Arsenal make solid start.
View attachment 230089First blood to the Gunners, as they make solid start to the season.
After a busy summer in North London, the season is finally underway. It has been a summer of transition for the Arsenal, after Arsene Wenger decided to hang up his managers coat and call it a day. New manager, relatively unknown Russian Leonid Slutskiy, has already looked to stamp his mark on this new Arsenal side. Worryingly, he has done so by continuing the trend of making strange summer signings, that Arsene Wenger started last summer.
Final Transfers In:
Leonid Slutskiy has a preference for playing with more defensive-minded midfielders than Arsene Wenger did, so we decided that it was in our best interests to bring in players that could be more solid in the defensive midfield position. Because of his recommendation, we decided to splash the cash on Bayern's Javi Martinez. Javi is one of the greatest all-round defensive midfielders in the world, and is a nightmare to play against because of his reading of the game, and his defensive strength. However, mr. Slutskiy felt that even more was needed in this position and brought in Barcelona's defensive destroyer Javier Mascherano as well. Fielding a duo of Javi's versus the bigger teams will make any attacking side have trouble to break us down, and should help us become even more cynical and solid when it is needed.
After missing out on our main CB target to rivals Chelsea, we had to find someone who could fill a backup position in the centre of defence. Talented Danish international Jores Okore caught our eye, and was brought in after long negotiations with Aston Villa. He is strong, talented, and can only improve as he is still fairly young.
After Slutskiy's Mascherano-signing, I felt confident that he had much more of an eye for business than Wenger did, but boy did he prove me wrong with his next two. 31 year-old attacking fullback Juanfran was brought in from Atletico Madrid. We already have Chambers and Marquinhos that are better than him, so I am not sure if he will get much game time, and paying £7.5M for an old backup is just not good business. Expect him available on the cheap in January. Slutskiy also decided that having Mascherano, Martinez, Ramsey, Can, and McCarthy was not enough in the DM position, and spent £5.5M on Swiss international Pirmin Schwegler from Hoffenheim. He then instantly demoted him to the reserves and changes his squad status to "not needed".... I might have to check Slutskiy's connections to make sure a certain Juan Carlos isn't pulling the strings on all these deals.
One final deal that we were thrilled on completing was young German centreback Andreas Rudolph from Bayern. Andreas already looks a quality player at 17, and is someone we look forward to watching progress and challenge for the first team. He may well also be someone we will look to loan out in January, to ensure first team football.
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Results:
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After a decent pre-season, we kicked off the season by fighting for the first title of the year: the Community Shield. Over the last couple of years, we have contributing in shifting the centre of power in English football back to the capital. And this was shown when two London-sides faced off in the first competitive game this year.
Chelsea have been a thorn in our side, ever since the 2014/15 season, and we were keen on getting back at our rivals after falling short last year.
Two incredibly strong lineups faced off, with perhaps a slight advantage to Arsenal as Chelsea were missing their star striker, Diego Costa. Slutskiy decided to drop star playmaker Mesut Özil to the bench, to go with an attacking midfield of Coutinho, Sanchez and Sterling.
The Russian's selection was his first major decision at the club, and it proved a brilliant one. Sanchez gave us an early lead, and Sterling converted a penalty only 6 minutes later to give us a 2-0 lead at half time. Chelsea had the majority of possession, but could not break past our two Javi's in midfield, and at 60 minutes, Coutinho was played in by right back Chambers, to make it 3-0. This was the final score, as we strike first blood of the season, lifting the Community Shield.
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Premier League:
View attachment 230079Stoke 1 - 1 Arsenal
We kicked off the season at our nightmare-ground, the Britannia. New manager, Slutskiy, had probably heard a lot about our previous troubles away at Stoke, and sent out a strong team.
Stoke were their usual selves, and gathered 4 bookings in the first half, while new-boy Javi Martinez retaliated for us, getting himself booked as well. In the second half, it all came to life after 60 minutes. Javi Martinez made a silly challenge and got himself sent off after his second booking, but only seconds later, Alexis Sanchez gave us the lead. That didn't last long, however, as Turkish wonderboy Enes Unal scored the equalizer one minute later. We held on for a credible draw, as getting something from Stoke away is never easy.
We continued our campaign against the team that has stolen our title hopes at Anfield in the previous two seasons. Slutskiy continued with Sanchez up front as Lukaku did not even make the bench. Once again, however, I cannot critizise his decision as Özil and Sanchez scored two goals in two minutes to give us a 2-0 lead at half time. Former Liverpool player Coutinho had a brilliant game, but it was his Liverpool replacement Roberto Firmino who made things tense, by pulling one back minutes into the second half. We held firm once again, and this time, picked up all three points.
Another game against a tough opposition who have strengthened in the summer, but once again we bring home the points. Lukaku got a start in this one, and marked it by giving us an early lead, converting a penalty. Coutinho doubled our lead, and it all looked comfortable once again at the break. However, yet again we gave the opposition a way back into the match, with new signing Mané giving Leicester a lifeline. Substitute José Gaya put the result beyond doubt late on, as he made it 3-1. Another 3 points, without hitting top gear. We relied on Sczcesny having a good game in this one.
View attachment 941264Our group draw gave us a fairly kind draw, but some tough away-games may lead to tired legs after mid-week games this autumn.
Group E:
Arsenal
Shakhtar
Galatasaray
Dinamo
Conclusion:
A very decent start to the season eases my worries a bit about our unproven manager. However, the next month is where he'll have to prove himself with tough away games at Old Trafford and in Turkey. Still, in Slutskiy we trust!
