By Daniel Finton (Deputy Editor)
What up, Pimps?
Welcome one and welcome all to the Finton’s Frolic right opinion zone. I would say I hope y’all are doing well, but I don’t really care as long as you’re reading this. In fact, if you are, you’re probably quite unwell, so I hope you’re doing badly. Have I used that opening before? Probably. I’m an unoriginal, joke of a writer and person.
You know who’s not, though? Oleksandr Zinchenko. That dude is one of a kind, and we’re gonna talk about him and his antics in our tough win against Fulham. Despite not being in the squad — through injury — he still captured the attention of the Arsenal faithful, like a bare boob on the bus.
He was involved in celebrations and screamed at officials in the way that all of us would if we were in his position. And he did all of this in what looked like a black t-shirt with a very small Arsenal logo on the chest. It’s almost like he just put on a black shirt and put a little, gold cannon sticker on it because security said something along the lines of: “come on Zinky Winky, you’ve gotta have an Arsenal symbol on you somewhere.”
When he celebrated with the team after Gabriel’s face saving goal — his face and ours, mind you — I genuinely thought it was a pitch invader just like that steward clearly did. I wonder if someone shouted at her: “Diane! (or maybe Beatrice, or Brittney, or Katie, or Madison) NOOOOO! That’s Zinky Winky. Look at the Arsenal thingky on his shirtinky. What you thinky?” Because she looked over, and backed away sheepishly in a very sudden fashion. I hope she didn’t get in trouble because that was pretty sharp markingky. I’ll drop that shtick. I know it’s not funny.
But how great was it to have someone that passionate about the cause? Remember a few years ago when our players had this palpable apathy towards what we didn’t want to admit was a far fetched ambition — being good? It sadly was unrealistic with the shit smear of a team we used to have. Now, however, we have good players. And they give a fuck. And that’s good.
I’m not saying I want cheerleading every week either, by the way. There’s a fine line between “that’s called PASSION”, and a disingenuous “like me, like me, I’m one of you,” plea. Zinky Winky’s was true and you could tell.
These players enjoy this club. The size, the culture, the expectations, and most refreshingly, the pressure. Guys like Zinky and Jesus know that this is a massive club that’s been a sleeping giant for some time, and they appear to be enjoying the fact that the onus is on them to wake it the hell up. Also, it probably feels good to play for an actual club with true fans, history, passion, tradition, culture, and every other great part of football that soulless institutions like Manchester City lack.
Some of our new soul is ironically down to the two recently acquired players that came from a side without that heart we like so much — among others, and the unit as a whole, of course. And Zinky Winky showed that soul he has — that feeling and love — sometimes will boil over into pure, raw emotion. I, for one, really like that, and am excited to see how our players continue to show their passions throughout the season. Without getting in trouble though, hopefully.
That’s enough of that. I’m writing this next to a trash can that smells like a rancid ham sandwich. I hate myself. Drink water.
Toodloo …!
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