It’s the Community Shield today, a game which feels like it has some importance but when it comes right down to it, it really doesn’t.
Following the FA Cup wins over Hull City and Aston Villa we’ve taken part in this game and beaten the reigning Premier League champions. We hammered Man City 3-0 in August 2014 and in August 2015 we beat Chelsea 1-0 when Mourinho was in charge (that was the game he did his handshake thing at the end and Arsene Wenger ghosted him like Ghosty O’Toole).
Enjoyable wins on their own, but basically meaningless for the season ahead. In 2014-15 we finished third, 12 points off champions Chelsea, while in 2015-16 we ended up second in a season in which we really should have won the title. That’s not to say it’s a game we shouldn’t take seriously, of course we should. It’s our final warm-up for the new season, but unless something drastic happens I’m not going to think too much about it one way or the other.
If we win I’m not going to be shouting from the rooftops about how great we are, and if we lose I’m not going to go overboard about how terrible we are. The manner of defeat, if that happens, might make it more of an issue. A sound thrashing is hardly ideal preparation and would be a bit of a worry, but when it comes right down to it the first result I’m really going to get invested in is Friday’s game against Leicester.
We may have a couple of injury issues ahead of today as well with suggestions that Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil may not be available. There’s little point in risking them for a glorified friendly, our start to the season is tricky enough and we need them involved in that as quickly as possible.
Under normal circumstances they’d be key parts of our starting XI though, so it’ll be interesting to see how the manager chooses to replace them if they’re not available. Coquelin (just been reminded he’s injured, Elneny?) and Iwobi/Walcott, perhaps (assuming Welbeck is going to start in place of Alexis)? Who starts at right wing-back will be something to keep an eye on too. Hector Bellerin is a little behind in his pre-season training so Oxlade-Chamberlain may get the nod there, with new boy Sead Kolasinac getting an outing on the left.
A back three involving Mertesacker, Koscielny and Monreal seems likely, and the record signing Alexandre Lacazette should be deployed up front. I think it’s too soon for Alexis to start, but I suspect he’s going to be on the bench.
What we want to see is a decent performance, some cohesion, a display which shows that all the pre-season work to this point is coming together at the right time. It’ll be just four days until we play again, that Premier League opener against Leicester, so no injuries and a solid display is all I’m looking for from today.
—
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger has touched on the future of Jack Wilshere, and like so many others there’s not a great deal of clarity. He’s just back in training after his broken leg, and as I wrote the other day he looked quite sharp, but there are so many question marks hanging over him.
Can he stay fit? If he does stay fit, can he recapture the kind of form we’ve seen from him in the past? Do the club want to keep him? Have they offered him new terms? If not, isn’t the obvious decision to sell him given that he’s in the final 12 months of his current contract? But if the injury problems are behind our decision to let him go, how hard is it going to be to find someone to take a chance on him? Bournemouth, tellingly, decided against making his loan a permanent deal.
The manager doesn’t seem to have ruled out a departure, but also says Wilshere has the talent to come back and become a regular with Arsenal:
That decision is not completely made, I want him to have a chance to play somewhere as well. We have to decide that a bit later. I wanted first for him to come back, he is coming out of a fracture. It is the first week he is back in full training and we have to sit down together and see where we go from there.
He has gone through difficult times, I want him to have the career he can have and I am quite open on that. He has the talent to be regular, but he has to come back to competition in a consistent way.
It’s a tough situation really. I still maintain his decision to push for a loan last season was a poor one, made in haste because of being left out of the England squad, and he’d have been better served staying at Arsenal. Now both he and the club are in a kind of limbo, with no real idea what to do next or, if there is an idea, how exactly to do it.
It’s just one of the many things we still have to sort out before the end of the transfer window, so hopefully by the end of August we should be clear about what’s going to happen with him (and others).
Right, time for some breakfast then a big long walk with the dog. We’ll have a match report and all the post-game stuff over on Arseblog News later on. Until then.
