3 hours to go - can we win it this year?

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
19 Aug	3:00 PM	P	Aston Villa (H)	1	1	Draw

As we edge ever nearer to the much-awaited start of Premiership football again, one thought is on a lot of Gooners' minds - can we win it this year?

I think we can, but everyone knows that. I'm going to go one better and say we WILL win it this year.

There are some people who think that with the loss of so much experience over the summer, we're going to be even worse than we were last season. That's one thing that definitely won't happen, whether we win it or not.

At times last season we were absolutely pathetic, particularly on many of our away days up North. Those were some of the poorest Arsenal performances a lot of us have seen for a very long time. This will work to our advantage this year - teams will underestimate us. They will do so because on the surface it seems like our team hasn't changed much since last season, but one thing has changed; last season we were a young team, this year we're not.

That young team also reached a Champions League final, and fought bravely with ten men for most of the game. After experience like that for the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Philippe Senderos, Emmanuel Eboue and Mathieu Flamini, we can go into the season confident that we no longer need the likes of Patrick Vieira there to hold their hands. We are over that as a club now, ready to start a new era as confident as ever, eager for revenge after that heartbreaking night in Paris.

Down the years we have a history of never quite being the dominant force in the English game, but the team who occasionally pops up to disrupt the current force. Michael Thomas effectively ended Liverpool's reign back in '89, we won two brilliant doubles with three seasons of a Manchester United-dominated Premiership sandwiched in-between.

We're often one of the big surprises of the season, and wouldn't knocking the Russian billionaires off the top with such a 'young' team be one of the biggest surprises yet? I think we are the team to do it. Don't believe the hype about Liverpool - it's been going on for years and they always flop in the end, and don't worry about Man Utd - neither of these teams have a striker who's going to get 20+ goals a season. Don't underestimate the lift that the man for that job at Arsenal, club captain Thierry Henry, has given the club by signing a new contract this summer.

That brings me to yet another point - after losing Vieira last summer we gave the armband to someone who really had to learn what it meant. Towards the end of the campaign, Thierry became a much better skipper, and will be even better this year.

I won't argue that a couple of signings would be useful, but I've got to say I'm delighted with the players who have left, and hope that two more in particular will follow them out of the door.

Getting rid of Robért Píres is a plus for us. Make no mistake about it, we will miss his goals, but for two seasons that was pretty much all he contributed. For the rest of the time his laziness and general sloppiness was incredibly irritating to watch. To sum it up, he was past it, and now that he isn't around to keep better players out of the team, we will have a bit more balance on the pitch. Tomas Rosicky could be a fantastic replacement signing.

It's also a plus that Sol Campbell has gone. It was clear since early 2005 that the time had come for the Touré-Senderos partnership to flourish. Sol had brief spells in the team inbetween and had a great game in Paris, but he was also past it and just didn't fit in with our plans anymore. Now Kolo and Phil can shine, and the highly talented Djourou can get the occasional game and build up his experience.

And as horrible as I feel saying it, it's probably for the best that Dennis Bergkamp has finally retired. I was of the opinion that he should have called it quits after 2004/05 when he signed out of Highbury with a breathtaking display in that 7-0 win over Everton. I didn't feel that one season on he would be able to produce a performance like that again. I was of the view that he should end it on that high, but it was his performance that night that touched the hearts of Gooners everywhere (and eventually Wenger) and saw him staying "one more year", as the famous chant requested.

Anyway, that's another player around who isn't quite up to it anymore that we won't have to rely on. Now all we need is Ashley Cole and José Antonio Reyes to leave and we're all set. Of course, preferably Cole would stay and stop being an arrogant little c*nt with his controversial books and other pseudo-celebrityhood aspirations and be the Arsenal legend he has the potential to be. If that doesn't happen, he has to go - and Wenger is right not to play him today; we don't want to have our first competitive game in our lovely new stadium disrupted by all the jeers he'd deservedly get. We need focus, and players like him threaten to bring the morale of the team down.

As far as Cole is concerned, I have the faintest of hope that we can somehow work it out and end up keeping him because he is world class. As for Reyes, I want him gone and have done for a long time; he's as frustrating as Píres has been on the wing; he's a player we shouldn't have to rely on, because we can't rely on him. If he hasn't settled by now, he never will. Let the poor guy go home, I say. I agree with what Emmanuel Adebayor supposedly said about this - it would be better for everyone.

So to conclude - get rid of those unreliable weirdos who don't want to be here and we're all set for what could be a memorable opening season in the Emirates Stadium.

There's no harm in believing.

User Comments

Romano

Posted on 19 Aug, 2006 at 02:04 PM - Reply

I totally agree about reyes.his heart seems to be in madrid,and this isnt good for arsenal at all.as for cole,he is worth keeping.he has been aggressive for england in internationals,and he is a very important player for arsenal.he should just say hes sorry and never publish that book.

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