How do?
It’s all about trophies. Trophies and silverware. Trophies and silverware and cups. Trophies and silverware and cups and prizes. Trophies and silverware and cups and prizes and medals. Yep. That’s according to the boss anyway who has prioritised the league and the Champions League, as you might imagine. He says:
It is clear there are two trophies we are focused on – the Premier League and the Champions League. After that, the FA Cup, but we will never go seriously for the Carling Cup, again this year we will have the same philosophy on the Carling Cup.
I hope this year we don’t do what we did in the FA Cup last year. It was embarrassing and given our fantastic record in the tournament our craven surrender at Old Trafford was a bit shameful. The Carling Cup is going to be very interesting this season again. Lots of young players looking to make an impact so from that point of view I’m looking forward to it.
But as Arsene Wenger says the priority has to be either the league or the Champions League. And our European campaign kicks off ahead of the domestic one next week with a game against FC Twente. The Amsterdam Cup this weekend will be decent preparation. Again the manager has spoken about adding that one experienced player to the mix but he doesn’t feel it’s right to call Arsenal an inexperienced side, saying:
It is not wrong to call Arsenal a young side still, but it is wrong to call us inexperienced. Cesc Fabregas, for example, has already played in an FA Cup final, a Champions League final and also now a European Championships final, so you cannot say he has no experience.
And that’s true. Gallas, Toure, Sagna, Clichy, van Persie, Adebayor, Rosicky, Senderos and even Nasri, who has more than 150 first team games under his belt at 21 are all experienced players now. Almunia may not have the games but he’s got the age. So inexperience is not a factor this time around. We were taught some very harsh lessons last season and we have to show we’ve learned from them.
Adding some more experience and quality to the squad won’t do us any harm though but I do think, as the man from East Lower pointed out, that he’s going to wait to do it. I think it’ll happen but I suspect it’s going to be close enough to the transfer window to have everyone biting their nails.
Last night we played a pre-season game against Huddersfield and beat them 2-1, late goals from Sanchez Watt and Nacer Barazite securing the win. It was a fairly young side with most of the first team squad being held back for the Amsterdam Tournament this weekend. I know there were some complaints about this but after the Emirates Cup to play a midweek game, then play at the weekend and then play a Champions League qualifier is probably too much at this stage.
Justin Hoyte says he wants to get back into the Arsenal side by proving he’s as good as Bacary Sagna. The sentiment is admirable but I’m not sure it’s going to work out the way he’d like. Sagna really is an excellent footballer and there’s a big gap between him and Hoyte. But if he’s going to get his head down and work hard then that’s as much as you can ask from your squad players.
To an ex-Gunner now and it could be curtains on Freddie Ljungberg’s career. He’s considering his future after being released with a £6m payoff from West Ham. All in all the 22 games he played for the Hammers have cost them in the region of £12m. Amazing. It’s sad to see someone fade the way Freddie did though. From the energetic, effervescent poacher we loved to someone who struggled with injuries that badly affected his ability. I still think he could do a year or two in Spain or Italy and it wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up there.
And Freddie is one of the topics in this week’s The Week in Football podcast with me and the Mugsmasher – latest episode here.
And there you go – that’s about it for this morning. More, and an Arsecast, tomorrow.
