After weeks of anticipation, excitement and expectancy, it’s fair to say that the season didn’t exactly start the way we had planned.
A 0-0 draw at home at Sunderland is hardly anything to shout about, but despite Arsenal’s dominance in possession and attack, the Gunners couldn’t find their way past a resolute Black Cats backline.
Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla both made their debuts, while the long-awaited return of crocked Abou Diaby finally took place on Saturday.
While many have vented their frustrations since the game and indeed during it, it isn’t exactly the end of the world.
Let’s face it, unless we sign another couple of top quality players and we manage to keep the key players such as Jack Wilshere and Bacary Sagna fit, then we’re not going to win the Premier League.
With the signings they’ve made, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea all look a real force this season, and I just can’t see us conquering them right now.
Let’s look at the line up from Saturday. In defence, Carl Jenkinson was only making something like his sixth performance for the side since making the move from League One, and Per Mertesacker was playing his first competitive game for the club since February.
The midfield trio contained Cazorla (new signing), Mikel Arteta (back from injury) and Abou Diaby (back from the dead) who have never played together before, nevermind their own personal problems with fitness and adaption.
And up top we had the brand new Podolski flanked by Gervinho and Theo Walcott.
So looking at it, that’s quite a mixture of players that Arsene Wenger has thrown together, and while they didn’t win, they weren’t terrible and controlled the match.
The negativity will have been exacerbated but the departures of Robin van Persie (who would of course scored that Olivier Giroud chance) and Alex Song, as once again a cloud of doom looms over the Emirates.
With Nuri Sahin and maybe another signing still possible, there is still reason to be optimistic for the year ahead.
And hey, at least we didn’t lose a la Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool.
Matt Cotton
@FindingCotton
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