Greetings friends. So the start of the English premier league season is now upon us. Yaaay! what seemed at one point several months away is now literally only few hours from commencing. Mom used to always say to me as a Kid that ''Time'' is the worst fair weather friend anybody can have. When things are going well, you seem to have loads of it at your disposal, however when those inevitable moments of life come up when you find yourself in hotwater, its like time deserts you and you are all by yourself. (just like facing a tough exam in a well spaced hall). How right she was. Speaking of Exams, Arsenal are about to face one they have deliberately refused to prepare for. Like the proverbial genius student who believes his hype and refuses to study,feeling he can never fail as good as he believes himself to be. Are we pushing our luck? How about Chelsea, who have rekindled their old flame with their long lost lover, the "Talkative one" Mourinho. Will they conquer all in their path like the last time or will they find out that some past relationships are better left as that..Manchester has been the home of the trophy for the past 3 years. Sir Alex's stranglehold on it appears loosened by the fact that he has retired and there's no way Moyes will take that club to the dizzying heights Sir Alex did. Their ''noisy neighbors'' Mancity, threatened the status-quo for a year, after showing that Money answereth all things when they captured the 2011-2012 trophy. The blue half of Manchester suffered a disappointing season last term culminating in that FA CUP disaster to Wigan and would no-doubt be looking to re-address that with Manuel Pellegrini.
It all promises to be a cracking season. For the first time in a while it begins with a bit of uncertainty regarding where the balance of power lies. It seems so open, yet so unpredictable. Having said that though, majority of readers on this blog would want to know the chances as it concerns the Arsenal. Its a difficult one to call. As you read this the Transfer window is still 16 days away from closing and between then and now, things can look as different as night and day. Assessing our readiness for this season and our ability to mount a credible title challenge is not one that i find enjoyable i must confess. Looking at our squad from Goalkeepers right through to the attackers, all i see is a team filled with honest professionals ready to give their all. But that's it really. No marquee talent (at least for now) to boast of that can give us that much needed edge when the going gets tough as you know it definitely will. I posted earlier when i began this blog last month, the key areas i felt needed strengthening, i still stand by every claim i made there. We need every last one of those signings, i feel even more now that Spurs and the other Teams we finished ahead of last season have considerably re-enforced their ranks. It would be sheer madness to allow the window expire without doing so.
Our Goalkeepers Szecesny and Fabianski are good but lack the experience to stay competent throughout the course of the season. We were all witnesses to Szecesny's mini slump in January with silly errors and complete carelessness the bane of his game, which saw us drop points. Only when it seemed he would face permanent banishment to the Bench did he suddenly wake up and clean up his act. Fabianski on the other hand, whilst not as bad as some make him out to be, is quite some distance from the level of the Petr Cechs, De Geas and Mignolets of this world.. I pointed at this position as one of my areas to be strengthened. My gut feeling is that Ceaser will join us, we simply cannot risk an injury to Wojiech and then nurse any kind of trophy expectation having 3rd choice Martinez and Fabianski as backup, with all due respect to them.
The latest news comingout of our camp is that Mikel Arteta is out for 4-6 weeks. Just when you thought things couldn't get any more gloomy. This is an obvious setback for us not only in terms of the fact that our squad was already paper thin, but also in terms of the fact that Artetas' role in this team with regards to us functioning as a workable unit is invaluable. This is the sort of scenario most fans were apprehensive about with all the inactivity in our transfers. You could tell that one key injury or suspension and we would be in trouble. Not forgetting, we no longer have Frimpong, nor Coquelin anymore. In this squad, its difficult to say who can fill in as an alternative choice in the ''Holding role''. Ramsey alongside Arteta works so well, because whilst Ramsey is the tireless runner marking spaces and tracking opponents, Arteta sits back so in case we lose the ball, we don't get exposed. This job requires discipline and Arteta does it so well. You feel if we can get that extra fresh face to come in and fill in as a midfield backup it wont do any harm at all. I don't feel we can remain stedfast to our 4-3-3 formation without Arteta, the sheer attacking nous to our game when we play it with Wilshere, Ramsey and Rosicky can work only for the likes of Villa and the smaller teams, but not with the Big guns.
We were the 2nd best defensive team in the league last season behind Mancity. This is one statistic that isn't as celebrated as it should be. However, it is an indication we have a good framework to build on for the coming season. Koscielny has morphed into quite an asset and Mertasacker complements his game well. The only worry here is the same as above, a lack of Back up for the first choice starters. Vermaelen is missing our season start as a result of injury and besides him, Wenger is hinting at using Sagna as Center half backup.Just where that leaves our Right full-back options is anyone's guess. Jenkinson remains for now an apprentice and will not be ready to shoulder the rigours of premiership fixtures by himself, if injury forces Sagna to centerback. Still,for us to have only conceeded 37 goals last season behind City's 34 shows we are strong in this department quality wise. If we can get the collective defensive system right as we did in the last 10 games, for our first 10 this season, it'll be a great fulcrum to launch us to positive things.
Whilst we weren't terrible in attack last season we certainly can improve our efficiency in front of goal. The figures for Giroud,Podolski and Carzola were impressive for 1st timers in this League. It was however their lack of goals against the big boys that needs to improve. I can still recall the Giroud miss in our games against Man united at Old trafford and Chelsea at the Emirates. Both absolute sitters. We can all bemoan the Higuain and Suarez frustrations but the fact still remains that until 2nd of September, Walcott, Giroud, Podolski and Crazola are where our collective hopes for goals will hinge. We were the 3rd best in this area overall last season netting 72 times compared to 86 by the champions. That figure sets the bench mark for us, ideally a 25 goal a season striker would catapult us to that region but unless we can find the Attacking version of Koscielny somewhere, its hard to see who we can look to buy at this stage to deliver that feat.
It really feels wrong to have had our hopes raised by Gazidis with respect to how much Funds we have at our disposal, only to see the summer pan out like this. All the renewed commercial deals and new partnerships now seem like just lipservice. Wenger isn't stupid he knows more than any of us where this team lies in terms of readiness personnel-wise so here's hoping he does the needful before we all lose our minds in absolute hysteria! So at the start of the new season, its safe to say only a brave man will put money on us winning it, the scrap for 4th place wont be a cake walk too. But be that as it may, we have quality in this team no question about it and if Wenger can pull the Koscielny-esq rabbit from the hat again with at least 3 new quality signings...Don't rule us out yet.. All the best to the brave guys who would line up against Aston villa to bag us our first 3 points...C'mon you Gunners!
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