There were no real expectations of getting anything from those two opening games last season and it wasn’t too much of a surprise when we lost both of them. However, we will be expected to take a minimum of four points from the opening two games next season and we should really be aiming for six points. With a trip to Liverpool and a home game against Spurs to follow before the first international break it makes six points almost a necessity from our first two games.
After that game against Spurs we have a run where we have 12 games in a row against teams who finished below us last season before a busy and difficult festive schedule. During that 12 game run we will also have our Europa League group games to contend with, but four of those six games will be followed by home game in the league. With squad rotation we will hopefully be able to keep the players relatively fresh during that period and possibly get a good return from those games.
Our primary target for next season has to be a top four finish after missing out for the last three seasons and anything that can help us achieve that target is a good thing. We might have finished the season in a bit of a mess, but it can be argued that both United and Chelsea are in an even worse state. If Chelsea can’t overturn their transfer embargo they are in a whole heap of trouble with Eden Hazard already departed while United ended their season in disarray and it will take an awful lot to improve them.
Our actions in the transfer market will give us an indication of what to expect next season with players needed in so many positions. For a start we need to replace Aaron Ramsey, Danny Welbeck, Petr Cech and Stephan Lichsteiner after all of their contracts ended and they either left on free transfers or hung up their boots. Only Ramsey had any real impact on the first team last season and it will take an awful lot to replace one of the few players to come out of last season with any credit.
We didn’t see too much of Welbeck due to injuries and I think we can replace him with one or two of the younger players coming through while saving a lot on his wages. If he could have avoided missing so many games due to injuries in his time at the club I think we would have missed him more, but his injury record makes him a worry for any team considering signing him. Both Cech and Lichsteiner will probably be replaced from what we have already too as neither of them had too much impact on the first team last season too.
There are rumours of just about all of our defenders leaving, but I think we need to try to keep Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding while I think both Laurent Koscielny and Sokratis Papastathopoulos should be kept too. Like so many other Arsenal fans I think Shkodran Mustafi needs to be moved on while Sead Kolasinac and Callum Chambers are both rumoured to be surplus to requirements too. We definitely need to sign some defenders who can help to cut out the individual errors that lead to so many of the goals we concede.
In midfield there are rumours of Granit Xhaka being surplus to requirements or maybe even wanting to go to play in the Champions League while Lucas Torreira has made it known that he’s not too fond of life in London. I think we really need to hold on to Torreira while I’m not so sure on Xhaka. When he’s good he can have a real influence on our control of a game, but he just does not seem to learn from his mistakes as his lack of positional awareness and perpensity to give the ball away cost us dearly time after time.
I can’t say I’m looking forward to next season too much, but the troubles of some of our rivals could open the door for us. I can’t see us challenging for the title and I would be very surprised if it isn’t a two horse race between City and Liverpool like it was last season. I’m far from convinced Spurs can do any better than they did this season and I think they’re another team who could and probably should be in our sights.
While I’m still far from convinced Unai Emery is the manager to lead us forward I’m also pretty sure he’ll still be here come the new season. While our final position was marginally better than the previous season and we collected a few more points too as well as reaching the Europa League final it was still a failure because of our inability to make the Champions League. If we can break into the top four next season it will have to be judged as some form of success and it might well be enough for Emery to continue in the job.
That’s it for today.
See you tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment