What the community shield tells us. by Konstantin Mitov
Hello lovely Arsenal people! So Man City dismanteled Chelsea with relative ease and it signals for what’s to come. The champions looked like they didn’t miss De Bruyne at all.
It was a prime example of one team being a well established machine and the other a work in progress. I was kind of hoping we’d beat Chelsea the same way, abusing the fact that Sarri came in late, but it’s obvious we’re a work in progress.
We’re yet to fully grasp the pressing game, which is something other top teams have practiced for at least 5 years. We also still have major problems in defense. Unai Emery was at Wembley to see the game and I hope he has something special prepared.
Chelsea tried to play out a passing game and control the ball and got eventually overran. If we try the same with our defending we might get swept away. We must be tactically perfect.
It’s still a big guess who will start in midfield. Do you drop Guendouzi after his performances to go for experience? Will Torreira or Xhaka start?
Up top, do we go with both Laca and Auba? I wouldn’t be so worried for the attack. I’m sure we can cause them problems if we can keep a solid defensive setup. I’m not too confident in the Mustafi, Sokratis pair, Bellerin is an issue and who will play in left back?
I don’t see us playing a back 3, as it’s not the style of Emery, but at least it’s exciting. It’s different. I don’t know what to expect. I hope we get some points from the opening games. If we manage anything between 2 and 6 points it will be a decent start.
I wasn’t too impressed with Chelsea. They missed some key players and our record at the Bridge is terrible, but right now I wouldn’t pick them for the top 4 if I had to predict who would finish there.
Before the season starts, Man City and Liverpool are obvious candidates for the top 2 spots. It’s United, Chelsea and Spurs that we need to topple and each of them has their own issues. I think we can make the top 4 and it will be a good season if we do, but let’s focus on disappointing the champions first.
A good start against them will bring belief and confidence is so key in football. The new start is here and I can’t wait!
Konstantin