Monday, June 11, 2007

My beloved club

For those who know me well, there are two loves that I have had since childhood. One is movies. The other is Arsenal F.C.

I follow my club religiously, even reading reports of our reserve games. Now with the season over, now would be a good time to reflect on the season that has passed and the one that will come. I will be looking at the rest of the Barclay's Premier League (note the name change) teams over the course of the summer. Naturally I would start with my club.

I hate to use the word "transition" but that is what Arsenal's season was all about. Starting at a new stadium and with most of the first team out through injuries lead to the use of youngsters in most of our games. The likes of Traore, Denilson and Song shone in the League Cup whilst Hoyte, Djourou, Senderos, Clichy, Diaby & Walcott got more time than would have normally got on the pitch. Hopefully the experience will help us next season.

Next season will be vital. With Arsene Wenger's future in the balance, he may view another trophyless season as a sign he has brought the club as far as he could and may want a new challenge. This would bring about an exodus of players from the club, who view Wenger as a father figure. The likes of Henry and Fabregas might leave with Wenger.

Yet wholesale changes are not needed. The likes of Almunia, Ljungberg and Flamini would most likely leave. Other possibilities include Gilbert, Djourou, Senderos and Hleb. To be quite frank, I only see Flamini leaving whilst Arsenal would most likely bring in another defender, preferably a left-footed player who can cover for Clichy, and a high-scoring midfielder is needed, with Rosicky, Hleb and Fabregas not finding the net much last season.

I know Arsenal will not win the title every season but I like to seem them have a go. We have the youth and the talent. We might not be able to compete on the financial level with the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool but on the pitch we are their equals. I like to see us improve our league position whilst winning something - I would settle for the League Cup if we used our youngsters.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for writing this.