CanadaGooner
Is it possible that the Arsenal management have finally turned the corner? In Thierry Henry’s final two seasons, he was clearly past his prime, but we still held on to him. The Fabregas saga dragged on from season to season and his overall performance on the pitch dwindled. We did the same with Nasri. In modern-day football, when a player says he wants out, you concentrate on the players you have and let him go.
I can understand how some fans felt about van Persie leaving. After seven years of playing just a handful of games each season and getting paid his full wages, he suddenly plays a full season and Arsenal was no longer good enough or ambitious enough for him and the fans, who stood by him when he was banged up in Holland on suspicion of rape and kept faith in him those seven-plus years, when he spent more time under the knife than on the field, are suddenly not worthy of his services
For two seasons, we had a captain (Fabregas) who was always dreaming of playing for another team (Barça). To spend another season with another captain who wants out would have been simply unbearable.
What is most unfortunate about our situation as a club is that the fans seem to be more intelligent than the manager and the management. We have spent the last eight years watching a team that simply couldn’t defend, and each transfer window we brought in more strikers, and on occasion bought a token defender. We are about to begin yet another season where we have zero defensive cover; if Sagna or Vermaelen or Kos get injured, we’re left scrambling again. Letting van Persie go is not going to impact our season that much, provided our back four stay injury-free. The team will be focused and the van Persie distraction gone. So, for once, credit to the management for grabbing the cash and pre-empting the distraction.
If anyone is in doubt as to how the 2012/13 season will go, I don’t even need a crystal ball to tell you exactly what will happen: we will score tons of goals, let in tons more. We will beat Chelsea and Man Utd and drop point after point at Swansea, Norwich, Newcastle and the promoted teams. We will get to the third round of the FA Cup and QF of the Champions League and lift our third- or fourth-place trophy at the end of the season. The only thing that could change all that is if, miraculously, our back four stay injury-free and Wilshere returns before mid-season to add his hard tackling in the midfield. I won’t hold my breath, though.
