Just because the home nation France lost out in that surprising Euro 2016 final against Portugal does not mean I am blaming the Arsenal players Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny. Far from it in fact, because I think the two French Gunners have acquitted themselves admirably for Les Bleus this summer.
What I do think, however, is that the disappointment of losing when almost everyone expected a Parisian party is likely to hit the pair hard, especially when you consider that Arsenal also blew a great chance to win the Premier League last season. The timing of the final last night and the start of the Premier League season was already putting pressure on Arsene Wenger to do without Koscielny and Giroud to begin with but I reckon that our boss needs to go a step further and give the two just a little bit of an extra summer holiday.
The last thing we want is for our main centre forward and our best central defender to come back in a bad frame of mind and I think it could happen if they come back to club football too soon. On the other hand it is a tough call for Wenger because Arsenal have a difficult start to the season with Liverpool and Leicester up first.
There is an obvious solution to the problem though and that is for Arsenal to sign another top quality striker and defender to strengthen these key areas and take the pressure off the likes of Walcott, Mertesacker and the manager himself. The big question is, will he do it?