The pre-season programme has ended and now we Gooners are just eagerly waiting for the trip to Anfield on 15-08-2010 where Roy Hogdson Liverpool will be waiting for us. Hopefully there will be a review of the match by yours truly a few days prior to that date.
However, the BEST news an Arsenal fan could wish to hear all summer long is the one from skipper Cesc Fabregas confirming that he will be 100% committed to the Arsenal cause this season, having put behind the transfer tales between his employer Arsenal and his boyhood club Barcelona.
At one point I felt that it is much, much better to let Cesc go rather than forcing him to stay against his will at Arsenal. However, being a great person he is, the Catalonia born midfielder gives his assurance that Arsenal will get the best of him in their quest to end their trophy drought since 2005.
The last pre-season match that Arsenal played was the trip to Warsaw, playing Legia who was celebrating the opening of their new 31,000 seater Wojska Polskiego Stadium. You could be forgiven for thinking it was a tennis match given the 6-5 scoreline in favour of the Gunners.
Despite Arsene Wenger asking fans to detach themselves from pre-season results, questions would be asked regarding the performance of the two Polish goalkeepers in action in front of their compatriots. Lukasz Fabianski who started the match conceded three goals in the first half while Wojciech Szczerny picked the ball twice from the back of his net.
Conceding goals is not the ideal preparation for goalkeepers for the coming season but I rather have them doing that now rather than when the serious stuff starts. Despite my wish list to see the likes of Manuel Neuer or Gigi Buffon strutting their stuff between the posts for us, it seems Arsene will stick with the four stoppers he has now, with one going out on loan in the next few weeks.
The five goals conceded in Warsaw also point out that much need to be done with our defence. Despite the assured display during the Emirates Cup by Thomas Vermaelen and Laurent Koscielny, they showed lapses that could be fatal for our causes during the season. Even though Johan Djoruou has recovered from his injury the feeling is that another experienced centre-half is needed to last the long hard season.
The rumoured interest in Bosnian skipper Emir Spahic remains as a rumour for the moment and while the name Per Mertesacker has been bandied around all summer, nothing concrete has materialised, fanning more transfer gossips in fan forums.
Whatever it is, we are hoping for a good start for the season this weekend.
Let the countdown begin!
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