Emirates Cup: Bright Start For New Faces And Young Guns

Posted by SmartArse

Welcome back Arsenal, we’ve missed you. For the third time in four seasons Arsenal came away winners in the now traditional cash cow of a curtain raiser, thanks to a 1-1 draw we rather handed to AC Milan and a rather more convincing win today over Celtic. Of course there’s an extent to which such games teach us very little and we shouldn’t expect them to. As such there’s no need to bother with much of a detailed analysis; we still play extraordinarily pretty football, occasionally defend astoundingly lazily and Theo Walcott is still unbelievably frustrating.

And part time fans will still insist on Mexican waves, second only to vuvuzelas in my list of annoying things at football matches. Hats off to the Celtic fans, otherwise embarrassingly keen, for refusing to join in. The shame. Honestly it’s not bloody Wimbledon, stop dicking around and watch the bleeding game.

Still, pet peeve aside what these games gave us was a great chance to have a look at not only our beautiful new kit, but also some new faces in the shape of signings Marouane Chamakh and Laurent Koscielny and a few key youngsters, especially messrs. Wilshere, Frimpong and the returning Gibbs.

On the new boys I have to say I once again doff my cap to Monsieur Wenger for two excellent finds. Chamakh looks a top player; sublime first touch, excellent awareness and aerial ability to boot. Perhaps more importantly he seems to fit our one striker system perfectly with just the right blend of strength and athleticism, tied in with a tidy ability to play with his back to goal. Rightly rewarded for his efforts against Milan with a standing ovation when substituted.

In defence Koscielny looked excellent in the game against Milan, especially noteworthy given that he had to deal with a real talent in Alex Pato. At first glance he may appear a little similar to Vermaelen – only moderately tall but with a great leap, turn of pace and notch of aggression – but actually appears to have a few extra strings to his bow. He is perhaps a little calmer than Vermaelen’s raging bull of energy and seems particularly excellent with his timing in the tackle, so potentially the two could work together. Enough for first choice? Not sure. I’m happy to ignore his minor moment of madness to allow Samaras to pass him today, but the combined lack of height would be a more pressing worry and he has a frame so skinny Didier Drogba will be salivating over like John Terry in another WAG’s hot tub. Still, a great find, and an exciting prospect. A little time, a few good steaks and and year’s pass to David Lloyd and he’ll be just fine.

Just how good is Jack Wilshere? Honestly I nearly creamed myself when he spanked that first time volley against the bar today. If you havn’t seen it take a look here. Utterly magnificent effort – it would have been nearly as good as RVP vs Charlton. He’s just so confident and classy on the ball and aggressive too, helpful when you’re almost as small as one of Eboue’s miniature ponies. So glad Arsene is keeping him. Thanks to Bolton for giving him plenty of time to develop but this season they can sod off, he’s ours. Hopefully he’ll be given something like the level of opportunity Aaron Ramsey was last season.

Frimpong looks interesting too. A little terrified on the ball and clearly a work in progress but he’s sure as hell strong and aggressive. At least one player literally bounced off him. And unlike Denilson, he’s clearly a defensive midfielder. A nice understudy for Alex Song.

These two have apparently impressed Arsene so much that he’s convinced we don’t need another midfielder. I’m inclined to agree, especially if Ramsey can make a full recovery. Perhaps then we can focus on our rather more pressing defensive needs.

Which brings us to the increasingly confusing situation regarding the goalkeepers. If, as seems increasingly likely we won’t be adding a new keeper, at least not before the start of the season, then who will be the number one? Nobody seems sure. John Cross seems to think Fabianski, but then it was only a little over a week ago he was convinced that Almunia was being frozen out. Intriguing. But I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that if we are sticking with the current cohort then Almunia must still be the man. Criticism of him can usually be a little strong, that directed at Fabianski is usually completely justified.

But generally a positive start. Samir Nasri in particular is looking great. Hopefully the motivation of not making the French squad will spur him on to the heights we know he’s capable of. His omission will probably doubly beneficial to Arsenal; he’ll be fired up yet completely free from any scars from their farce of a World Cup.

Anyway, I’m rather getting ahead of myself – calm down dear, it’s only a friendly. But I can’t help but feel a little caught up in the nagging optimism the start of the season brings, the little tremors of excitement. Excuse me while I go off and dream about an injury free, trophy laden season with a Champions League won with a Cesc Fabregas goal deflected directly off Xavi’s face. Fuck the World Cup, now football’s coming home.