New season, new stadium and a few new faces
So the season finally begins today!
The first match of the season in the EPL sees the gunners play their first competetive game at the new 60000 seater "Emirates Stadium". The stadium was inaugurated a few days back with a farewell to Dennis Bergkamp. DB10, Le Bob, Sol Campbell will not be part of the Arsenal squad this season and this will not only be a blow but will also be tough getting used to. The 3 of them were not on the top of their games (for various seasons) last season but will sorely be missed. How we are going to get those 12-15 goals that Pires gave us season after season remains to be seen.
The Cole and Reyes saga also seems to be extending to eternity. With the price being the stumbling block in both cases, these 2 transfers might be tricky indeed. I feel that anything around 20 and 25 million GBP for Cole and Reyes respectively is good business. Both the players have expressed their interest to quit the club and i wonder if we will be disrupting the unity in the squad if we keep them for this season. Of the 2 I would like Cole to stay as he is genuine quality and our bench strength in the defense area is not great at the moment. Until Senderos comes back, we have only Toure as a defender with real strength, pace and defensive prowess. Cygan cannot be trusted and Djorou is not a finished product yet.
Another area of concern seems to be the centre of midfield. We have only Cesc, Gilberto and Flamini there.Seb Larsson has been loaned out and Song is not going to have much of an impact. I had a feeling that we should have signed Appiah or Ya ya when we had the chance.
The final third has always been our strength and i expect us to play in the same attacking and free flowing way that we have always done. The acquisition of Tomas Rosicky is only going to improve us and at 8 million GBP he is a steal.
In a few hours time we kick off against an Aston Villa that has undergone a sea of change. Former Arsenal man David O Leary has been replaced with Martin o Neil. Villa had a very bad season last time around and were quite lucky to avoid the drop. Arsenal will be without Senderos, Clichy, Diaby, Freddy. Rosicky and Henry may also not be match fit.
The first match of the season in the EPL sees the gunners play their first competetive game at the new 60000 seater "Emirates Stadium". The stadium was inaugurated a few days back with a farewell to Dennis Bergkamp. DB10, Le Bob, Sol Campbell will not be part of the Arsenal squad this season and this will not only be a blow but will also be tough getting used to. The 3 of them were not on the top of their games (for various seasons) last season but will sorely be missed. How we are going to get those 12-15 goals that Pires gave us season after season remains to be seen.
The Cole and Reyes saga also seems to be extending to eternity. With the price being the stumbling block in both cases, these 2 transfers might be tricky indeed. I feel that anything around 20 and 25 million GBP for Cole and Reyes respectively is good business. Both the players have expressed their interest to quit the club and i wonder if we will be disrupting the unity in the squad if we keep them for this season. Of the 2 I would like Cole to stay as he is genuine quality and our bench strength in the defense area is not great at the moment. Until Senderos comes back, we have only Toure as a defender with real strength, pace and defensive prowess. Cygan cannot be trusted and Djorou is not a finished product yet.
Another area of concern seems to be the centre of midfield. We have only Cesc, Gilberto and Flamini there.Seb Larsson has been loaned out and Song is not going to have much of an impact. I had a feeling that we should have signed Appiah or Ya ya when we had the chance.
The final third has always been our strength and i expect us to play in the same attacking and free flowing way that we have always done. The acquisition of Tomas Rosicky is only going to improve us and at 8 million GBP he is a steal.
In a few hours time we kick off against an Aston Villa that has undergone a sea of change. Former Arsenal man David O Leary has been replaced with Martin o Neil. Villa had a very bad season last time around and were quite lucky to avoid the drop. Arsenal will be without Senderos, Clichy, Diaby, Freddy. Rosicky and Henry may also not be match fit.
One has to see i the players have recovered fully from their stint at the World Cup and its important that we get off to a good start and make sure that Emirates is the same fortress that highbury was.
Match Prediction : 3-1 to Arsenal
posted by Itinerant @ 4:18 AM
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