Morning all, I come to you this morning very early because I’m struck down with illness and couldn’t sleep very well. I could tell you it’s just a common cold – most likely the consequence of a particularly heavy weekend last weekend, thus leaving myself more susceptible to the filthy germs of people who insist on coughing without covering their mouths (and I think we can all agree those kind of people should be fed to angry, gigantic scorpions) – but I suspect this is a serious dose of Bronze John with a touch of the King’s Evil on the side.
#prayforarseblog #sendlemsip
Anyway, the FA Cup winning week is winding down. There’s really only so long we can keep it going, but it’s been a good run. Just last night I watched the post-game celebrations for the first time. The players obviously had a great time and it was quite apparent that Tim Sherwood didn’t, which was pretty funny. Still, the togetherness within the squad was obvious and I liked that although Mikel Arteta didn’t want to go up and lift the cup, Per Mertesacker insisted it was a shared duty.
That kind of attitude was summed up by Olivier Giroud who, due to losing form in the final weeks of the season, found himself benched for the final. That’s tough but it was something he understood and his reaction to the manager delivering the news was first class.
If last season’s win was more about ending that trophy drought that was such a weight around our necks, this time around it should be a springboard to better things. The way the final was won shows a team that has matured and genuinely believes it can win things now. We’ve seen in the past how a cup win can provide the platform for a team to go on and win/challenge for the league, and that’s the next step for this group of players.
There’s a huge amount of potential in the squad. Some of them haven’t even come close to realising their best form for us, some need to do it on a more consistent basis, and part of ensuring that happens will be what we do this summer. There’s a lot for the manager to consider, but I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the first time in ages we had genuine depth, as well as competition for places, that we looked a hugely effective team – and one that ended the season with silverware.
Anyway, there’s plenty of time to discuss all that over the course of the off-season – but let’s bear in mind our season starts again in less than 2 months with the Community Shield against Chelsea on August 2nd. The break isn’t as long as it has been, so before you know it a new season will be upon us.
For now, however, why not look back on what we did in front of goal last season with this excellent video from @TerryAFCx who has compiled all 106 goals from the 2014-15 campaign into one video. The quality of some of them is breathtaking, it really is. I tried to think of a top 5 but it’s so tough. Off the top of my head this morning I’m going:
1 – Alexis in the cup final, because of the importance of the game.
2 – Aaron Ramsey v Galatasaray
3 – Alexis v Man City
4 – Alexis v Liverpool
5 – Jack Wilshere v Man City
But look, while the first two are absolutely set in stone, I could watch that video again and think of different goals for positions 3-5. Feel free to chip in with your top 5 in the Arses.
Right then, I wasn’t going to do an Arsecast this week because the season is over and it’s time for its summer hiatus, but given that we won the cup and I wanted to keep that going for a bit longer I roped in Amy Lawrence for a chat about that, the knock-on effects of another trophy, some vague stuff about what we might do in the summer, Jack Wilshere and more. There’s all the usual waffle and some bits from the course of the season that didn’t work out as well as they might have.
You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes).
To download this week’s Arsecast directly click here – 30mb MP3. The Arsecast is also available on our SoundCloud channel, as well as via the SoundCloud app for iPhone and Android. You can now also find it on the Stitcher podcasting app for iOS and Android. Or, you can listen without leaving this page by using the player below.
You can leave comments on the SoundCloud page and reviews/comments on iTunes and Stitcher are very welcome too.
Download – iTunes – Stitcher – RSS
If you are a regular listener via iTunes, if you would be so kind as to leave a review/rating that would be greatly appreciated.
I think the Gent will be here later on with a weekly review – although I’m making the rather optimistic assumption that his post-cup final celebrations aren’t still underway. The old guy can really take some punishment. Anyway, fingers crossed we hear from him before he goes on his summer excursions.
More from me tomorrow, until then have a good one.
