End of the season, but hopes for the new

May 11, 2008 | 78 Comments

Well, the season is over, we failed to win any hardware and we all suffered severe anxiety attacks when leading the EPL for three quarters of the season, anger when we were trounced in the Carling and FA Cups, depression when we lost to Manu and Chelsea and total dementia when we were finally eliminated from both the CL and EPL competitions.

We lost Flamini and the Internet has been deluged by numerous reports indicating Arsenal is in mortal danger of losing Hleb, Ade, Gilberto and even Fabregas. Arsene for once has taken a surprisingingly, acerbic, firm stance, uttered that all the reports are rubbish, threatened to rake Hleb over the coals if he attempts to break his contract and is already in the process of acquiring new players and eagerly looking forward to having his best ever team next season. Both Fabregas and Adebayor have fervently denied any intention of leaving the club (with Ade saying the reports are “totally rubbish”) and they have both uttered their love of Arsene and Arsenal and their desire to win trophies in the new season. In the meantime, Hleb has remained conspicuously silent UUUUUUMMMMMMMM?

  • As fans, we are anticipating the arrival of Vela with bated breath, hoping that Theo will finally fulfill the promise he has shown this year, that Song, Djourou, Traore, Bendtner and Senderos step up to the plate and that Rosicky and RVP remain injury free.
  • As fans, we are hoping Gilberto regains his 06-07 contribution on the field, Toure regains his pre ANC form and Eduardo fully recovers physically and mentally from his horrendous injury.
  • As fans, we hope that a few of the youngsters from the likes of Randall, Lansbury, Gibbs, Wilshere, Barazite, Simpson, Nordveit, Merida and Mannone not only get a chance to shine in the Cl but also use this opportunity to define their promise of moving up to the bigger stage.
  • As fans, we hope Gallas leaves his tear drops at home and finally, that Eboue will go on Safari, have his Land Rover run out of gas and take a dive when being chased by the Lion on his walk to the Gas Pump. Let’s see him complain to the Ref about that one.
  • As fans, we are speculating on who the new acquisitions will be and which positions are going to be filled.

    • GK:
    With only the relatively young and untested Fabianski and Mannone as backups to Almunia I see a new Gk arriving at Arsenal with Mannone being sent out on loan to be blooded. Do not expect a Gomes, Casillas or Buffon type, but rather someone from the EPL who is experienced, currently out of contract and will compete for the starting assignment but will sit without complaining if needs be. Names that spring to mind are Green, Jaaskaleinen and Keller with any one of the three being able to more than adequately fit the bill.

    CB:
    I have no idea who we will get but we have been associated with Richards, Zapata, Lucio, Kompany, Dunne and a host of others. For me though the ideal addition would be Jolean Lescott. He is tall, good leaper, excellent in the air, excellent on the ground, technically sound, would seamlessly fit into the Arsenal game, not blazing speed but has good positional awareness, scores goals, can utilize the long throw in, excellent passer out of the back, young enough for improvement, versatile in that he can play across the back four as well as DM and is British to boot.

    MF:
    With Flamini’s departure and Rosicky’s lingering injury we may get one or two versatile mid fielders with at least one being an experienced and establish type who would certainly be a day one starter. We have been linked to any of a hundred players including but not limited to, Ben-Arfa, Quaresma, Barry, Ya Ya Toure, Robinho, Kranjcar, Deco, Diego, Gattuso, Ribery, some Australian youngster we have never heard about before and someone from Timbuktu which we have also never heard about before (just being facetious).

    In all likelihood, Kranjcar and Ben_Arfa seems to be the most likely to arrive at the club although it would seem that it would be one but not both. However, neither player gets my juices flowing and If I had to get one midfielder it would either be Diego or Juan Roman Riquelme. Both play across the MF, can play with and instead of Cesc, are experienced world class players, technically excellent, makes players around them better, like Henry, can create unassisted goals and would be day one starters. Riquelme in particular piques my imagination as he is in a contract dispute with Villareal and Boca Juniors and would be available for under £10 million. Diego would be a no brainer but will command in the range of £15-20.

    Forward:
    Again, we have been linked to a host of players ranging from Villa and Henry to Eto’o. I will probably have the wrath of Mazza, Stag , Fred and an army of AA bloggers reign on my choice as the perfect acquisition to bolster the forward position in case Eduardo and RVP fail to regain their form and remain injury free, but I stand firmly behind my selection Mauro Zarate. A prolific goal scorer at lower levels, 21 years old, valued at about £8-10 million, excellent technical abilities, obtained on loan to relegated Birmingham from Al-Sadd of the Qatari League in January of this year, has EPL experience and not a big ego. He was a key member of the Argentina U20 team which won the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup, scoring the winning goal in the final against the Czech Republic. Zarate has only scored 4 goals for Birmingham in 5 starts and 8 substitute appearances but took a while to gain a measure of the EPL and his recent form has now matched his abilities. Being Argentinean, thus Spanish speaking, Cesc and Gilberto could be his mentor (I know Gilberto is Brazilian, but apart from Portuguese he is also fluent in Spanish). Worst case scenario is him being sold at a profit if RVP and Eduardo comes good.

    Posted by CaribKid | Filed Under Mailbag 

    Sunderland 0 – 1 Arsenal

    May 11, 2008 | 14 Comments

    That’s all folks!  The 2007-08 season came to an end today with that most famous of Arsenal score lines, 1-0 to the Arsenal.

    Theo Walcott’s excellent solo effort 24 minutes into the first half was all it took to ensure that the Gunners finished the season on 83 points, four behind champions Manchester United, and two behind  second-place Chelsea.

    It does nobody any good to think that had we won just two of our draws against the likes of Birmingham or Wigan in late February/early March, this post wouldn’t even be up yet, because we’d all be too drunk/busy celebrating.

    Oh well.

    The 06-07 season was frustrating, because you could see the talent, but the finished product was just out of reach. It was a necessary evil to allow the team to grow and gel as a unit. This season was the next logical step. The ingredients are starting to blend. The finished product is almost here. Everyone can see it, even supporters of other clubs have commented to me that they better get their trophies in while they can, before Arsenal sweep all before them over the next five years or so. It’s going to happen. This season was a tease as to what will come. Something’s happening here, and I for one wouldn’t miss it for the world.

    Posted by mikek | Filed Under Match Report