Soccer AM, Football Focus, Game of the Day, Football First, Match of the Day, Super Sundays and Monday Night Football… how I’ve missed you! Opening weekend of the Premier League, my teeth grinding in anticipation of a fresh season. A summer without the beautiful game makes you wonder if football is the most important thing in life. I have decided, it is.
Football deprivation is not good for me as I become grumpy and short-tempered – just ask my mother. Such barren days are spent playing endless hours of Football Manager, watching Arsenal DVDs and videos of Arsenal on YouTube, re-enacting some of our most glorious goals in the garden and in the event of ‘rain stops play’, whipping out the legendary Subbuteo (oh-oh-oh!).
It’s been a difficult and rather frustrating few weeks for Arsenal fans. On the back of a disappointing season, there was much hope of a big summer for Arsenal Football Club and I’m not talking about the Emirates or Eusebio Cups, both of which, incidentally, we lost. Now we face losing El Capitan, Cesc Fabregas, who for me has always given his best for Arsenal Football Club and after eight years of top-class service, he deserves to play for a magnificent team like FC Barcelona. And then we have Samir Nasri. Such a gifted footballer with the world at his feet. I’m not going to lie, I think he’s world-class and I love watching him play but his prolonged refusal to sign a new lucrative deal has left me saddened. How or why the club have let both these situations drag on for so long bothers me immensely. Fellow Gooners will be concerned by the detrimental impact these sagas may have on the rest of the squad - it’s all very unpleasant.
With Arsenal Chief Executive, Ivan Gazidis, openly admitting that defensive frailties led to our almighty collapse last campaign, supporters were looking forward to seeing some new signings. Many fans and several pundits have been calling for a complete overhaul; a new goalkeeper, two ‘commanding’ centre-backs, a defensive midfielder, an attacking midfielder and a top-draw centre-forward. That’s some list.
Personally, I disagree because in the words of Arsene, I think we have the quality. Unfortunately, we’ve been destroyed by injuries to key players. I’m not foolish enough to say we’re the only club affected by injuries but for some reason we seem to be hit harder than most. To be without Tommy Vermaelen for the entire season, RVP for at least three months in what seems to be an annual occurrence and with Cesc playing only 22 of 38 league games, it is not just bad luck. It’s tragic misfortune. Would Manchester United have claimed their 19th title without Vidic, Rooney and Nani in similar injury scenarios? I think not.
Having said all this, I think our problems are deeper than injuries to key players and they won’t be solved overnight by bringing in new recruits even if one was to be a ‘caveman of a centre-half who feasts on the blood of oxen’. We have tactical/technical inadequacies in the defensive side of our game which can only be addressed by further effort in training. To concede so many goals from set pieces is just so unlike the Arsenal of old – I can just imagine Tony Adams crying himself to sleep. A fit Tommy V and some (or a lot of) fine tuning at London Colney and we should be OK, with or without new personnel.
Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see new signings at Arsenal but I think we have to be realistic. Our latest financial statements report a group debt of £147.4m and despite a 6.25% increase in the price of my beloved season ticket, I appreciate that it’s not easy to lash out excessive money on new players. We’re not as fortunate as some of our rivals to have super-rich sugar daddies bankrolling new stars on a whim. The reality is that we must spend within our means and remain prudent.
Something that does bother me is despite the club openly acknowledging our defensive problems, we spend in excess of £20m on two attacking players, Gervinho and Alex ‘The Ox’ Oxlade-Chamberlain. A warm welcome to both but many supporters will see this as salt being rubbed into a deep, painful wound. I think c£25m for Nasri and c£35m for Cesc would be very good business all things considered and I would expect Arsenal to reinvest immediately – if possible. The transfer deadline is 31 August which leaves us just over a fortnight to conclude any deals for new players and I am confident the club are working hard night and day, burning the midnight oil, to sort things out.
Trust in Arsene – he will lead us to glory again.
