Hello one and all. I trust you are well?
You should be, seeing as Arsenal won their first trophy of the season yesterday! Whatever happens over the next 10 months, we will finish the season with something in the trophy cabinet. Can it get any better than that? Well yes, yes it could. A lot. Let’s not belittle the fact we’ve beaten PSG and Inter Milan, but realistically all we’ve done is win 2 ‘friendlies’ on the spin. Hardly earth shattering and let’s face it, the Emirates cup is hardly the Champions League.
What we can take away from the tournament is that there were some good individual displays from some of (what we hope will be) the key players for the 07/08 season. We’ve seen Emmanuel Eboue show that he can prove a menace to defences playing on the right wing, we’ve seen Clichy do the same on the left. Alex Hleb has been good so far in not demonstrating the flaws that wound us all up last season, Abou Diaby has looked quality in the centre of midfield, Bacary Sagna has shown that he combines all the good stuff of Eboue and Lauren but none of the bad and Niclas Bendtner has shown that there is reason to hope that he can be an asset for us up front.
Crucially though, it has been Robin Van Persie that has stood out head and shoulders above the rest, including the established stars, to really gives us hope that we can challenge for titles next season. 2 goals against Genclerbirligi and a breathtaking strike against Inter show that Robin is firing on all cylinders and is just the man to step forward and be counted, and carry on from where he left off last season. Before his injury against Man Utd, RVP was joint top scorer in the league and was on red hot form. I firmly believe that had he not got crocked, we would have easily finished third.
I remember a few years back, there was this little Italian kid who everyone thought would do special things. He’d be labelled ‘The New Baggio’ and what not, but he hadn’t quite made it into the super star status people thought he would. That was until one night in the Champions League (against Rangers I think) when he was stuck against the left touchline with nowhere to go, near enough facing his own goal. In the blink of an eye he’d turned his man, swivelling on his left foot, dragging the ball in an arc with his right – the old pig’s bladder never leaving contact with his foot for a nano-second – and he was on his way. This was the moment that people in England sat up and began to notice this kid. Who was it? A diminutive little magician called Alessandro Del Piero.
Yesterday afternoon, Robin Van Persie repeated the trick Del Piero had used all those years ago, and finished it with a blistering strike with his weaker foot. All those that doubted we had the cutting edge without Thierry Henry should pay attention. It’s very possible that in that short moment when Robin made Toldo curse his left and centre backs for being made to look foolish, that he has finally arrived as the Robin Van Persie we’ve all been waiting for. With elements of both Henry and Bergkamp in him, Robin is the man to do the business for us. He can link the play and he can score the goals. Let’s just hope that he does make the step up up to the big time.
Also, I’d like to say a big ‘well done’ to Kieran Gibbs. I thought he had a good game on the left side. Sure he made a few mistakes, but in all, I thought he did himself proud to play as he did against a team with the stature of Inter Milan when he’s only 17. Fair play to you Gibbsy – keep it up and you could find yourself playing a lot more often.
Arsene was understandably pleased with the result. Did anyone else notice his wry smile when interviewed on the pitch? You could tell he was thinking “here’s one in your eye” for all those doubters who’ve criticised his youth and transfer policy.
In tranfer news, The Lassana Diarra rumours persist. He is apparently not going to renew his contract and move to us on a free or for a reduced price this summer. I have to say that I rate him, but do we really need him? With the other midfielders we have, can we really give him the first team football he wants?
Jose Reyes is off to Athletico. Allegedly. I’ll believe it when I see it. Don’t get me wrong, it could well happen, but he’s been linked with every single club under the sun in the last month or so and I find it hard to believe anything about his move at the moment.
Kerrea Gilbert is off on loan to Southend. It’ll be interesting to see how Hoyte gets on this coming season, because Gilbert is highly rated at The Emirates and with the signing of Sagna, there really is room for only one back up fullback.
Ok, I think I’m done. Thanks for reading
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