So the Community Shield is done, and the handshake thing still bugging those who allow themselves to be bugged by something so meaningless, ignoring the fact that this is exactly what Mourinho wants.
Are we talking about the fact that Chelsea lost? No. How about the fact Loic Remy was so comically bad he was taken off at half-time and replaced by Falcao who was even worse? No. It’s almost as if the man who, if you’ll excuse the wankiness of the phrase, consistently ‘shapes the narrative’ to the one which puts him under the least scrutiny from a footballing point of view has done it again.
Anyway, it’s water under the bridge now, and the countdown to the new season can begin in earnest. We’ve got an injury problem with Jack Wilshere reportedly set to miss the opening two games after picking up an ankle knack in training. Hey, it wouldn’t be us without some kind of worry – and while I understand they’re saying it’s relatively short-term, when you hear about Jack Wilshere and one of his ankles you can’t help but fear the worst. Fingers crossed it’s nothing serious.
That Danny Welbeck is back in training is no surprise, because the decision to loan Chuba Akpom to Hull – due to go through today apparently – was probably made with that in mind. Had Welbeck been absent for a longer period, Akpom would have likely been retained to provide some insurance. As it is, the younger man can go, play more regularly, and hopefully develop over the course of a season in a much more productive way than the odd appearance for us in the Capital One Cup or a European dead rubber.
And after an extended break, Alexis is back this week to round off the squad. It’ll be interesting to see how long the Arsene Wenger manages to keep him out of the team. He’s been posting training videos from his holidays on Instagram and we know his enthusiasm for football is always at 11, so he’ll want to be involved as quickly as possible.
However, the temptation to rush him back is slightly offset by the opening two games of the season which should be manageable without him. You look at the game against the Mugsmashers on August 24th as the one for his comeback. There’s a nice compromise – yes, he misses a couple of games he’d probably pay all his money to play in, but you bring him back for a big match after some fitness work has got him back to where he needs to be from a physical point of view.
Meanwhile, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, fresh from his goalscoring exploits in the Community Shield that Chelsea lost and in which their strikers played like a couple of lonely, sad rejects from the National Gimp Convention, has hit back at criticism by Roy Keane in which he said some Arsenal players were too concerned with selfies, their hair and their six-packs to win the Premier League (*cough* Giroud *cough).
Considering Keane played, and won many things, with David Beckham – a man who wore skirts, suits of fashion armour and had more hairstyles than Michael Owen has said stupid things on the telly – it’s a bit odd, but the Ox says his barbs are wide of the mark:
It’s a new era, isn’t it? Some people do it, some don’t. We’re serious about winning trophies. Personally, and I can speak for the rest of the squad, we’ve been serious every single year I’ve been at the club about winning trophies.
You can see that on the pitch. A lot of people don’t see when we lose and go through tough times how upset and disappointed we are. We’ve always wanted to win trophies and in the last years we’ve won a few. This season we want to go that one better.
I know I’ve said it before, but I’ve got such high hopes for Oxlade-Chamberlain this season. He talks himself about having to stay fit, but if he can avoid injury and build up the kind of rhythm you get from playing regularly, I think he’s going to have an absolutely storming year. He’s got pretty everything you need – pace, power, aggression, finishing ability, creativity – and if it all comes together the way I hope, we’ll have some player on our hands.
He’s also super-smart, he’s not the kind of guy you’ll see distracted by the bright lights or being caught doing things you shouldn’t. Fingers crossed the injury problems that have affected him in the last couple of seasons are a thing of the past because if we are going to have a real go at the title this season, I think he’s going to play a significant part in that.
Elsewhere, Olivier Giroud talks about how he’s ready to compete with Theo Walcott up front (as Rafa Benitez says Benzema is going to stay in Madrid), and Per Mertesacker touches on the depth of the squad:
You can see we have a great squad, a deep squad. That means there will be some difficult questions for the manager to answer and for the team, how we can cope with the difficulties. There will be disappointment in the squad. At the moment it is easier to handle in pre-season because everyone gets his games but once it is into the season, everyone wants to play in their own position.
And the BFG’s thoughts on the season ahead:
We have to step up and do more than last season, so that is the question for us. We asked the question to ourselves and you could see we really want to compete and do the next step.
There’s no question what that next step is either, so the bar has been raised, the expectations set, and it’s down to the manager and this group of players to try and make it happen. Later in the week I’ll have the traditional pre-season preview which looks at the squad and where we are ahead of kick-off, so more thoughts on that particular issue then.
Finally for today, the Tactics Column returns and, if you haven’t yet had a chance to listen to this week’s Community Shield winning Arsecast Extra, you can check it out right here. It’s good stuff for your ears.
Till tomorrow.
