Today is the last day to back Best Eleven, a unique football board game that looks like a lot of fun from our friend and collaborator Matthew Shipley. Give it your backing. Independent football media, forever.

As usual, go read this.

Lovely writing here

500 next week??? 📖 - redstory.substack.com

I feel totally insane. I am an idiot with a literature degree who does silly words and this has been obvious to me for two years

This is beautiful writing

This is a beautiful piece of writing 👏🏻👏🏻

G'wan Tom. This resonates so much with me. Knowing that others feel the same way is a nice tonic, so thank you for that. 🤌🏾

This is just fucking perfect. Read it.

A story about Gabriel Martinelli, and Pep Guardiola the coward

Alex Iwobi is a little bit genius

Casemiro continually shaking his head for 45 seconds as he trudges off in the rain is the funniest image I’ve ever seen

I spent the last week or two watching Arsenal’s newest defender. Here’s my big breakdown of how he could shape the team’s present and future: his physical edge, attacking contributions, positional projection, and more. Enjoy. ❤️

When Llew speaks you listen

Mohamed Kader Meïté went viral for one clip in a 21-minute cameo last weekend. Watch it in full and you'll be even more excited about the 17-year-old Stade Rennais centre-forward, one of the most exciting in Europe and symbol of the jumbo-sized striker. Llew Davies has analysed it, play by play.

The future, coming soon. Watch this space.

Anyway, Noni

Brace yourselves, the Eze takes are coming

Absolutely insane that you can give Noni Madueke the ball anywhere on the pitch, under any circumstances, and be confident it will somehow end up in the box

New iOS is incredible because I can finally make my phone as boring as possible while also looking fucking sick

Thank you for another lovely response to Redstory this week. It’s insane to see people pull out their favourite lines and stuff - it’s like, this is doing well because people are actually reading it and not just responding to a headline? A dream

This is excellent

“A boy who travelled to chase his dreams and and walked through walls of noise at every turn until the force of his talent brought him here, back home, to the streets he once walked? Now that’s a story worth telling.”

Against Nottingham Forest, Noni Madueke became the first Arsenal player to record 5+ Successful Take-ons, 5+ Carries into the Penalty Area and 5+ Key Passes in a single Premier League game since the start of the 2017/18 season. The 10th different player to do so on the @fbref.com database.

More brilliance from my friend Tom. And dare I say: what’s too often missing in the world of football discourse, of cynics, of joyless little dots on a board, of takes upon #takes: A warmth. A love and fascination for the game and its people, poring through

In a display of devastating ball-carrying against Nottingham Forest, Noni Madueke did something that no Arsenal player has done in the last eight seasons. Meanwhile, in France, the most exciting centre-forward prospect in Europe destroyed a team that hadn't even conceded a goal.

I love this

Very very great

So good

This is a good read

Great read.

Thought this was a lovely piece of writing.

"And so while we celebrated the south London boy coming north of the river, threw laurels and anthems his way, we largely ignored the player who had truly come home. Noni Madueke had left north London as a child and returned a man. But we just didn’t care all that much for his story."

An ode to Noni Madueke, and the story we didn't care to tell

every time there's political violence discourse i think about how jo cox was assassinated in broad daylight by a fascist who shouted "britain first" as he shot her, and now nine years later her party is dedicating every moment in power to placating the ideology of her murderer

New Redstory:

What’s the best way to chase a fly around a big, red meth lab?

a) Gymshark should sue the living shit outta these people, or something b) the final five seconds are very, very funny

What’s the best way to chase a fly around a big, red meth lab?

Lee Dixon there, confidently telling us about Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson running the show for Newcastle last week

This is really very good in the dysfunctional nature of the UK housing market www.ft.com/content/d905...

I only did Redstory a little bit last year, but in my best month I had 767 reads total. In the past week? 13,830. Arsenal Bluesky is something else x

Some words on Ebere Eze, and the well-natured misuse of Sampha's 'Indecision'. Let it all work out x

Yesterday's Did You Notice was all about how Arne Slot made a half time tweak to bring Liverpool back into the game in the second half

People have been really nice about my work over the past week and I just wanted to say I'm really grateful. Writing is the only thing I've ever known how to do, and I've been told a lot recently the craft no longer matters. It's nice to have some small wins. Thank you

Why didn't you just try to win, Arne?

Tom now, Tom forever.

I’m going in a similar direction for my post match debrief but it feels like we need more push back on the nonsense narrative coming out after the match | Different stories via @tomoc.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/redstory...

I would've put more thought into this if I knew people would read it. Can you let me know in advance next time x

Why didn't you just try to win, Arne?