G'dday tribe,
"Now he can talk aloud",you say? No please, that's not me one bit. I have been saying it all along and there are witnesses here.
This is how I ended my first piece in August this year,"So clear the road,this is no guess work or sentimental contraption,here comes the Gunners once again, gracing the Champions league stage and they could even be fighting for the EPL title this season."
Many felt it was too early to say anything but I was guessing,it was a clear analysis of facts in this post.
Then another post followed and here I described what the World Cup entails for Arsenal.
"How about after the World Cup? Then I would ask, "what about it?". Six or seven Arsenal players will be at the Worldcup, but the Manchester Citys,the Liverpools,Chelsea or the usual suspects for Champions league berth in the EPL will have even more players at the World Cup.
"Secondly, not even all Arsenal players are assured a starting role. Partey and Xhaka and perhaps Saka being the only true sure starters. Whilst the other big teams in the EPL will have a lot of their players starting, for sure.
"Thirdly, with all due respect to the countries the Arsenal players represent at the World Cup, their teams are not expected to go far in the World Cup."
You can agree that the above quote was exactly what happened for Arsenal as per the World Cup,there was no need to worry about fatigue on the Arsenal players, so the usual starting eleven was at it on boxing day, full of energy. It was even an Nketiah(who wasn't at the World Cup) that tired towards the end, but I think the coach left him on to build his stamina, as Arsenal will need him to go the full ninety as long as Gabriel Jesus is injured.
I ended this post in focus, by saying:
"Now, a combination of the second and third points above[the previous quote above], make one see that Arsenal players will even be fresher than their direct EPL rivals. So why won't we expect thesame kind of early season form? I mean, it's only natural to have an even hungrier Arsenal side after the World Cup and fitness levels to match – like that of the beginning of the season.
I think it is no longer blind-thinking for Arsenal fans to talk of the title, it is now a very workable reality."
Arsenal was back on boxing day,with an energetic 3–1 victory over a tough Westham side,eager to pull away from the relegation pack.
Someone replied to that my August post saying:
"You forget one critical thing here. Jesus gets injured and your club is screwed so I wouldn't be calling the shots so quickly as there is no back up. This is the problem when teams rely on one or two players as the squad is not strong enough for the entire season."
"Welcome here,
I thought you would also include that Partey gets injured often.
"Don't forget I highlighted two reasons for the shortcoming last season.
Didn't you realise last season that along with Arteta belatedly finding Elneny as an adequate solution to Partey(as my post says),he also found Nketiah.
"After that January window,Arteta persisted with Lokonga for Partey,Lacazette for Auba(that is why my post says,Arteta did not replace Auba's goals). It was after the damage was done,he discovered Elneny and Nketiah and they were terrific.
"We have an able deputy striker,we have an able defensive midfielder. Most of those top clubs last season don't even have an able deputy striker right now, so what are we not saying here?🙂 I thought these things were clear for even the worst enemies of Arsenal to see.
"Sire please, join the Arsenals and accept that this season is a done deal already–Champions league at the very least.
Thanks a lot for your visit."
Today we have Gab Jesus injured like he predicted and Eddie Nketiah has done well against Westham. So you see that people don't just get the facts.
Even when Arsenal was down a goal at half-time, it wasn't because they weren't dominating the match, so we expected victory for Arsenal and sure enough it came. Infact Arsenal began doing some showboating in the last quarter of the match. Only something I didn't like– Elneny came in,less than a minute before the match ended. I agree that's the squad depth in motion.
Yet I think Arteta can do more with timing. El-neny isn't an 18-year-old kid,that you can bring in seconds b4 the close of a match. We all knew Elneny won't get to touch the ball and indeed that's what happened.
That's a senior player,with a coaching licence,he's humble enough to stay in Arsenal eventhough he could be playing regylarly somewhere else. In the name of team spirit, please do nothing to him(or anyone) that has the tendency to make him(and by extension the team) feel bad.
Elneny could easily have been given 5 to 10mins. The game had been more or less been concluded long ago. No real danger! Infact at a time like I said before, the guys were just enjoying themselves, knocking the ball around stylish– Zinchenko was everywhere across the midfield,absolutely enjoying himself.
I hope Arteta improves on this.
Real thing is that,this team is the team to beat in the EPL,there's an amazing dedication to work and team spirit. It is going quite under the radar that Arteta had invented a novel style of play, with fullbacks coming into the midfield leaving only two defenders as last men. I can imagine in the next 3 years or more many other teams will copy this.
It was great to see the 'Prof' himself, Arsene Wenger, back at Arsenal for the first time, since his exit. What a deseving pleasantly rousing reception he was given. It's the new vibes in THE ARSENAL. Indeed....
THIS IS ARSENAL
