Arsenal pre-season may not be as good as some would have wanted but it could have been a whole lot worse, just ask Liverpool.
Liverpool lost 3-0 yesterday to Napoli and put a team out with seven Champions League finalists and they have spent less than £2 Million in the transfer market.
OK, they start from a much better position than Arsenal, of course they do, they have a great defence for starters but the point I am making is that as pre-seasons go Arsenal are not doing as bad compared to some of our rivals.
Tottenham lost to Man Utd and their manager Maurizio Pochettino had to issue an apology for their brutal approach to the game, Chelsea did beat Barcelona but lost to Kawasaki Frontale and have lost their best player in Eden Hazard.
Pre-seasons are more about fitness than anything else and results tend to be secondary and that is proving to be the case this year.
There is clearly a problem with the Arsenal defence and hopefully, the club will do something about that but we are not the only club moaning about lack of transfers and the wrong areas not being strengthened, just take a look at our rivals and see the complaints coming from them.
Tottenham fans are no longer purring like kittens, United fans are getting very frustrated, Chelsea fans are resigned to a hard season because of the transfer ban and even Liverpool fans are expressing their anger.
From where I am sat I accept that we need to do more but our closest rivals are not progressing any more than us, they are not having a better pre-season and they have as many issues as what we have.
Does not mean we are in a better position than them, we are not, but it also does not mean they are leaving us behind because they are not.
Pre-season is far too different to actually draw conclusions from. normal games dont have unlimited subs, tons of youth, and significant players missing every game. Liverpool have none of the starting forward line playing in pre-season. We took off Auba when we went 2-1 down yesterday, obviously we aren’t prioritizing winning the elusive Emirates Cup. The only reason we are still confident our defense will still be terrible is because thats the way it’s been for a decade. So it’s guaranteed to be that way during the season.
Dead body found at the home of Elneny in Egypt……………I wonder if it was his Mummy !
Before certain World Police get going, it`s a dead body, so it`s dead !….so if I want to wish that it is Kroenke or Mustafi then tough shit to all the moral soothsayers !….
Smh….. Pull your head in.
Get a sense of humour, too much time down under and the blood goes to your head !
we have had 3 wins 1draw 1loss. Even Barcelona and Real Madrid has lost this pre season.
Cheers fellow gunners for we are correcting all the wrongs that was made the past 10 years.
Strike – Covered. Aubameyang, Lacazette
Wing – semi covered. Pepe, Martinelli, Nelson
D.M – Covered. Torreira, Chambers
Defense – ?????????
I think if we bought a Pepe, Tierney, and a good commanding CB, we would be on par with Liverpool and better than Chelsea. We would have one of the best striking forces with Auba, Laca, and Pepe and I believe our midfield will improve this season with the acquisition of Ceballos. We are lacking in defense but if we bought Tierney and a good commanding cb, that would be sorted. Leno is not far off from the Liverpool keeper. So, I would say a couple of more new signings and we are back among the very best. Mancity is the only team in the EPL that is unreachable at the moment.
Pepe, Tierney and Ceballos are already a good piece of business, but it would be perfect if we can get Zaha as well
Your previous article titled “Arsenal Pre-Season Games are Fun but Generally Meaningless” has already answered this article
What I’m really concerned about is we still cannot move the likes of Ozil, Xhaka, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal and Mkhitaryan. As long as they are still around, Emery has to use them as starters and they would limit the opportunities of the youngsters again
Unless Emery is bold enough to bench the underperforming stars permanently and replace them with the youngins/ the new players, I predict we would get similar results
Out of the players you mentioned, at least 1 is willing to move and very likely, he will go, however, u are wrong about those players having a guarantee stating spot, also arsenal do not have underperforming playing as at today, its a new season,a clean slate for all players to prove their worth to the coach and fans.
As an Arsenal fan, i will never wish the coach ban any player to research or bench, i wish every1 gets his chance and seriously hope those guys get their forms intake because they are classy players who lost form based on difft reasons.
As we all know form is temporal, class is permanent.
And remember its not possible for the club to forcefuly sale its players, it require lots of step, majorly the decision lies with player himself, so if this guys dont want to move, you and i better hope they perform well, else we are stuck with them at least for this season
I always believe that if a team wins all their pre-season games, they will win the quadruple. Such is the significance of pre-season that we should read as deep into it as we possibly can
Agreed! As it was an ex fulham player that scored two against us yesterday to get the win and as Fulham got relegated last year this means that we will likely be involved in a relegation dog fight for the season.
OMG! Our season is already over in pre-season. What should we do?
I’ve just read that Mustafi was abused at the same traffic lights Xhaka was a little while back. His car being punched & shouting/swearing at him… so he had to – dangerously – run a red light. What with all the booing at the game too! I’m not his biggest fan by any means, but he’s still an Arsenal player, so to boo your own & abuse them after the match, how can you call yourself a supporter???
Mustafi and Xhaka can play like shit, but those idiots who abused them like that are far worse than shit and don’t deserve to support this club! What an utter disgrace!
It is unbelievable
Trouble is there`s only one Kalasinac to go around, he cant be the minder of all the team ! 😆
? very true, Le Coq!
Would have liked to see Beliek given more chances as a CB and DM during the preseason.
Don’t care how other clubs perform in preseason it has no bearing on us. Don’t see how we get a CB unless we sell Mustafi, Kos, or Chambers. How much in wages are we paying multiple CB’s to ride the bench?
If we get Pepe and Tierney, along with Saliba, Ceballos, and Martinelli, that’s good business. Sell Mustafi, Kos, Mhki, and Elneny that’s great business.
Tierney and Saliba can settle the defense for years; Hopefully we don’t miss out over a few million with Celtic.
Yeah why haven’t we seen Bielik at all?
Has he returned? Is he injured?
The boy has done well on loan. The least we could do is give him some game time in pre-season to stake a claim for a role in the squad
Don’t worry, Arsenal might find a way to fawk up their season just enough not to reach their primary goal regardless of how bad our competition fares. Member the year Leicester won the League? I hate to be negative about them but shyte has happened so often that one can’t be too careful.
From what you can see, they are building a strong foundation for the future 2/3 years. Martelleni, Saliba, Mavpranos. They are no just buying for this season but building for the future, whether it works or not is yet to be seen.
Ceballos is a good stop gap and I think we will go with the CBs we have this season and integrate Saliba next.
As a fan base we swing to extremes, we didn’t sign anyone and we all raise our hands in the air and say it’s all over.
We sign a kid a loanee and a defender for next season and we are celebrating.
Take everything with some perspective would be great. Ala this article… things are not that bad and things could be worse.
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@Sue those fans are just stupid and insane, how can you abuse a player on the street to the extent of him running a red light, seriously I don’t know why arsenal fans behave this way, you can boo them all you want on the pitch but personal abuse on the street that’s uncalled for.
? tbh I don’t really agree with the booing… what the hell is wrong with some people???
Ghosts do it all the time, Sue !…………they would be rubbish at haunting and scaring people if they didn`t !??? Wooooooo !
?? nice one, Le Coq.. now why didn’t I think of that?!!
No ghosts don’t do it all the time. They always have Wednesday off. That is a well known fact. But I may be lying!
Whilst I enjoyed and approved of the article, it should have been stressed, rather than merely mentioned almost as an afterthought, that Liverpool do not need to strengthen anywhere near as much as we do and that is surely the prime reason that they have not done so. It was a false comparison therefore and though comparisons can be useful, they are most useful only when you compare like with like, which was NOT the case here. We badly needed to strengthen almost everywhere bar striker and keeper, and have only done so in part,as yet. I very much doubt that Liverpool fans will be looking at us and saying “we should have strengthened as Arsenal have done.” THAT IS SURELY THE PROPER AND MORE COMPLETE TRUTH,I SUGGEST! Good article though, all the same!
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