I think it can be generally assumed that the majority of Arsenal fans are not in the happiest state ahead of the new season, with the club severely lacking in fresh faces to improve the team for what is going to be a very challenging campaign. Arsenal fans had hoped that a fresh influence would strengthen the team in the areas we need most, as well as boost the current crop of players full with ambition.
However this hasn’t been the case and so far we have only added £30 million rated Granit Xhaka and two youngsters to the ranks (although it does seem Holding will play a fairly large part). It means that with our opening fixture against Liverpool just two days away, Arsenal fans are not feeling confident at all that our squad can overhaul the rivals and challenge as the very best in the league.
Despite Arsenal fans not being too happy, it seems like the players are still feeling confident of making a name for themselves this season, with Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere stating that the team knows what it has to do to improve.
Wilshere said: “There are a few small things that we have to work on. The biggest thing for me is if you look back at the games last season we dropped points in, they were probably games we were expected to win. We need to be more focused for them and to take each game as seriously as any other. After we beat Leicester at home last season, we dropped off a little bit. This season, we can’t let that happen and if we don’t let that happen we can be champions.”
The thing that I notice most about that statement, is that we hear the same story every year about how if we won the smaller games we were expected to win, rather than draw or lose, then we would’ve gone on to win the title. Nobody expects the team to go through the whole season without a small dip and yes we should be winning against the smaller clubs time and time again, however it’s the same old story every season and it would be ignorant to assume Arsenal won’t drop points. Even the Champions of the league drop points, our biggest issue with dropping points seems to be that it’s like an endless spiral, because when the first points are dropped, the bad run goes on for a few more games.
The squad in all honesty is good, but not great. We have some quality starting eleven players and now have good players amongst back up ranks, to improve our squad depth, rather than having average players making up the numbers. The squad is, as always, good enough to challenge for that top four spot, but can you really see us improving on last terms final position? Other teams around us have strengthened massively and will be ready to take advantage of the mood around Arsenal at the moment. We still need that striker, centre back and possibly a winger if we truly want to feel confident about winning some silverware this season. At least it’s only a good thing that Wilshere and the rest of the team feel some confidence to push on and hopefully they can show us a reason to build our confidence up, with or without new signings.
By AH