Michael Hawthorne

Midwesterner. Pulitzer finalist. Dig into environment/public health for @chicagotribune. EPL/NBA/MLB obsessive. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

[Michael Hawthorne @scribeguy]

Forever chemicals: They’re in your drinking water and likely your food. My latest @chicagotribune investigation. More to come. https://t.co/TWfg406OeL

[mine ❤️ @Emjenny605]

🚨BREAKING: Wayne Rooney on the Arsenal vs Aston Villa Game
“People keep talking about individuals, moments, luck, referees and all the rest of it, but when I watch Arsenal, I see a proper football team. I see a side that is coached at the very highest level. Honestly, if you don’t rate this Arsenal team or you can’t understand the level of football they’re playing, then I’m sorry, you simply do not know football. And I’m saying that as someone who’s played the game at the top level for years.

This Arsenal side are unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. They are so compact, so organised, so disciplined in everything they do. There are no gaps, no panic, no unnecessary risks. Every single player understands his role. When you watch them, you almost don’t even see individuals anymore, you see a programme. You see a machine. Everything is synchronised. It takes a very high football IQ and tactical understanding to truly appreciate the level this team operates at. Two games into the season and they’ve conceded zero goals while the rest of the teams have conceded two or more…

People will watch them and say ‘they’re boring’ or ‘they’re robotic’, but do you know what I call it? Elite. I call it winning football. I call it a team that knows exactly who they are. There’s a reason they leave no lapses for opponents. There’s a reason teams struggle to break them down. There’s a reason they control matches the way they do. That doesn’t happen by accident.

I backed Arsenal from the very beginning of last season to win the league and people laughed at me. People told me City would walk it, people said Arsenal would bottle it again, but look what happened, they became champions.

The fans deserve it as well. Arsenal supporters have waited a long, long time for this feeling. They’ve gone through years of frustration, banter, disappointment, nearly moments, false dawns, all of it. But they stayed patient. They kept believing in the club, believing in the process, believing in the manager and the players. Now they’re finally ripping the reward for that patience.

I think Mikel Arteta deserves enormous credit because what he’s built is not just a good side, it’s a culture. There’s standards there now. Serious standards. Every player fights for each other, every player works, every player sacrifices. That’s why they’re champions in my eyes.

And I’ll say this as a Manchester United man, this is the level I want Manchester United to get back to. This is the standard. Watching Arsenal now reminds me of what elite football clubs should look like. The control, the hunger, the mentality, the structure. When you get to this level, football becomes enjoyable again for the fans because they trust their team completely.

#england #football #worldcup #soccer #footballmatch

[Charles Watts @charles_watts]

Gabriel Martinelli's goodbye message to Arsenal.

[mine ❤️ @Emjenny605]

🚨🗣️ Gabriel Jesus after leaving Arsenal for Barcelona:

🗣️ “You can leave Arsenal, but you can never leave the DNA of this club behind.

I’m leaving as a champion and as a true Gooner who gave everything for the success of this club. We fought hard, raised the standards and built a foundation for the next generation. Now, it’s their challenge to take Arsenal even further.

I could write an entire book about everything we achieved here. We helped bring Arsenal back to where this club belongs. We restored the winning mentality, started competing for major trophies and believed again—even when we finished second. Today, Arsenal’s story is different.

Arsenal will always be home to me. I came here at a difficult moment in my career at Manchester City, when my place in the team was no longer guaranteed. There were times I was fit but still wasn’t playing.

Then Arsenal changed my story.

Mikel Arteta believed in me, gave me the opportunity to play football again and showed me something special. I will always be grateful for that.

To every Arsenal fan, thank you. I wish you nothing but the best. I will forever be a Gooner. ❤️🤍

I love you all. Hopefully, our paths will cross again someday.

I’ll come back.” ❤️🔴⚪️

[Nøni @SilentNoni]

Sorry but this one hurts more than smith Rowe leaving 💔

[Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano]

🚨🔵 EXCLUSIVE: Everton agree personal terms with Folarin Balogun on four year deal with one year option, here we go! 🇺🇸

Club to club agreement done at €45m plus €5m add-ons and sell-on clause as revealed.

USMNT striker authorized to travel for medical on Tuesday. #efc

[all arsenal news @Alarsenalneew]

Gabriel Martineli:"l just believe it's the right decision that l'm leaving, if it's for the succes of the club l don't hesitate anymore because everything that has is own beginning must have it end. my chapter at Arsenal was opened 7 years ago when l was little boy and today l'm leaving as an adult, l just got engaged last month and my wife loves Arsenal for sure.

When l signed here , l couldn't express myself in English but l got a friends who walked with me in that difficult journey, l learned a lot of English words from them. Bukayo Saka was always there for me, he used to guide me and sometimes we used to hide and have some lesson with him, it was just like a lesson, every morning and in the evening Bukayo use to take me through English lesson.

I'm no longer a Gonners again but l have one thing to appreciate Arsenal, at least l'm leaving as a champion, l have won EPL trophy and FA trophy, that show l was good servant ,the dedication that l had for this team. The club has pay me back with titles, my family love you, my parents didn't want me to leave, l still wanted to do more and achieve more but l'm going now.Bye Arsenal fans we shall meet again one day."

[OptaJoe @OptaJoe]

16 - Tonight was the 16th time in the last five seasons that Arsenal haven't allowed a shot on target in a Premier League game, twice as many as any other side in that time (Liverpool, 8).

Solid.

[Chicago Fire FC @ChicagoFire]

Still trying to figure out how Lewy hit this header 🤯

[Kieran Maguire @KieranMaguire]

Chelsea’s new front of shirt sponsor Circle is currently subject to a criminal complaint in Wisconsin relating to stolen crypto coins.

Its Trustpilot score is 1.2 out of 5.

Critics say Crypto companies seek legitimacy and normalisation by sponsoring institutions held in high regard such as football clubs.

https://t.co/UEuIsp21oM

[Tim Stillman ⭐️⭐️ @timstillman_]

This week's Arsenal Women Newsletter. Arsenal drew six WSL games last season. To help improve on that, there is an increased emphasis on explosiveness in short spaces, final third individual actions and athleticism, as we (eventually) saw yesterday🔴⚪️👇

https://t.co/mcEnq6tHhm

[Ray Long @RayLong]

READ THIS: As microplastics pollute every corner of the Great Lakes, scientists push governments to combat threat #Great story by Trib's environmental reporting guru Michael Hawthorne, aka @scribeguy @chicagotribune #LocalNews https://t.co/CMs0qMAqyr

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

Built for the battle.

Konsa is a Gunner ✍️

[WhoScored @WhoScored]

Arsenal in the Premier League last season:

🥇 Most points (85)
🥇 Most wins (26)
🥇 Best goal difference (+44)
🥇 Most clean sheets (19)
🥇 Most clean sheets in a row (4)
🥇 Most set-piece goals (23)
🥇 Most headed goals (16)
🥇 Most WhoScored MOTM awards (29)
🥇 Fewest losses (5)
🥇 Fewest goals conceded (27)
🥇 Fewest shots conceded (310)
🥇 Fewest shots conceded per game (8.2)
🥇 Fewest xG against (34.11)
🥇 Fewest xG per shot conceded (0.11)
🥇 Fewest yellow cards (51)
🥇 Fewest red cards (0)

Their title defence starts tonight. 🔴🏆

[Billy Carpenter @billycarpy]

When we play without Raya, all the shots go in, and when we play with Raya, all the shots don’t go in. Curious.

[Emirates FA Cup @EmiratesFACup]

The smile before he'd even scored 🤯

Martin Ødegaard knew he'd bagged before even finding the net 😮‍💨

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

I swear to God whoever Amazon casts as a Bond villain in the next Bond movie won’t fit the part as much as this guy does.

Just check out the laugh.

[Puck @PuckNews]

While some wonder if Bob Iger and Josh Kushner have minted the top of the market for franchise ownership, a whole new wave of money is beginning to look at this asset class as a hedge against A.I. and other macroeconomic factors.

@Ourand_Puck reports: https://t.co/4B9WAE4R1W

[Dave Throup @DaveThroup]

Bit of context for the “we used to call it Summer” brigade.

[Men in Blazers @MenInBlazers]

DANIEL FARKE ON *THAT* VIRAL FIRST TOUCH 🤣💛

“I had to play it cool, seems like I still got it though” 🔥

[Scott in Chicago @NorthsideGooner]

@billycarpy -All we would need to do is get Cucurella and we would then have the 3 players we have hated the most in the Premier League in recent years.