And so the pre-season draws to its conclusion with today’s friendly in Cologne. Does this count as the end of pre-season? The real thing starts next Saturday and with the Oil Money Tiddlywinks contest at Villa Park seen as the season’s curtain-raiser, I’ll put the marker down that the season begins tomorrow. Or what can be classed as the season, at least. A shame we cannot draw the same line with the transfer window, that lunacy still has 19 days, 14 hours, 36 minutes and 51 seconds to go as I write this. Well, it will be significantly lower by the time I finish writing this but at least you know that it is the equivalent of going to the fish counter at your local supermarket; it isn’t straight off the boat but at least it is same day fresh.
And fresh is what the players need to be. Arsène is presented with his first selection headache of the new season, who to play when so many are in need of match sharpness having taken no part in any pre-season matches at all. Time will tell if this is the correct path for Arsenal to have followed; if a successful season ensues, the manager will be a genius, the opposite brings another stick to beat the club with. Mitigation to this comes with the pre-season international friendlies scheduled for next week. Rarely can these matches have served a beneficial purpose.
Today’s match will include Robin van Persie for at least forty-five minutes, according to Louis van Gaal. It will be interesting to see which half he plays and more importantly, if he is in what is decreed as the notional first team. Presumably Arsène will play that at some point, won’t he? Won’t he? I would not bet on it, at least not the one which will take the field against Sunderland. I am sure that this has happened in training matches, away from the media’s eyes and to be honest, a practice match is on a par with a friendly. Neither has the intensity of a competitive match unless you count yesterday’s lunacy involving Benfica.
It is possibly the time when we should see the benefits of Steve Bould’s involvement with the defence. Soon-to-be Arsenal Captain Thomas Vermaelen was effusive in his praise,
Steve is really good to work with, especially for defenders as he has been a defender himself. He knows what it is all about and gives us a lot of tips. He works a lot on the shape of the team and that is very important, so I am very happy he came to work with the first team.
He is very focused on details. A lot of players, because we are getting older, we know how to play. But he looks at details and the shape of your body and to be honest I am learning a lot from him.
The question is whether it is sinking in. A steadily deteriorating goals against column has undermined title challenges before they have even started and that is something which needed to be addressed. It is far from being as simple as someone just coaching the defence; the defenders have to listen and absorb the information being imparted. Too often it has seemed if they have forgotten the art of defending includes concentrating for 90 minutes. If you think about goals conceded, how many can you genuinely say were brilliant passages of play that deserved a goal? Me neither.
That has not been lost on the players, according to Vermaelen. Presuming that the Belgian was not showing more political electioneering over the captaincy, it seems to be the case,
We have to get the shape of the team right. We have been working on it throughout pre-season and we are focusing on that. I think having your shape right is one of the most important things in football, whether you have the ball or don’t have the ball. We are working really hard on that and Steve does the job really well
The Asian tour showed that there was plenty of work to be done but frankly I am not too concerned by that since the first choice back four was not in evidence and the impact of Koscielny cannot be underestimated. Equally, Bacary Sagna’s absence will be greatly felt but according to reports this morning, he is going to be back playing at the end of September, a month earlier than expected. About time we had some good injury news.
It is not just the back four which has lessons to learn, the whole team must apply itself. The cavalier spirit has been fostered by the manager in terms of the attack. Buccaneering is the term often applied in footballing terms. Well, at times the defending got a bit lost, when it should have been buccaneer, it was buccanthere. The successful teams always defend from the front and as much as Podolski has an attacking edge, Arsène has been at pains to point out his commitment to the team, his work ethic. Cazorla is versatile enough to have played across the midfield, fulfilling the defensive function as well, which highlights the fact that the attack has been spiced up, the defensive has moved a bit further forward. It is not the defensive midfielder that has been bayed for but I am not convinced Wenger is that interested in someone whose value to the squad is that narrow. Whether that is right, the next two and a bit weeks will show.
Enjoy the match wherever you are watching it. ’til Tomorrow.
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