Do not underestimate the loss of Eduardo da Silva and in my opinion more importantly Tomas Rosicky for pretty much a full season. Both players were expected to return early last season and play a significant role in our campaign

I read a comment last night on yesterdays blog that suggested that nothing much has changed since the beginning of last season so we could be looking at another fourth place finish and I have to strongly disagree about that view.

Although on July 10th we have signed only the one player so far, I will express my view why so much has changed since July 10th 2008.

The return of two international class players

Do not underestimate the loss of Eduardo da Silva and in my opinion more importantly Tomas Rosicky for pretty much a full season. Both players were expected to return early last season and play a significant role in our campaign but we all know that wasn’t the case due to continued injury problems. In a season where we lost two key midfielders in Flamini and Hleb we could have done with the guile, consistency and experience of Rosicky. This time around he has claimed that he is fitter than he ever has been since joining Arsenal.

Eduardo the deadly assassin did manage to take part in a handful of matches where we all saw what we missed during his absence. A wonderful comeback in the FA Cup against Cardiff scoring a brace and then a sumptuous volley against Burnley in the 3-0 victory.

During our spell of draws when we couldn’t score a goal through love nor money it wasn’t a case of not creating chances, even though we were missing key creative players. Robin Van Persie had single handedly carried the burden of scoring and creating goals the month before but during that period he had left his goal scoring boots in his locker, he needed a fresh fit Eduardo to cooly finish off the chances.

For the first time in a long time Arsene Wenger has a FULL squad to select from, we have plenty of training and pre season matches to get through but if we do manage to remain unscathed then our chances of success will have taken a massive step forward.

Natural progression

Arsene Wenger has often said that young players generally improve every 6 months and this is the benefit of having a young squad. I have heard and read people writing off players such as Nicklas Bendtner, Denilson and Theo Walcott and quite frankly you cannot do it. I have held my hands up and said that my judgement of a young Alex Song was totally incorrect. Look at how far Song has developed in a couple of years. A player who’s only touches at Craven Cottage all those years ago was to whack the ball out of play was setting up goals with back heals and Cruyff turning opponents.

A good way to judge a player is to think of a good quality player and then try and watch footage or read reports of how he was doing in his teens or very early twenties, the truth is usually that they showed potential but never had the same impact as they did in their prime, often from 26-30 years old.

One player who has had to adapt to a new club, new country and of course only 21 years old is Samir Nasri I expect him to take massive steps forward this season.

Pre season

A certain little Russian playmaker was thrown into the helter-skelter of the English game, unfit, not match fit and played his way into form. The upcoming season will give the chance to start from the off along with the likes of Rosicky and Eduardo. Cesc Fabregas missed a big slice of our pre season and we could see the impact that made in the first half of the season. Hopefully he will not be away for as long this time round.

Internal problems addressed

You can never tell from the outside how the dressing room is but from what we do know is that Gallas and Toure were having some problems in working together after both players publicly had less than positive things to say about one another. Kolo Toure handed in a written transfer request and has since withdrawn it, the pair have stated that they have put their differences behind them and dramatically improved as a partnership after November.

Thomas Vermaelen

Many believed that we needed a central defender who could win headers against big powerful forwards, someone who could lead the team from the back, well Arsene didn’t waste any time in brining in young experienced Ajax captain Thomas Vermaelen. Which will give some good competition to our current central defenders.

Increase of squad depth

Last season our injuries meant that Arsene had to throw many of the young players into the deep end. The likes of Denilson, Song, Gibbs and Bendtner may not have been ready for consistent Premier League football but by the end of the season you could see the improvement in all of those players. They now know that they can step up and make an impact against top level clubs in our domestic league and in European competition. This means if we collect injuries we should have no problems with using these young players to play matches without a drop in the quality of our overall game.

These are all reasons why I think we will be in much better shape than the start of last season. Even without anymore additions to the squad I think we will win the league as long as we can keep our core key first team players relatively injury free. I would still like to see Arsene buy a back up right back and central midfielder. With the progress that Denilson and Song have made I wonder if they can make the same step up again with the quality they will have around them. If they can then there is no reason why we need a player to take their place in the first team but whatever the case we probably need an extra number in that area.

I believe we will end the season as 2009/2010 champions, some can say that I wear red tinted glasses and my response to that would be I certainly will not be wearing any white or blue tinted glasses so each to their own and all that.

Other News

Silent Stan Kroenke has hoovered up another 160 shares to increase his stake to 28.58 per cent. The Kronk is edging ever so closer to the 30% mark which would mean he would be obliged to make a formal takeover bid. The word on the street is that The Kronkster has no intentions of doing that. He is just playing a fun game of trying to get to 29.9%, not really, I am just being stupid.

Manuel Almunia has called for more experience to be added to the Arsenal squad to help the team push for honours.

“It’s great to have a young team but youth doesn’t give you titles,” the Spaniard told Champions magazine. To go a step further players need to demand more of themselves, be more professional, braver in big games.

“We need the manager to work harder to get what we need, the club to make an extra effort to make us more competitive. We need more than youth.”

I haven’t read or heard the full interview so I expect it to be taken out of context. This is my new stance now, if you read quotes from an Arsenal player in a negative light then just assume it to be twisted.

I personally think we have enough experience in our squad as long as our players are fit.

They are all experienced players, maybe not all older players but have many games under their belts.

Lastly not that he had to but Andrey Arshavin has rejected any talk of him leaving the club for Barcelona.

Arshavin speaking to Sport Express said:

“That is nothing more than a rumour, I’m an Arsenal player and the only thing I am thinking about is preparing for the new season.”

There is no point even responding is there?

Well, happy Friday to you and all that. Enjoy your weekend.

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