Kevin Whitcher
I don’t go overboard about pre-season friendlies, win or lose, but it was a pleasant surprise to see Arsenal beat Manchester City on Saturday. Granted, everyone hopes for some new additions of the calibre that will demand a starting place, but by and large, this was a variation of a first choice starting eleven that might take the field when the two teams meet in the league. Santi Cazorla would presumably figure, either behind the striker or in place of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain wide left. If he were to play in the hole, one imagines that Jack Wilshere would drop back and Aaron Ramsey would be on the bench, although my belief is that Wilshere is likely to be the first choice for the advanced central position. In the unlikely event that Arsenal do stump up enough cash to ensure Luis Suarez’ departure from Liverpool, both Podolski and Giroud might find themselves sitting with the subs.
With a thought to the idea that the club are returning to a more British feel – the marketing of the new away shirt dominated by the six domestic players that have been signed up on long term deals – the starting line-up featured five of them. Whether this can bring a more unified feel to the team, a greater sense of spirit and togetherness (especially when things are not going well) remains to be seen. Against City, both Walcott and Ramsey, two players about whom there have been doubts aplenty in the past, played very well. If they can perform like that consistently, things can only get better.
Arsène Wenger has spent several years trying to build a team that matures together and progresses towards success. It hasn’t worked up to this point because the better players do not want to hang around waiting for the project to come to fruition, and in some cases, other prospects have simply not been good enough and failed to justify contracts designed to keep them at the club as they did supposedly improve. There is also a perception that imported players were less likely to feel any sense of loyalty to the club. Certainly, when Arsenal were initially successful under Wenger, there was a significant British core at the club. By the time of the Invincibles, that had been reduced to Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Ray Parlour and Martin Keown. Come the stadium move, I have a vague memory we were down to Theo Walcott and the club has not won a trophy since.
Johan Cruyff considered you need a core of five or six domestic players in any successful side, and I can’t think of too many examples where he is wrong. So in this sense, Arsène Wenger looks to have woken up and smelt the roses. As for the season ahead, no-one is happy with the strength in depth of the squad. It’s a no-brainer. Arsenal will surely sign players, but they have made a hash of this summer by passing up the opportunity to bed in new arrivals. So we are down to the supermarket dash, with the feeling being that qualification (or not) for the group stage of the Champions League will determine who is brought in. That’s a dangerous game, and one that the club, with money to burn, did not need to play. Surely better to buy genuine talent early so that they can help the Gunners win the tie against Fenerbahce. But speculating to accumulate has not been Wenger’s way for several seasons.
Cynics might suggest that the delay in buying players early actually saves on wages, and with profit underpinning the philosophy of the club these days (actions speak louder than words), I could actually believe it.
Anyway, if Arsenal can play every week like they did in Helsinki, there will be no reason for complaint. Time will tell…
(Incidentally, there has been a change of heart over the close season, and so it has been decided that I will be posting editorials after matches as previously. However, we will also have the match views from other contributors that used to appear in the printed issue on the website as well, at least when we have volunteers to pen them).
This season’s first issue of The Gooner can be bought outside the stadium before the matches against Villa, Fenerbahce and Spurs. It can also be mailed to you if you wish to buy it online.
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