Morning all,
Today will be a very sunny day, so I suggest you quickly skim through the Arsenal news, and a comment or two, take a swig of coffee and head out to enjoy the sun*.
* Excluding international readers, to whom the reference of sun may be void, in which case, grab a mug of cocoa and sit in front of an open fire where-ever possible.
Arsene’s keen on starting next season with a “sprint” and it’s not something I haven’t heard before. We started this season appallingly losing 5 games in our first 14 games, which means we were on catch up ever since. Unlike the season before, this season we were way off target and it’s not something anyone at the club is remotely happy about. It would be ideal to start the season flying – something Arsene is up for:
“The league title is a marathon, in which we had a bad start, and when you are running against people who are quick, it is difficult to catch them up. That is what we want to change next season – we want to start strongly, it is very important.”
But it’s easier said that done, as we may be without some key players at the beginning of the season. Young Theo Walcott will be playing for the main England team and the England Under 21s team too in their tournament, which will see him without a summer break.
Cesc Fabregas is the most high profile absentee during the off season – he’ll be flying off to South Africa to participate in the Confederations Cup and he may be joined by fellow midfielder Denilson who may be be called up to the Brazil squad. The competition will run from mid June until the end of the June and it’ll mean that both players will rejoin us on the 6th July without having had a summer break. We know how that affected Cesc’s season last year, so it’s not ideal
Cesc knows how important it is to start strongly and also is confident that Arsene knows what is missing and who to buy:
”It is very important for this club to start winning trophies again, to be back at our best, so we are annoyed we could not do it this season. We definitely need to improve in some areas and do better as a squad. I believe that, next season, we will be stronger. We are really disappointed because we did not achieve what we wanted to this year, so it is up to us to come back stronger next time. I am confident we can do that. We will see what happens in the summer, but the boss knows what is missing and I am sure he will do something about it.”
Starting the season without Denilson, Cesc and Walcott could be a massive problem for us, although starting two weeks later may enough to get them refreshed. We’ll have to wait and see how it all pans out, who we buy and who we’re drawn against in the Champions League and Premier League.
I’ll leave you with those thoughts, let’s hope that Everton crush Chelsea and prevent Cashley Cole from becoming the all time holder of most FA Cups… bleh, boy do I hate that guy…
Til tomorrow.
