August 2, 2014

The Future Is Bright

I'll tell you what, that wasn't too hard on the eye at all. The game finished Arsenal 5 Benfica 1, and although it was only a pre season friendly, against a less conditioned team, blah blah... we still put on a good show.

The outrageous bets against Sanogo scoring were made to look silly, while the team as a whole connected well throughout. Arguably our first good performance of the pre season yet, the lads put on a (friendly) clinic. 

Confidence is something that can often be taken for granted, but it's very important when challenging for trophies, and Arsenal will be challenging for multiple this season. The confidence began to ooze during the Emirates Cup game Saturday and Yaya Sanogo, a player with little reason to be confident that his Arsenal career held any promise, showed just why the fans should perhaps have more faith in him after the manager has apparently already expressed his.

Joel Campbell and the rest of the boys didn't exactly put on a bad performance either, but our only area of concern is beginning to emerge - defense. Nacho Monreal playing center back is beginning to get quite old, and worrying. Granted, we've still got the BFG to return from his break and there's still Vermaelen to fill in... or is there? After Wenger stated that he couldn't guarantee Vermaelen would be a Gunner this coming season, a central defender of some kind has become a major priority in this transfer window.

While we've shown some big balls in the transfer window so far, there's definitely a little more business to be done. So while pre season is starting to progress well, let's make sure we've got depth throughout the squad. Ignasi Miquel looks ok, and while I hope we don't loan him out again this year so he can get some experience in Red & White, we still need to push on and cover our bases for when we go far in all competitions.

Here's to another trophy presentation on Sunday, and another boost to our confidence. My money is on Arteta scoring 8 against Monaco.

Come On You Gunners