I understand the fans frustration at what seems to be a poor summer of few signings and few improvements. I understand that because I am a fan, but surely booing the team off the pitch after a pre-season tournament isn't the way to go about supporting our boys. Following the Emirates cup we suffered our first defeat of the pre-season , going down 2-1 away to Benfica. Now this may not appear good, but we bossed the first half with a team that I imagine will resemble the starting line up (minus Cesc, Samir and Jack) with the Dutchman RVP scoring. There were 6 changes at the half and a much younger untested squad took the field and this showed a problem for us, which is that the squad is lacking depth. Looking at United, Chelsea and City they all have players on the bench who can fill in when needed and do the job well. We, on the other hand offer little in the shape of stand ins. I'd like to say that we will strengthen by dipping into the transfer market but looking at developments today I highly doubt that, more on that in a bit.
So the saga of Cesc continues and it has reached a point now where all parties involved at our end seem totally fed up of it. The board have stated they want to sort this sooner rather than later, but with Barcelona continually pissing around its still going on. I really hope the pathetic way that Barcelona have treated us this summer comes back to haunt them. But the fault doesn't only lie with them it lies with us, I read that Hulk as he is known has a 100M Euro buy out clause in his contract. 100m! Now why didn't who drafted Cesc's contract agree a £40m buy out, that's what we want and that ensures that we get it. Anyone who knows the ins and outs of football contracts and clauses, answers on a postcard please. Cesc was left out of the squad for both the Emirates and Eusebio Cups, due to a "Thigh Problem", whether this is true or not who knows but we seem no closer to a conclusion than we have all summer.
As for Samir Nasri, well fuck only knows whats happening about his future. He was also left out of the squad with a muscular problem but Wenger seems confident he will be an Arsenal Player this season. However the window is open till August 31st so who knows what could happen between now and then.
Now to the transfers I touched on earlier and we have made another one! Don't get too excited this one has been in the pipe line all summer and its that of 17 year old Alex Oxlade-Chamerlain. Another winger, just what we need right now. Another for the future but hardly one that at the moment, with all respect, gets the blood rushing, I really don't understand the signings of winger after winger unless we're planning to play 1-1-8 next season but hey, I'm not ruling it out. Also during last week we had another bid rejected for Jagielka but as I said, I think that deal is miles away from completion so we shall see what happens this week. Arsene said we were looking to sign "super quality", if a 17 year old Southampton winger is his idea of super quality then god help us all.
Anyway the season is almost upon us and men (and women) everywhere are starting to get excited about that first game of a brand new season. The dullness of a football-less summer is nearly over and the harsh reality of the Premier League starts for us with a tricky trip to Newcastle, followed by our Champions League qualifier with Udinese, who also may be a challenge. But at least we avoided the trip to Russia the following week.
Next post will be Thursday, until then enjoy your week.
