missed chances when he pulls on the red and white, I can live with that.

Elsewhere, Riccardo Calafiori played the full 90 in Italy’s 4-1 win, and ahead of the game, the summer signing spoke a bit about life at Arsenal and in the Premier League, noting some differences between football in England and Serie A:

The first thing that caught my eye was the intensity they put into training and matches. I found that very different from Italy. The matches are fought until the end. Any team you face, whether they’re small or big, nobody thinks too much about defending themselves. That’s the big difference. There are more counterattacks and it’s more fun to follow.

It is an interesting one really, because Serie A to the Premier League is a move – for Italian players at least – that doesn’t happen as often as it does with players from the other big leagues in Europe. You can make long lists of Spanish, French and Germans who have come to England and done really well, but it’s certainly a lot smaller for Italian players.

What I would say about Calafiori though, is that he seems to be a much better fit than many of his compatriots. There are aspects to his game that suit the way football is played in the Premier League. There’s a flair that you don’t always associate an Italian centre-half, but as we’ve seen already, he’s not just an Italian centre-half. I do think there are things Mikel Arteta and his coaching stuff will work on to help him improve, which is entirely normal for any 22 year old player, but even though it’s early days in his Arsenal career, it feels like he’s just the right player at the right club.

For some extra reading during this break, I do recommend the latest from Billy Carpenter who looks at Calafiori and Jurrien Timber (among other things) in his most recent tactical missive.

Tonight sees the final round of games for this Interlull with David Raya and Mikel Merino ready to go for Spain as they face Serbia, while Jakub Kiwior could be in action for Poland when they take on Croatia. After midnight (in this part of the world anyway), Brazil play Peru in a World Cup qualifier with Gabriel Magalhaes set to start for them after a man of the match performance in their last game.

So, let’s keep everything crossed for zero drama, zero aches, strains or niggles, and then we can start looking forward to the real football again. Right, I’ll leave it there for today, have a good one.