Hope we are'nt bringing a knife to a Gun fight next season

here trophy trophy trophy...

Sometimes, theres' nothing like a good laugh at yourself. Like those moments you just shake your head at some silly comment you made or dumb action you took..we've all done that at some point or the other in life..maybe more frequently for some of us than others but..yeah, u get the point. That's basically what i have tried to do these past days as our transfer wilderness continues.Chelsea and United may not have set the World alight with their brand new signings you may say...but they both finished above us in the league, ended their season  with silverware, and have arguably stronger and deeper squads than we do, so why should we care. I'd reckon they both need at the most 2 key signings to be ready, while we need upwards of 3 to 4 to be in any way able to compete. Its like being placed in a Jungle littered with Predator-like Creatures,and every one's Armed with rocket launchers and M4 carbines while we are the only ones clutching a baseball bat. We head into the Emirates cup this weekend  for the first time in a couple of years since it was rested, without any new signings which i personally think is quite disappointing..not only for us the fans,but for the players too i dare say. However the show must go on, those guys are well paid pros who are expected to go about their business and leave the emotions to the crybabies like us.

 This was a summer with so many titles. The "New Dawn" some described it, "Arsenes Moment of Truth" others ventured to say..even Gary Neville our high profile closet fan said this was our big chance to build the kind of team that would fight realistically for silverware. it yet may proove to be. My concern though is if we should set a target on the trophies we need to concentrate on whilst embracing the truth that some other ones are well beyond our reach. It brings to mind the African saying that goes "If you try to catch 2 birds at the same time, you'll end up with nothing" i.e  zilch, zero, nadda. Be it far from me to imply we will finish another season trophyless, but unless we deepen this squad not with inexperienced kids but with proper, tested  talent we will be exposed when the going gets tough. i propose we divide the trophies as "YES WE CANs" or "FORGET ITs"  for those trophies we can win and those we stand no chance. Take the champions league for example, the holy graille of European football and the only trophy preventing Wenger from truly cementing his place as a Managerial Legend in the game. Its a tough cup competition where your squad quality or (lack of) will face the acid test.Even in the days of the invincibles this was a tournament we struggled to hold our own. Bayern,Milan,Juve,Barcelona and Real Madrid  in my opinion always seemed in a class by themselves. it goes beyond having a good starting 11, as Barcelona found out last season...you've got to be possesing a deep array of weaponry or it'll be another wasted campaign. So the question is,can we win it?after seeing  how Chelsea fumbled and wobbled their way to the trophy last year,why not? but with the way things are at the moment, i'd say we throw this one in the "Forget its". Next in line is the EPL, a marathon one where consistency is rewarded and laxity or entitlement mentality is punished mercilessly. Squad depth is the name of the game here even more than the champions league. so yet again, if we want to abdicate the 4th place trophy to Spurs we need to act now...either that or "Forget it". The FA cup and Capital one cup are the lesser trophies left to be won. They pitch us against minnows through most of the games with only one or two big teams to fight with. Having said that anyone who watched our gut wrenching exits to Blackburn and Bradford in both tourneys last season will tell you they can also be full of nasty surprises. The requirements for success here are sheer determination, fight and team efficiency. This is true until you meet the big guns where you will then need the additional Xfactor to sail through.. We definitely can place both in the "Yes we cans".Matter of fact, i personally feel we should have won the Capital one cup last year but there you go.

It was funny watching us swat Asian teams with minimal fuss. Yeah, we don't need Suarez or Higuain to deal with that sort of opposition but the Emirates cup will be different. it'll be a nice return to watching quality teams play us, so i'm excited. At the gooner round table at my place the other night, someone asked if we were waiting for another 8-2 nightmare to get our acts together in the transfer market...*cough* surely not, but it was a good point none-the-less. In the 80's blockbuster movie "Predator", Schwartzenneger provided a classic line that goes "If it bleeds, we can Kill it" referring to his alien enemy . In our case, get those new players in now to blend in...then we can say the same about trophies "If it shines, we can Win it".. be back at the weekend with some Emirates cup reviews.