Well it's over a year since my first and last blog post!
I'm about as prolific at blogging as Roberto Soldado is at scoring for the enemy!
Truth be told, composing a short snappy 140 character tweet is a breeze compared to blogging. The best Arsenal bloggers have my utmost admiration, especially the ones who litter their posts with well placed humour! It's a skill to be respected.
My day to day Arsenal thoughts are posted on Twitter here;
https://twitter.com/CarlBovis_AFC
Loved and hated in seemingly equal measure by Gooners, I just tell it as I see it! We all have opinions, and they all differ! The World would be a boring place if we all agreed all of the time!
I have over 43,000 followers, the vast majority of which are Arsenal fans. I often get grief for my Twitter numbers, for I follow everyone back and I actively follow Gooners. This is just how I enjoy using Twitter! Probably part of my 'collectors' nature that I've had since I was a kid. When I was young I used to go into the apple orchard at the back of my home and collect Craneflies (Daddy-Long-legs) and bring them inside and release them in my bedroom! I had hundreds buzzing around as I went to sleep! They kept me company during the dark nights and the long days.
Now I'm older, my Arsenal Twitter followers are my Craneflies!
Even better, I'm able to interact with them in a way I was unable to with my Cranefly friends!
Following so many Gooners keeps me bang up to date and informed on Arsenal news too! One of the best things about Twitter is the instantaneous way a tweet jumps to the top of your timeline, before being replaced by a new tweet and slowly moving down the line. News cannot be spread any quicker. It's a brilliant and simple medium that blows other sites such as Facebook right out of the water!
I believe every football fan should open a Twitter account, it's a perfect way to share news and opinions about your favourite club! Most Clubs have a ready Twitter audience of fans numbering thousands, Hundreds of thousands or even millions! Unless you are Spurs of course....
The way I use Twitter works for me. I make no apologies! Live and let live people!
Now onto the Season ahead.
It's amazing how one poor result and performance can totally deflate expectations! Yes, we were pretty bad against Monaco, but before that, we were fabulous against Benfica! If the games had been played the other way round the mood would be totally different! It's just the way of the world for football fans, you're only as good as your last performance! In reality, none of it really matters or will have much bearing on the coming season. If anything, poor performances in pre-season can focus the mind, make teams prepare better and train harder for the main event! Some of our players are clearly not match fit, especially the likes of Giroud, who have only just returned to the fold after extended post-World Cup breaks.
Alexis Sanchez looks a real livewire, once he is match fit he will give us a new dimension that we have been lacking in recent years. Calum Chambers looked like he had been an Arsenal player all his life! It's hard to believe he's only 19 and that he has only ever made 22 appearances in the Premier League!! He's an outstanding prospect, whether used at centre back, right back or defensive midfield. He clearly has an inner confidence in his ability, which is vital for an Arsenal player. His versatility makes him priceless. He's a fantastic buy again by Arsene Wenger, even if his fee of somewhere between £12 million and £16 Million looks excessive for a young inexperiened player. Compare it to the £32 million Man Utd spent on Luke Shaw, it looks an absolute bargain! Chambers looks at least as good as Shaw and could go on to be even better!
Mathieu Debuchy looks like another fine buy! What better way of replacing the outgoing Sagna than with a younger player currently keeping Sagna out of his national side! I was impressed with him against Monaco. In fact, the 3 new signings in that game were our 3 best players on the pitch! A very positive sign!
We saw David Ospina in the World Cup and he looked like a more than capable keeper, although his penchant for punching balls when he could catch them has me a little worried if I'm honest! Hopefully he will keep Szczesny on his toes and drive him onto even better performances and consistency.
I still think we need a defensive midfielder and a centre back before the transfer window closes, especially if Vermaelen leaves as is expected. Thomas's story is sad.... he looked like he'd become an Arsenal great and when we first bought Mertesacker it was a case of which one of him or Koscielny plays alongside Vermaelen! No-one expected Thomas to be the fall guy, but Mertesacker and Koscielny built up a brilliant and understanding partnership. In central defence, a strong partnership is much more important than individual talent!
As for the defensive midfield position, I think Arteta has seen his best days already, as has Flamini. Arteta is a little slow for the role and gives away too many free kicks which puts us under unnecessary pressure, especially as we still tend to struggle when facing set pieces, as our 2 conceded goals in the Emirates Cup showed! Flamini was great last year but is booked in almost every game he plays in and was only ever signed as a stop/gap before a bigger, younger and stronger DM was aquired.
I think both players would be ideal as squad players with their experience and love of the Club, but it's time for a better, more mobile sitting midfielder to give us insurance at the back for when our more attacking players bomb forward! Various names have been linked all Summer long, the likes of Khedira, Schneiderlin, Carvalho and Bender. Any one of them would improve our chances of being successful. Don't be surprised if we don't sign one of these before the window ends! Maybe Arsene will even sign a name from out of nowhere, much like he did with Chambers! No-one called that signing! Which makes it obvious that most of the ITK's (In The Know's) are actually ITDK's....
Finally the striking positions. A lot of Gooners think we need a World class addition in this area. I don't. Of course, if the likes of Radamel Falcao signed it would be fabulous, but is it really necessary? We have Alexis, Giroud, Campbell and the suddenly free scoring Sanogo, not to mention others who can play centrally such as Walcott and Podolski! We also have the likes of Akpom coming through, who looks an exciting prospect!
All in all, there is so much to be excited about this Season! Add quality in the positions I've mentioned and we have a squad more than capable of challenging for the Premier League Title AND the Champions League! When have we realistically been able to say that in the last few years?!!
Winning the FA Cup last season will help our mentality, as will having 3 returning World Cup winners in our squad!
First stop, The Community Shield and Manchester City. That will give us a good idea on where we stand. It's a friendly, so the result isn't all important, but a fine performance against the current Champions will allow us to go into the new Season with real hope and belief!!
I for one can't wait!!
Come on Arsenal!!
https://twitter.com/CarlBovis_AFC
