Why Arsenal must not make too much of Community shield win

Okay so there is no doubt that Arsenal winning the Community Shield against the Premier League champions Chelsea was a good thing, and there are plenty of positive things for us Gooners to take from the game, not least the way a weakened Arsenal team performed against a Chelsea team with far fewer of the first team unavailable.

But let’s just take a step away from the celebrations for a minute shall we? This does not mean that the Gunners are going to storm to the EPL trophy this season, not by a long chalk. I am not saying that we won’t win it or that we cannot win it, just that we should not make too much of the Community Shield win.

After all this is the third time in four years that Arsenal have lifted the first trophy of the season and the previous two did not lead to league glory for the Gunners. In fact I think there can be more a danger of overconfidence or complacency and we cannot afford to let that happen again.

Last season we were not in it but we did beat Man City in the final pre-season game, only to play like puddings and ship four goals in a home loss to Liverpool on the opening day. The year before that Arsenal won the Asia trophy, the Emirates Cup and the Community Shield as we won every game before losing our opening league match 2-0 at home to West Ham.

The year before that we did win our opener against Crystal Palace after beating Man City to the Shield quite comfortably but then our title challenge faltered and Arsenal did not win another league game for over a month and by mid-October Chelsea were runaway leaders.

So be happy that we lifted the trophy at Wembley but also hope that it does not go to the players’ heads this time, because we need to hit the ground running and fight for every ball when the season really starts.

D.N.

26 Comments

  1. Totally agree

    we should judge ourselves over 38 games.

    wenger and the players owe us a premier league this season.
    we have waited long enough.

  2. Well said..

    All I want is a good start this season. For a start, we are playing on Friday.. I am hoping we start the campaign with a victory. Can’t remember the last time we won our first game of the season. Let’s change it this time. #FridayStart #ThreePoint

    1. I do have a bad feeling about friday. There’s something about Mahrez probably feeling annoyed by Arsenal and he’s gonna put in a match winning performance to draw 1-1 or win 1-2. Ironically, he’ll play terrible the next few games for Leicester but world class against us.

  3. Hit ground running beat Leicester one game time then stoke and Liverpool away pretty hard let’s go anfield and win put down statement or atleast not lose 7 Pts from 9 for first 3 games will do and ya we beat Chelsea good game but it means nothing da only positive I take from Wembley is we play spurs there away let’s make use our new home against them on flip side why do I think our transfers are over maybe one more but I have feeling if we can’t get lemer that’s it we won’t buy forsake of buying guess we see soon Friday can’t wait

  4. Agreed, but why all the deadwood are still around? We have 32 players in roster, and then youth team players. Pérez, Debuchy, Wilshere and Gibbs are must sell, Akpom must be loaned again, Jenkinson may be loaned or sold. Paulista or Chambers must stay in team, one of them can be sold. That will make the squad size reasonable and open to one more signing.
    Stop penny pinching Wenger, if these are not sorted we will lose money on wages that can be spent elsewhere.

    1. The problem is average players are on high wages thus we struggling to offload them. We should learn from this mistake and never give non-starters such high salary!

    2. “Stop penny pinching Wenger” Yet, the people that say that, are the very same that complain about the wages of some of our players and how low they sell for. You honestly couldn’t make up, how utterly contradictory some of the ridiculous criticisms thrown at Wenger are…

  5. wengers modus operendi has always been to take each game as it comes so we shouldn’t expect this season to be any different. should we revel in the victory over the weekend, yes of course we can knowing that your as good as your last game and victories breath confidence in the team and into to our fans. there’s plenty of time for detractors and naysayers to undermine arsenal victories but for now we’ve every reason to boast bragging rights as the winners of successive encounters at wembley against the epl champions. our new momentum will be to take the epl crown outright.

  6. Be disappointed if lacazette and sead don’t start at striker and LWB respectively on friday. I’d also start ox on right b/c bellerin looked hella rusty.
    Oh, and elneny deserves another start for sure. Dude had to be step for step with Kante as far as covering ground.

    Watching Elneny play in midfield was a real treat; forgot what discipline, balance, and putting team before self looked like since Santi has been out.
    Anyone else but Ramsey would be worried about losing that starting spot.
    Loved Welbecks work rate; if dude could finish he’d be poison to defenders. Oh well, at least we still have Walcott. On second thought, forget i mentioned Theo. Wish he never signed that damned ting.

    1. I agree with most of what you’re saying except Welbeck’s beginning to become too selfish, he needs to be a team player and find the pass so that the player in the better position can finish off. I am also under the impression that Welbeck is not trained to use his left foot because it seems to me he always uses his right foot even when the situation demands using the left, which is a pity because he is quite effective down the left side. Otherwise his determination and work ethic is at the highest level.

      Elneny is an important squad player who works hard and covers the ground and is so important attribute to have in the midfield. His weaknesses is his lack of creativity, flair and ability to be counted in the final third of a good play, as it’s as important for a midfielder to have offensive abilities.

    2. Spot on. Utterly amazed how ‘Bambi on ice’ is still classified as a striker – he should be in midfield or at least on the wing!

  7. If the team had not win then the slating and blame game starts…

    We need it as this is a booster to get falling Fans see believe in the team.

    Fingers crossed with full support.

    1. @JustJoy We won so what’s the problem sir? You’re just assuming every fan is biased and only look at the negatives. Aren’t you doing the same slating and blaming and being biased?

      There’s nothing wrong with criticism as long as it’s justified and deems so fit. Without the fans support or criticism then this club would not be able to grow, they are equally as important. I was delighted with our performance as a whole and with the performance of many individuals in the game. On any given day if Arsenal is at their best they can beat any team, but the only problem is they are few and far between. Give fair credit and judgement when it’s due and not nitpick for the sake of nitpicking. I think it’s shameful you would use a win to justify an agenda that fans are out there to belittle our club.

      1. “Without the fans support or criticism then this club would not be able to grow” Without the fans criticism, the club wouldn’t grow? Ermmm, what? What are you talking about? In what way has the all constant negativity and abuse thrown at our club, players and manager, by our own “fans” helped us grow? Seriously, I cannot wait to hear you try and justify that one. Because last time I check, after all those pathetic protests, Wenger still signed a 2 year-extension. So apart from the horrible atmosphere that all created and the detrimental effect it had on the players, in what way did it help the club grow?

  8. community shield is just a glorified friendly,isn’t something to be more happy about.

    Just the article had said,we hope it won’t get to their head this time around.

    With still need a couple of signing if we want to compete for silverware this season.

    Kolasinac and Alexander aren’t enough to take as far as we want when the league matches start.

  9. This was one game and as we know we seem to like Wembley.
    The full season is a marathon not a sprint.
    I hope to hear a lot more of ‘1 nil to the Arsenal’ this year meaning good game management and a lot more eeked out results when we are missing injured players or not playing well for some reason.
    I think Europa will actually help us as it will keep a lot of the b sqaud players fit and match competitive so when the inevitable injuries come later in the year the B sqaud players should come in and hopefully do a better job. Time will tell.

  10. Also maybe true but you can’t underestimate starting the season on a confident high.
    Ask Morata, Courteous and conte if they feel it’s not a big deal lol

  11. Forget the penalty’s the game was a draw over the 90 minutes which is the minimum requirement against the top teams.

  12. Yeah, if anything this loss will only aggravate Chelsea who are likely to take it out on us at Stamford bridge in a few weeks time. When it really matters..

    This is why you need strong leadership. Wins like this go to the players heads who then put in less effort in the next match. Its a pattern post 2006. Just too much arrogance.

  13. A trophy is a trophy. Plus we beat Chelsea, not a lower league team. Come on.

    I celebrate the win and look forward to a competitive season in a difficult league.

    Will we win the league? Probably not, but we might win another trophy.

    Football is football, and I’m not getting obsessed with the PL title this year.

    We have a reasonable chance of the Europa title, so that’s my focus.

    And if we do well in the league that’s great too.

  14. It’s funny, that Arsenal loose one of our friendlies and a large portion of fans are telling us how awful we are and how terrible we are going to do next season, based off the one display, yet when we win the charity shield, against the reigning champions, it means absolutely nothing.

    Why are so many Arsenal “fans” (they’re definitely not supporters, in any sense of the word), so desperate to put our team, club and manager down, at every single opportunity?

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