Barnet on a mid-July Saturday. The now traditional first pre-season game for Arsenal FC. Normally the weather is good to us, and 2010 was no exception. I wasn’t going to go, but the offer to buy some tickets from Bernard about ten days ago, combined with the option of a post-match barbeque (thanks John) a stone’s throw from the ground and the chance for the offspring to be close up to a few of the stars and get some autographs proved persuasive.

So off we went. Started off in what I think they call the ‘family stand’ – a small stand to the right of the main one as you are sitting in the dugout. I’d like to write about the qualities or otherwise of Havard Nordtveit at right back, but the wall of the main stand prevented me seeing anything of the player except for the occasional overlapping run. Whoever designed this stand certainly knew the meaning of the phrase ‘restricted view’. However, it was nice to see three first half goals at our end, as the Arsenal attack sliced through Barnet like a hot knife through butter. In recent times, this friendly has been a little tight, so it made a nice change to enjoy a thumping victory. The players who had a little more to prove played harder – especially Emmanuel Jay-Thomas and Jay Simpson. The stars played like this was all a little beneath them. Quality goal from Arshavin though.

It was interesting to note how the new (old) strip – when the shirt is worn outside of the shorts – makes the players look taller. An optical illusion Arshavin wanted nothing to do with, shirt neatly tucked in.

With a view to getting a decent pew for some post-match signatures, at half-time we made our way along the front of the main stand with the intention of getting into the standing enclosure on the other side of it. This being the one the players walk in front of en route to the coach post-match. No joy as the gateman wasn’t letting anyone through. However, it was not all bad news as we were able to find three seats together in the main stand which gave us a pucker view of Samir Nasri’s goal, from the most sloppy piece of defending I’ve seen since… well England against Germany three weeks ago.

You can’t read too much into the numbering on the players’ shirts at this game, but I did notice that Wojciech Szczesny had the number 1 on his jersey. However, Fabianski starting the match indicates he is higher up the pecking order. There is universal fear amongst Gooners about our failing to land a keeper and if either Fabianski or Almunia is between the sticks after the transfer window closes, it’s a safe bet that silverware will once again escape the Gunners for a further year.

Additionally, the performances in this fixture are no guide to anything. I remember Vermaelen being made to look two bob by Paul Furlong a year ago. You could say the same about not drawing conclusions for every pre-season game. I thought we looked far from convincing in the warm-up matches a season ago, and then look what happened when we played Everton in the first meaningful fixture of 2009-10. For what it’s worth Chamakh – who already has a chant (based on Attack! Attack! Attack!) – looked competent, but obviously understanding needs to come – difficult to establish with what is already a mix and match selection ignoring the fact this is his debut game.

Laurent Koscielny had a fairly quiet first half and I can’t make much comment about his performance other than that Barnet didn’t score, which has to be encouraging. Theo put some good crosses in – they’d have been even better if he was ten yards further back as they would then have found a team-mate instead of rolling out for a throw-in. As Chamakh is obviously such a good header of the ball, Walcott needs to really work on this side of his game if he is to make a difference this coming season.

The players signed autographs as they made their way to the coach. Thanks to Marcia for making room for my son at the barrier. Most signed as many as they could, although Andrey Arshavin rushed straight out. All he ended up doing was sitting on the coach while the other players obliged, so poor show there.

With the World Cup players getting a month off, the likes of Fabregas and Van Persie are scheduled to return the Monday before our first game against Liverpool. It does appear that Fabregas will remain at the moment, if only because Barcelona cannot find the £50 million that Arsenal would let the player go for. However, a bit of me has a feeling that we won’t see him in an Arsenal shirt until the first game in September as the club allow Barcelona time to put together the fee being asked. The danger being that if he is allowed to go so late, there will be no time to use the money to recruit a replacement.

Of course if Arsenal stick to their guns and point blank refuse to sell (and make this clear to the player) then the start to the season will be a little more settled than it might be. Of course, the question then is whether the captain gives the 100% commitment to the Arsenal cause that we have become accustomed to. Although I think Fabregas would be fair in that regard and not sulk, the reasons why he wanted to go – he sees his chances of winning medals handicapped by the lack of quality throughout the side – may well remain, and have a knock on effect on the player. One thing is certain. It’s going to be an interesting season…

Just a note to say that I’ve had a few requests to put my World Cup Diary (there are 22 parts in all) into downloadable form. For those mad fools out there who have asked, I will put a pdf of the thing together over the next ten days or so, and incorporate more pics than I was able to use on the website (where we are limited to one image per exclusive for formatting reasons). But bear with me. I have an issue of The Gooner to get to press first.