A pickle

I made some pretty decent “half sour” pickles a few weeks ago. I got the recipe from “The Food Dictator” who calls it the Hirshon Authentic Jewish Half-Sour Dill Pickle. The tea in that recipe made them stay wonderfully crunchy and it’s a trick I would recommend to anyone who wants to make half-sours at home.

But here’s the deal: I don’t like half-sour pickles. I just don’t. In order to make absolutely sure that I got the recipe correct, I went and bought some half-sours from the grocery store. And yep, mine tasted exactly like theirs and I don’t like em. It’s like eating a weird cucumber. Take a cucumber and make it extra cucumbery.

So, I’m going to make me some full sour or as the Food Dictator calls them: the Hirshon Authentic Kosher Dill Pickles.

As I said in my previous post, pickles are a big key ingredient to making a great sandwich. Banh Mi sandwiches require the funky daikon and carrot pickle and you cannot have a Ruben without sauerkraut. So, if I’m going to write a book about sandwiches I need to have a section dedicated just to pickles. And if I’m going to have a section on pickles I need to make sure I have a good selection.

So far I have:

Dill pickle (the USDA has recipes for fermentation as well)

Sauerkraut (again, the USDA has a basic recipe)

Kimchi (I can’t just take someone else’s recipe but the reality is that Kimchi is a very basic thing)

Do Chua (Vietnamese pickled daikon and carrot)

Bread and butter pickles

Pickled beets

Pickled jalapenos

Giardinera

“Branston” pickle relish

I feel like I’m forgetting something. Please let me know your favorite pickle.

Ok, now to the Arsenal news.

It looks like Granit Xhaka has come away from the North London Derby with damaged knee ligaments and will be out for 6-8 weeks. He was injured when Thomas Partey fouled Lucas Moura and sent the Spurs player flying into Xhaka’s legs. There wasn’t anything the Swiss MFer could do to get out of the way and on replays you could see his knee buckle inward.

Xhaka had been fairly lucky with injury up to this season. He’d only missed 14 matches prior to this year. Now he’s already missed 4 matches with Corn virus this season and probably will miss another 6-7 matches with this injury.

The only good news here is that he should be back in November which means that he’ll be fully fit by January when Thomas goes to AFCON. The bad news is that Thomas is often injury prone himself. So keeping him 100% until January has to be Arsenal’s number one priority.

We are also going to be treated to a midfield pairing of Thomas and Lokonga quite a bit this fall. We should have a good sense of whether that duo works well together by the time Xhaka comes back. And we will be able to tell pretty definitively what, exactly, Xhaka brings to this team. I know there’s a lot of debate about how important he is for the team and a lot of folks would get rid of him without hesitation. Well, we will get a taste of what that would look like if it were to happen.

Xhaka’s injury also means more playing time for Maitland-Niles and Mohamed Elneny. Again, two players who’s value has been debated ad nauseum. We should have an answer to all of those questions over the next 7 matches.

It’s also a run of relatively easy matches – well they would have been easy back in the Wenger era. We have Brighton, Palace, Villa, Leeds (League Cup), Leicester, Watford, and Liverpool. Xhaka should be back about time for the Newcastle match over thanksgiving weekend. But that run of fixtures will decide our season in some ways. Those are the teams that we need to get wins against if we hope to finish in the top 6 places.

Qq

47 comments

      1. That looks really good.

        Did you know that most Teriyaki chicken joints use basic cole slaw dressing as their dressing for their “salads”?

        To wit:

        Mayo
        Rice vinegar
        Sugar
        Salt

        Done.

  1. Thanks for the post Tim

    To continue the discussion from yesterday. We have spent a whole lot of money on defensive players this summer. Defense has easily been was our strong suit since Arteta arrived even before this summers spending. I am not sure we can pass Chelsea or City in terms of team defense but I think we have a chance compete with them.

    The idea that the Spurs game was the start of a long term solution and we figured something out that will fix our problems scoring goals after 1 good game is probably not realistic. Auba iOS 32 and not getting better with age and Pepe and Laca don’t look like the answer. The idea that Saka and Smith-Rowe will suddenly become regular scorers is a huge stretch at best

  2. There’s all the Indian pickles/chutney’s.

    I’m a little more optimistic than Bill relative to scoring. On the Auba front, both Ronaldo and Lewandoski are older than Auba and have been able to keep up their scoring records. Feels like if we can get him the ball in the right place, he’ll get it in the net for another year or two.
    And some combination of Saka, ESR, Pepe, Martinelli, Nketiah, Balogun and Laca can contribute a decent amount of additional goals.

    Longer term, though, we need to figure out a replacement for Auba. Maybe with our new-found spending strength, if we can get back into the CL places, we make a bid for Haaland? Could he be tempted by the rest of the good young players?

    1. Ohhh yes! I forgot to include them but we definitely use chutney on the triple fried egg with chili sauce and chutney sandwich.

    2. Smith Rowe has continued to put in 0.4 npxG+xA per90 (0.37 last season) and if he plays 30 league match equivalents this season should score+assist ~12 goals.

      Bukayo Saka has nearly doubled his rate from 0.28 per90 to 0.45 and is also on track for 12 goal involvements this season.

      Odegaard’s output has dipped a bit but not drastically, he’s at 0.26 per90. That’s ~8 goal involvements in 30 matches.

      Pepe is on pace for half as many goal involvements as last season, which is not great. Auba is on pace to continue at about 0.5 per90 which isn’t too great either but he’s older. And of course we do have a problem with Lacazette not scoring or assisting at the moment.

      I think we’ll have a better understanding of where the club is relative to those stats by Christmas but right now, Bill is correct to say that Arsenal have problems scoring.

      1. We’ll definitely see by Xmas. We had a tough start to the season between the schedule and injuries/COVID. And it’s a lot to expect the scoring to consist of Auba and a couple 20 year olds. But I’m not sure how we plug Pepe or Laca in without disrupting what seemed to work against Spurs.
        But just as with the defense, things take time to click on offense. I’m hopeful that the 1st half of the Spurs match is more representative than what came before…

    3. SLC_Gooner: Mother’s brand mixed pickle is my favourite, and you can always rely on Patak. Oily, salty, spicy – perfect!

  3. My wife makes mean pickles. Her mom’s are even better. But my Russian co-worker’s are the best. Having said that, Wegmans Spicy (or regular) Dill Pickles are amazing as well. So if you have a Wegmans nearby, have a look if they’ve got those in stock (Nature’s Marketplace section). Xhaka’s injury – wishing him a speedy recovery but I’m actually looking forward to watching the games for the next two months without screaming at my TV.

  4. A shout out for the cornichon, a sharp little french pickle that complements just about any sandwich made with a good baguette. Recommendation: extra-sharp farmhouse cheddar, ripe home-grown tomato, lettuce… c’est manifique!

  5. Tim

    If Smith-Rowe has 12 goal involvements lets say he get 7 goals and 5 assists. If Saka does the same and Auba gets 12 goals and Odegaard gets 6. That is a total of only 30 goals for the season from our starting front 4. Our midfielders are not going to score very often and our back 4 are not going to score much. That is not enough total goals to bring us back into the Europa league much less compete for the top 4. The numbers certainly seem to support the idea that we just don’t have enough firepower on this squad. I think, Realistically over the long term we need to buy someone who can compete for the golden boot and even if we do that we can’t continue use 3 of the 4 forward attacking positions for players who don’t score many goals if we ever hope to get back into contention for a top 4 spot.

    1. Bill, I’ll happily take the over on 12 PL goals from Auba this season, if you’re offering. 🙂

      Also, I don’t think winning teams get their goals just from their 4 first-choice attackers. Man City got a decent number from guys like Gundogan and Mahrez who didn’t start every game. The Invincibles got goals from Wiltord and Kanu.

      For a lark, here’s what I think is possible – Aubameyang (25), Saka (7), Smith-Rowe (5), Odegaard (5), Pepe (10), Lacazette (10), Martinelli (3), Partey (3). If we get a combined 5 goals from the rest, which includes capable guys like Nketiah, Tierney and Lokonga, that’s 73 goals – good enough for 3/4 place in most seasons.

      I disagree with the statistical indications because –

      1) the families of ‘expected’ stats as currently defined are based on league-wide input data, and less adept at evaluating how the most technically talented teams get goals. This is admittedly changing a little bit with team-specific expected stats, but some misconceptions have already taken root.

      2) apart from Auba’s illness, last season was basically a ‘learning year’ write-off for Arteta. This year was looking like more of the same but, after the Interlull, there has been a marked change in attacking patterns (emphasis on passing forward and narrow), which gives me hope.

    2. We got 38 goals last season from our starting 4 and 55 goals total (2 OG). You’re really putting too much emphasis on one or two players, bill. No one scored more than 13 goals for us last season and there are plenty of seasons in Arsenal’s recent history where we scored a LOT of goals and our top scorer had less than 15.

      2017/18 – 73 goals, top scorer 14
      2012/13 – 69 goals, top scorer 14
      2008/09 – 65 goals, top scorer 11
      2006/07 – 60 goals, top scorer 11

      I’d say that anything less than 60 goals this season is extremely pessimistic considering we will have Saka and Smith Rowe with Odegaard all season. And Auba will score 15 goals unless he’s injured. And I don’t really care if “no Arsenal player over 31” or whatever. It’s irrelevant because for the last 20 years Arsenal haven’t even kept players over 30! Players over 30 still score goals, Bill.

      Saka – 10 goals
      Smith Rowe – 8 goals
      Auba – 15 goals
      Lacazette – 10 goals
      Pepe – 10 goals (he only played 18 full 90 equivalents last season and scored 10)

      That’s 53 goals then you always get ones and twos from the CBs and FBs and a few from Martinelli, Balogun, Nketiah, Maitland Niles, Lokonga, Partey, etc. It’s all about whether Arteta will play attacking football or not. If he doesn’t, then I guess we could see something truly awful like a sub 50 goal season. But if he does that then he should be utterly fired.

      It’s exhausting to have this same conversation over and over. I don’t know how you do it but I’m tapping out. Take care.

  6. THW14

    You numbers are completely unrealistic. Look back at the 21 years of data in this century. There has not been a single Arsenal forward who scored >10 goals in his age 32 season. That included Bergkamp, Anelka, Henry, Pires, LLundberg, Adebyor, Eduardo, Walcott, Van Persie, Podolski, Giroud, Sanchez. They all started to slide in the early 30’s and none was able to maintain their effectiveness into their age 32 year. Auba started to slide in this age 31 year and to suggest that he will somehow regain his golden boot form score 25 is not possible.. We will be lucky if he gets >12. 10 from Pepe and 10 from Laca is not very likely if they are not starting games on a regular basis.

    Btw

    Wiltord average 4.2 goals/season between 2000-2004 and Kanu average 3 league goals per season during those years. 20 total goals from Laca and Pepe is not realistic. I think 10 between the 2 of them is possible but not very likely when they are not playing regularly.

    1. Bill, there’s good reason to follow Vardy’s trajectory as he’s the same kind of player and apparently the guy Arsenal modelled Auba’s likely physical decline on. Vardy is 2 years older than Auba and he got 15 goals last season.

      I think 15 this season is a realistic return for Auba, but I would hope for more. That would represent a steady decline from around 0.8 to around 0.5 goals per 90 over four years.

      Laca on his own has never scored less than 10 in a season for Arsenal and gets around 1900 minutes, Pepe last season got 10 goals from just 1600 minutes (equivalent to around 17 full matches). I don’t know why you’re saying 10 goals between them this season, unless you expect a massive decline from them both.

  7. I think it’s a bit simplistic to say that Auba’s numbers have declined when there are a number of contributory factors from last season that negatively affected his stats – malaria being the most obvious physical issue. He does look more like his old self this season IMHO.
    That said, I think the 73 goal estimate is wildly optimistic … but equally, the 30 goals is pessimistic, not least as it ignores goals from the front 4 replacements when they play.
    Personally, I think 60 is a realistic expectation, looking at the past 3 matches as how we can expect to line up and play. If the Sp*rs game is a real indicator of how the team is going to develop then there looks to be upside, if it’s a bit of a one-off then maybe not so good.

    1. Arsenal had 55 PL goals last season.
      Auba +5 , Saka +5, ESR+5 and Odegard+5
      gives us 75. -5 for Pepe as his game time could be reduced.
      that gets us to 70. I know this is a very raw way to estimate but I feel confident saying Arsenal will score b/w 65-75 PL goals this season.

    2. I agree with this.

      We scored 55 goals last season and it was the worst football I’ve ever seen Arsenal play. Surely it can’t get worse than that just because Aubameyang got a year older. 60-70 goals this season is a reasonable expectation.

      1. I think what Bill is really saying here is that Arsenal are in a pickle of their own making. He is worried that the season could go from half sour to full sour (or perhaps the other way round?) and that the proper ingredients aren’t even in the pantry. Arteta needs to boil just the right proportion of salt, vinegar and sugar to get the mixture right and his cucumbers need to be fresh and crispy. Fortunately he went to the farmers market this summer and found some fresh cucumbers that are just about in season, though a bit on the green side. After steeping in just the right solution, the cucumbers will be transformed. They will come out of the jar and will either be delightfully crispy and tangy or soggy and disappointing.

        1. Amazing Doc. Although surely the first sentence should read “I think what Dill is really saying here is…”

  8. Xhaka is done for 3 months. Now the real test begins for the young midfielders. Let’s see what AMN and Sambi are made of. Might be good to give a feel of the 1st team to Patino as well.

    @Bill I think Auba will surprise you this season.

  9. Hey Tim, according to The Guardian, it seems that he’ll be missing for about 3 months, which kinda worries me, especially when AFCON begins. Our midfield is gonna look pretty thin then.

    On to more important stuff: food. To be honest, there’s not much I can say about pickles. My country is known for their acar timun (literally cucumber pickle), but I hate cucumber, they taste like water, but weird (to me) and I still don’t like them after being pickled. The thing is, they often come with other common pickles like carrot mixed together and I enjoy them, just not the cucumber.

    Back when I was studying in Singapore, there was a ramen place called 4 Seasons Keisuke I would often visit that served free beansprouts that were amazing. I’m not 100% sure, but a quick google brought me the name ‘chilled marinated beansprouts’. They’re often served in a big jar with the beansprout marinated in vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, and some sort of chilli. I’m not really sure if they’re technically pickles or not, but they look a lot like kimchi and are incredibly delicious. Since they were free, whenever I visit the place (and I make sure I do whenever I go to SIngapore), I can normally finish almost an entire jar by myself. Thinking about it is making me crave those beansprouts, man I miss going overseas.

  10. Greg

    There are exceptions to every generalization and Vardy is certain an exception. However, Look at the other non Arsenal big scorers in the PL in this century. Drogba, Rooney Aguero etc etc. The vast majority saw a significant drop off by age 32. You build expectations around the norm rather then the occasional exceptions. If you have 2 potential outcomes do you bet on the one that happens 90% of the time or 10% of the time?

  11. Tim at least is basing his goal projections on current returns. I dont see anything from Bill except guesswork that’s helpful to his argument.

    Bill, of course we don’t know what Auba’s number is going to be (we’d be soothsayers if we did), but in his worst season (afflicted by illness to himself and his mom and other issues that caused his absence), he managed on or about or close to 20 goal involvements in all competitions (and hardly played Europa or in the cups). 12? Based solely on “age 32 decline?” The evidence suggests otherwise, but we shall see.

    And you dont seem to be considering Laca at all into your equation. Laca is going to get chances. Injury, rotation etc etc.

    You’re right in one respect. Goals are important to our prospects. And I’d be surpried if we managed the 73 we got under Emery’s full season. But I dont know that you have to that needlessly pessimistic about out our firepower

  12. Piccalilli is essential. Also make Hot and spicy red pepper relish, Lemon and lime fire, Hot chilli and apple, Aubergine pickle, Indian pickles, Mediterranean relish and Runner bean chutney. All very different and all with a role in different sandwiches. Don’t ignore Chilli and Apple jam which is obviously not a pickle but very versatile.

    We make them all all. Get the recipes if you want them. I love making pickles and relishes.

  13. Oh come on, mates! This IS a Gooner blog, ffs.

    1,2,3,4…

    🎶Tottenham get battered….
    Everywhere they go….
    Tottenham get battered….
    Everywhere they gooooooooooo….
    Everywhere they gooooo!!!🎶

    (repeat)

  14. Off topic, I know, but Arsenal have a really good women’s team.

    I urge you, gooners, to start following them. Their odds of success are better than the men’s.
    _________

    Great comments on pickles, and I’m afraid I can’t bring much knowledge to it.

    Except to say that in Trinidad here they pickle every sweet fruit, and eat it just like that, by itself. And they call it “chow”.

    I’m going to experiment by adding pineapple chow to my hot dogs instead of sauerkraut.

  15. Claude

    We will see how it works out this year. I am totally guessing how many goals Auba will score but I don’t think there has been an Arsenal player in this century who has scored >10 goals in his age 32 season. There can always be exceptions but guessing 12 league goals for Auba seems generous based on the last 21 years of historical data. The other problem is last season we got 23 goals from Laca and Pepe. It seems like those guys have lost their spots in the starting 11 so there is zero chance together they will come close to combining for 23 goals. Without Europa league our fixture list is much less crowded and the need to rest players so you can’t really project a lot of minutes for Laca and Pepe. We have replaced them in the starting line up with players whose career history does not include scoring many goals. It seems difficult to find a realistic path for us to make up for the 23 league goals we got from Laca and Pepe last season without an injury crisis that brings them back into the regular starting lineup on a regular basis and if they do come back into the lineup they have to be effective which was not happening for Pepe when he was starting. If we have injury crisis then I assume our preferred starting line up will be negatively effected.

    1. The number of goals a player scores is so dependent on the overall team performance and the flow of the games. If Arsenal can take the lead in a majority of games we play, we will get lots of chances and score lots of goals. If we can’t, then we’ll chase a lot of games and end up without a lot of goals or points. Then there’s factors like fatigue and fitness, chemistry between players and consistency in the type of role and running mates a player has with him. Those things to me are items 1-5 on the list of why players do or do not score.

      Auba will score goals if he gets chances, we’ve already seen that. He’ll get chances if the team creates them. The team will create them if they are able to impose themselves on most of the games they play and if they get to play with a lead more often than not. I’m not worried about historic precedent here because this team has basically JUST taken its current form. Like Bukayo said, anything is possible as long as the team performs like they did in the NLD!

      1. This is exactly right.

        For me, the missing ingredient since the Unai 73 goals season is a creative player (or more accurately, multiple creative players). This can be down to personnel (which it has been since Ozil was unceremoniously drummed out) and also because of playing style of the manager.

        So, there is still a chance that Arteta could be the architect of his own downfall and play dour football which kills off our attack. If so, I don’t expect him to stick around for the full season.

    2. Players over the age of 32 score more than 10 goals in various leagues around the world. Saying “Arsenal player this century” is cherry-picking data in the extreme.

      1. I’ll admit 25 goals from Auba is optimistic. 15 like others have suggested seems a reasonable floor for expectations. I’m basing my optimism on some ‘soft’ non-statistics –

        1. Guy’s an elite athlete even by PL standards, who looks to be in great shape and whose game* (despite his elite athleticism, interestingly) is based on positioning rather than pure physicality.

        2. He looked “up for it” against Spurs, which is a very healthy sign. Credit the manager, but I also credit the player for sticking by a manager who publicly dropped him from last year’s derby for very questionable reasons. Could’ve been very easy to lead a mutiny during the Interlull, he was responsible enough not to, and I suspect Arteta knows it. Player and manager might finally be in a place of mutual respect.

        Biggest soft factor though, by far, is the manager. If he’d used his resources slightly more sensibly last season – hell, if he’d just stuck with the template that got us convincing results against West Brom and Chelsea – we’d have been sixth, Auba would’ve had 15 despite illness, and we’d be a lot more comfortable talking about top 4 this season. I’m still convinced we *should* be aiming for top 4 in May, especially with the kind of transfer investment that no Arsenal manager in history has received.

        Now that he’s “seen the light”, he needs to follow it. ‘Experimental’ lineups only for top 4 opponents. Rest of the league – 433, 4231 or a lopsided 4231, and give our talent a chance to show what they can do.

        *if he’s played centrally, please. Please.

        1. Agreed top 4 should be the ambition but not an expectation: too many other sides are further ahead of us in their development. Everything would have to go right for us and we’ve already lost Xhaka until 2022.

          If we can get Auba a 20+ season without sacrificing defence or goals from elsewhere then we have a chance, but it’s slim.

          Brighton’s a big game to see how we play away from home, not in a derby, against a very good side in good form, and without Xhaka. If we play well, look good and get a good result, I might even start to believe in top 4.

          1. Hey Greg!

            To me the tiers of opposition are basically as follows:

            Elite: City, Chelsea, Liverpool. No chance we finish ahead of them.

            Sub-elite: Man United. They could be had last season but adding Ronaldo and Varane pushed them to another level. I doubt we’re finishing ahead of them.

            Advanced: Arsenal, Leicester, Tottenham, West Ham, Aston Villa, Everton.

            Basic: Everyone else. Brentford are feisty and I think they’ll do well this season but I don’t expect them to compete with the advanced group.

            Depending on form and injuries, these clubs are probably going to finish within 5-6 points of each other. Aston Villa lost their major creative hub and will not be better than they were last season, while Tottenham seem to have taken a step backwards. West Ham and Everton are good clubs but they are not superior squads by any means.

            The advanced group is the chasing pack that we have to finish on top of in order to qualify for Europe. And I do think this is realistic. Arsenal have the goods to finish in front of every one of these clubs, and if we do, that’s a respectable 5th place finish. I think that should be the goal this season.

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