Loadsa new signings! – Who’s hot and Koz not – Match Review! – JOY!

So we’re back and the only word I can use to describe today and yesterday is JOY.

Yep, its joy in the BMW sense of the word. You’ve seen the advert, the word they used to describe owning one of their cars. Today is a lot like that, you see the new players, the shiny new home shirt, the sunshine and all your season ticket buddies… and your team puts in a superb performance.

What you forget on days like this is that they won’t last. No emotion goes into a game like today, you forget how it feels when one of your players scores an own goal in the last minute, hearing the news about another injury or the despair at the thought of Bolton on a Wednesday night in minus 8 degree at the Emirates. Kind of like how a BMW feels when you see the huge monthly repayment come out of your account, you get a £450 dink in the car park and the realisation that you have become an asshole by proxy of the car you drive.

Today was loads of fun. The corporate hospitality was pretty similar to the type I get when I take 30 minutes for lunch in an M6 service station. Still, you can’t grumble at meeting Paul Davis!

I went out to watch the players warm up and there were faces I hadn’t seen before (new signings right?), Jack Giddins, Connor Henderson and Miguel all looking positively prepubescent. I mistook Koz for Chamakh for about half an hour. He had a superb touch in warm up. JET staggered me with his sheer size… in fact, the new look squad is extremely tall and imposing. Something we haven’t had for a while.

So the game kicked off with a pretty strong line up. Fabianski was in goal, Almunia omitted from the squad. There was some excitement amongst the fans that Chesney had been given the number one shirt, but one of the Arsenal staff confirmed to me that he was in fact ill with a stomach bug. I asked if it was ‘arsenedroppedmeitis’, to which he confirmed it was not. Still, it was great to hear Wenger say after the game he didn’t have a number one this season. Lets hope he’s not looking internally to fill that void, because one thing is for sure… Schwarzer has been priced out of a move.

Fabianski, Nordveit, Frimpong, Verminator, Koz, Rosicky, Simpson, JET, Jack, Arshavin, Traore

It took all of two minutes for the game to open up. Jet put in a crunching tackle in midfield and laid it off to Rosicky, who played in a lovely ball for Arshavin to latch onto and run round the keeper.

Just what the doctor ordered!

Rosicky could be on his way to a full recovery. I believe he has had a case of the Benjamin Button… he arrived at the ground looking another year younger despite hitting 30 this year. What do they put in the Czech beer?

Kozzer looked a bit shaky. He mistimed all of his first three headers and looked very disinterested in the ball. There is no point in judging him on one game. Vermaelen was awful last year and Jaap Stam was horribly embarrassed by Anelka in the Charity Shield in 99. We all know how they both turned out. He has a very sharp touch and he’s composed on the ball. He didn’t appear that tall to me. I’m 6ft and he looked shorter than me when he walked past. He’s also very slight. He blends in amongst the kids which is a worry. I know Lucio looks a little weedy, but Koz didn’t play with that aggression. Still, in cases like this, I’m hoping Wenger and Grimandi know…

The Arsenal fans in the back corner had an amusing banner with ‘F*ck You Barca’ emblazoned across it. Maybe they preempted Puyol’s interview? Come back when you’ve invited your hair back from the 1972 budget porno it belongs in.

Nordveit was having a very solid game at right back, he got up and down very well and his crossing was a lot more impressive than Sagna’s.

Our second goal came after more good work from Jet outside the box, there was a bit of complacency going on in the box, Jack laid off Simpson who buried the ball into the bottom right of the Barnet goal.

Thomas Vermaelen played with far more discipline during his half. He marauded forward once and fired his shot out of the stadium which drew laughs from the crowd. Will Vermaelen up his game this year? Will he stamp his authority on the back 4? On today’s performance, you’ve got to believe that’s a reality. He swept up behind Koz and the full backs and he was as fierce as ever in the tackle. For me, regardless of what Cesc has been up to this summer, that man is what a club captain is all about.

The third goal came after Arshavin went on a powerful run down the left, he jinked inside his defender, laid off Jack Wilshere who unselfishly passed across goal for Jay Simpson to slot home with ease. You can’t knock Simpson, he’s a no frills finisher and a pretty good one at that. It’s a shame he’s clearly off this summer. The one thing that does annoy me is Wenger and his shop window policy during pre-season. Shouldn’t we be working hard with the players who are going to stay? We did this last year with Phil Senderos and Jack Wilshere. If you’ve got no intention of keeping them, why not loan them out straight away?

Frimpong had a very powerful game in the middle of the park. He started off in clumsy fashion, to be expected of one so young… but he grew with the game commanding the middle of the park like Claude Makelele wearing a Chris Eubank mask. It was interesting that he was played in the holding role in the first half instead of Eastmond… who was relegated to right back in the second half.

My final surprise of the first half was how impressive Traore was out wide. I’ve always been a fan of his power, pace and technique. I’m a little surprised he hasn’t given us more on the pitch but I see him as a very good option as a winger if he can buckle down and work hard at his game.

The second half saw plenty of changes. Too many for me to log here. The game fizzled out a bit if I’m honest. Nasri capitalised on a poor back pass (I think) and slotted home for four with great composure.

Chamakh made his debut to the chant of CHAMAKH, CHAMAKH, CHAMAKH (Like attack, attack, attack). He is huge player, around 6ft 4. He has great feet, he works tirelessly and he brings others into the game in a very unselfish manner. The only draw back to him is that he looks like an 11 year old who just discovered wet look gel… and I’ve got to tell you, the boy loves it! Less is more, I’m sure our resident hair dresser on here will communicate that to him at some point.

The big surprise of the game was a relative unknown called Connor Henderson. I was told by someone at the club that they have high hopes for him. He’s seen as a Fletcher type of player and apparently he has the engine of Flamini. I thought he was superb, extremely competent on the ball and a great passer of the ball. For one so young, he looks to have a bright future.

Barazite did really well off the back of injury prone season. He’s over 6ft tall and he has a fantastic array of passing skills. He floated a beautiful ball into Theo Walcott that was very Cesc like. I’m hoping he’s going to get a run out this season, he reminds me of Robert Pires the way he drifts round the pitch.

Miguel looked so young I thought a stadium announcement was going to go out from his mum requesting he report to the stewards. He was ok at the back, but he looked nervy.

Theo Walcott was electric when he ran with the ball, it was a shame his delivery into the box was so weak. Some said I was being unfair with this comment, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a 60k a week winger to look up before he fires a ball into no mans land. He’ll come good, he’s very young, but he’s got to start listening to people otherwise he’ll never improve.

After the game Wenger touched on a few points.

1) Cesc isn’t going anywhere. I’m glad he’s stayed strong on this subject because despite how disappointed many of us have been in his off the pitch performances this summer, we have to face up to the fact he is the best creative midfielder in the world at the moment. There isn’t anyone else out there who could replace 19 goals and 19 assists… bar Kaka. We’ve got more chance of Pele putting on his boots for us than we have signing him. Ozil is a top player but he wouldn’t be ready to take over from Cesc this year. He’s too light weight at the moment. Will we get a committed Cesc? Well, according to people in the know, he’s not the type to sulk and the meeting he had with Arsene earlier in the summer was amicable.

2) Schwarzer is a no go. I think that’s a shame because he’s everything we need in a keeper at the moment. For me it’s clear the only reason this move has collapsed is because Fulham have over priced him. £4mill is a lot for a keeper of 37. So, I’ll take it as a positive because PHW is on record saying we bid for him, so we’re after a keeper. The other positive is that Wenger doesn’t have a number one. It would be an act of negligence for Wenger to go into the season with Fabianski and Almunia as his keepers. I don’t believe he’d do that…

3) Joe Cole is a maybe. Yep, despite people digging us out about revealing the offer way back at the start of June, Wenger has now confirmed there is a contract offer on the table for the England man.  Le Grove Knows… Whether he accepts that offer is up to Joe.

So, my first match report is done, apologies for its length… there was a lot to get through!

This season we’re aiming to be bigger and better than before. I think we’ve had a superb summer in the comments section and I want to thank everyone for making it a conflict free zone this year. We’ve got our tentacles all over the place this year so we can promise you all the latest Arsenal news, insider goss, a podcast and maybe even a few special guest posts!

I’m not sure if I’ve gone all blind faith… but I’ve got a great feeling about this season.

Next year Rodney… we could be Premiership Champions!

Come on you reds!