The other breaking news is that John Terry has been found
not guilty of racism against Anton Ferdinand. I won't give my opinion on this
case, but the implications for Arsenal may be that Chelsea will be a stronger
team because of this decision. Let me explain further. Although Chelsea's captain
will feel the brunt of abuse next season, his acquittal will help the Blues
team morale. I mean who would want to be led by racist? However, I believe
Terry is past his best, despite a good showing at the end of last season and
Chelsea will struggle to replace the likes of Didier Drogba and other outgoing
stars. The team is ageing and I see a transition year ahead for them.
That's enough of that this move onto things more Arsenal-orientated.
Air miles are the first thing on my mind. "We need to cut down a
little" is what we would say to Mr Fly-Too-Much. I don't want to be too
hypocritical here as I've always maintained that we should reach out to our
fans worldwide to make sure that our fan base continues to increase. It always
annoys me that we have not taken advantage of our popularity in Asia and
subsequently we have allowed the likes of Manchester United to fully develop
their brand at our cost in these far-off regions.
The flipside of travelling out to these long distance
destinations is tiredness. I just heard Theo Walcott on Arsenal Player saying
he enjoys these trips but hates the long-haul flights. Unfortunately, long
flights can lead to injuries, but to put things into perspective we are not
flying as much as Manchester United pre-season. United will travel over 23,000
air miles. Everton and ourselves will travel over 17,000 air miles. While
Manchester City will travel 14,000 and Stoke 13,000. It will be interesting to
see if this long-distance travel has any impact on teams' performances at the
beginning of the season. The team is doing the least travelling are Norwich and
Wigan with around 2000 air miles apiece and Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Southampton
with around 1000 miles each.
If this theory holds any water then we would expect
ourselves, United, Everton, Manchester City and Stoke to start the season
poorly by their standards; and Fulham, West Bromwich Albion, Southampton, Wigan
and Norwich to perform above expectations at the beginning of the season. Watch
this space!
Our pre-season begins tomorrow with two half matches at St
Mary's Stadium. The first game is against Anderlecht, who play in purple and
white. Suddenly, the colour the Royal Sporting Club playing in is relevant
given our new away strip, which is mostly purple. We've been told that this new
colour gives us a regal flavour in a Diamond Jubilee year. I don't really care
what colour we playing away from home as long as we win a trophy this season.
I think the home kit is far more important than the away
kit, although like many I prefer yellow shirts and blue shorts to be our main
away strip. You have to feel sorry for Cardiff City though, who will be playing
in red at home for the first time in their entire history. It makes you think
that the world of football has gone crazy. It makes you realise that you have
to hold onto some traditions or you risk losing your identity. Cardiff's crest
may be marketable in Malaysia, but to have a dragon above the Bluebird that has
represented Cardiff for some time seems to be rubbing the fans' noses in the
brown stuff. Let's hope that nothing like this ever happens to our club.
Now onto the other news. Wales boss Chris Coleman intends to
ask Aaron Ramsey if he minds playing alongside Ryan Shawcross for Wales. I know
what I would say if I was Rambo, but our young Welshman seems to be a decent
guy and will probably forgive and forget that horrific tackle from the Stoke
defender. Anyway, if they train together Rambo will have the opportunity to put
one on Ryan behind closed doors. Not saying he will though, as I know he's too
professional to do that.
Going back to tomorrow's friendly games for a moment, it
will be interesting to see who makes the cut. I'm expecting Arsene Wenger to
field two separate sides: one to face Anderlecht at 6:45pm and the other to
take on Southampton at 8pm. It seems bizarre to play fellow Premier League club
in a pre-season friendly, but we've got another one coming up against
Manchester City so we'd better get used to the idea. I'm expecting Wenger to
field a stronger team against Anderlecht and a slightly weaker team to take on
the Saints. It's going to be interesting to see what Wenger does.
After bringing in Giroud and Podolski, Wenger doesn't appear
to be doing much on the transfer front. It seems as if he thinks he's done all
the business he needs to. Former Gunner Gilles Grimandi has come out and said
that these two signings were made early in case Robin van Persie decides to
leave. This wasn't exactly the kind of news we wanted to hear as Arsenal fans,
although we are grateful that the club has brought in a couple of decent
signings are not left it until the last minute like last season. However, many
people are saying the defence desperately needs strengthening and until that
happens Robin van Persie cannot be expected to commit himself to a new
contract. Sometimes the best form of defence is actually defence and not
attack!
Talking of defenders, France international Mathieu Debuchy is
heading to Newcastle from Lille, while another Arsenal transfer target Junior
Hoilett seems bound for Borussia Moenchengladbach. Meanwhile, Robert
Lewandowski has been tentatively linked with a move to Arsenal from Borussia
Dortmund. I really can't see this deal materialising so I will leave it there
for now. The same goes for Thomas Muller of Bayern Munich, although he seems
ready to move on.
One Arsenal transfer target who is moving on it appears is
Clint Dempsey. Liverpool are ready to pay £9 million for the USA international
and that seems a lot more than we are prepared to pay for a 29-year-old. Perhaps
Fulham are ready to sell now that they have signed Hugo Rodallega on a free
transfer from Wigan. Meanwhile, Fabio Borini is also on the way to Anfield it
seems, but I still don't think they'll be significantly stronger for this
forthcoming season.
Another team expected to push us all the way next season for
a Champions League spot is Spurs. Although they've signed Jan Vertonghen and
are close to signing Emanuel Adebayor on a permanent basis I don't see how they
will be stronger than they were last season without Luka Modric, who is poised
on the brink of €44.4 million transfer to Real Madrid. Plus they now have a
manager in Andre Villas-Boas who knows how to lose friends and alienate people
in the dressing room. It's not a recipe for success any more than a dodgy
lasagna! AVB won't be alienating Portugal international midfielder Joao
Moutinho, as the latest news on him is he's staying at Porto.
The other news concerning our club is that we have lost out on
the signing of Rennes midfielder Tongo Doumbia, who has opted to join West
Bromwich Albion instead. Boo-hoo! Not!
If we want to strengthen our midfield we should look at
Portugal's international players. Wenger predicted they would do well at the Euros
and they did, so that begs the question as to why the Arsenal boss doesn't buy
more players from that country? Apart from Moutinho, I would have been looking
at bringing in Miguel Veloso if he were available. The best is yet to come from
the 26-year-old who recently joined Dynamo Kyiv, so they will reap the benefits
of his talent. Now that really is boo-hoo!
Despite all the talk of doom and gloom regarding the world
economy, money is beginning to change hands almost as swiftly as ever with AC
Milan about to cash in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva. Paris St Germain
are ready to pay the Italian giants £49 million for the pair. While this kind
of money still exists in the game, the bankrolled clubs will continue to buy
success while the self-sustaining clubs, like Arsenal, will watch with envy.
I'll settle for third place in the Premier League again and no trophies as I
think that is the limit of our ambition at the moment, sorry to say. Until
there are changes at the top, we cannot expect any more than that.
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