7 a.m. Kickoff

This is the final installment of my match notes on the 2020/21 season and I have to admit, I’m glad it’s over! Writing these up for you all is a lot of work for very little analysis. I have some ... read more

This is part four of my six-part season review. In this series of posts I share the notes I took during each match broken down by groups of 10 games (ish) for parts 1-5 and a wrap-up post for part ... read more

Here are the 24 teams playing in Euro 2020 and their representative national sandwiches. Please feel free to recommend changes. Poland – Zapiekanka: open face sandwich with mushrooms, cheese and ketchup Slovakia – Cigánska Pečienka: a pork chop sandwich, marinated ... read more

Good morning folks. Apologies about delays to the season review. I got half way through the last post and ran out of steam so I took a break to walk the dog and watch the Euros. The match I watched ... read more

Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea This is the game, the one which people believe was where Arsenal’s season turned around. My overwhelming sense of the match was that Arsenal were lucky. I understand what the post-match xG says but my notes paint ... read more

Taking a quick break from the season review because a) I have to go in to work early today and b) news broke this morning that Xhaka has agreed to a five-year deal with Roma and that Arsenal have agreed ... read more

Part 1 is over here: https://7amkickoff.com/index.php/2021/06/07/2020-21-arsenal-season-diary-pt-1-matches-1-11/ Arsenal 4-1 Molde “Ceballos bass – Pepe v. Willock” (not sure what that note means!) Is Ceballos a guitar or a fish? I do know that in the first 11 matches I mention him ... read more

This year I decided to do something that most football fans have done for decades, I kept a match diary. What inspired me is my own failing memory. Ten years ago I could remember details and data from watching a ... read more

I looked in every desk jar, searched every junk drawer, checked the supply closet, and yet I could only find one, old, yellow, Dixon No 2 pencil with no eraser. Not just no eraser: the eraser has been rubbed completely ... read more

I was thinking about doing a season review but I’m not sure if I will. It’s not for lack of things to write about this season, plenty happened. And it’s not because I have writer’s block (there’s no such thing) ... read more

It’s the 54th minute, Villarreal are 1-0 up, and they are holding on as Manchester United try to mount attack after attack. It’s working, too, Villarreal haven’t had a shot since they scored the go-ahead goal but Man U have ... read more

Well, that was a season. It started bad, then got better, then wasn’t as good, and ended with a winning run which wasn’t enough to make up for the 33 games prior. There’s a table floating around the internet which ... read more

On Wednesday I found myself joylessly watching Arsenal and wondering why. It was the 80th minute, the score was 1-1, and Arsenal had taken just three shots, total, in 80 minutes. Two of those shots were from outside the 18 ... read more