Watching the Amazon Prime Video series about Arsenal’s 2021/22 season brought back horrible memories of our poor start last year, not least an opening day defeat at newly promoted Brentford.

Despite our encouraging form in pre-season this summer, I was concerned that playing away at Palace for our first fixture of the new campaign was another potential banana skin.

If we slipped up, I wondered, would all the positivity around the squad start to evaporate?

In the end my worries were banished by a solid all-round performance from a much-improved Arsenal team compared with a year ago.

It was certainly no walk in the park. If pre-season was all about flamboyant cavalier football, last night’s game was trench warfare.

Palace are a team comprised of heavyweight and middleweight boxers, some of whom have the speed of sprinters.

Overall we stood up to the physical battles well and deserved the win, despite some scares.

Here are five takeaways:

Saliba is a Rolls Royce Player

I keep telling myself not to get carried away by one performance but, boy, Saliba looks good. It’s not just his physicality and athleticism, or his passing ability and the timing of his tackles. It’s that he seems to instinctively make the right decision every time. And he’s only 21!!! As far as ceilings go, this lad is heading for the Sistine Chapel.

The Defence Stood Up Well

Not many teams will withstand the sort of fast, physical onslaught we endured at Selhurst Park last night. All the defenders did well, particularly the CBs. I felt Ben White was pulled out of position at times but his stats look very good and he coped better than most with the very real threat of Zaha.

Let’s Hear It for the Set Piece Coach

The opening goal was vital in that game and it came from a clever routine from a corner. Our new set piece coach, Nicolas Jover, has already had an impact on our campaign and we’re only one match in. I’m excited to see what other tricks this magician has up his sleeve.

Starboy Keeps Improving

I haven’t seen much mention of Bukayo Saka’s performance in the reports, perhaps because we spent 60 minutes of the match on the back foot. But I was watching him closely and his ability to bamboozle defenders and drive into dangerous areas is getting better and better. I don’t think there’s a more effective winger in the PL.

Our Fans are the Best

The Sky Sports pundits made numerous comments about the intimidating atmosphere at Selhurst Park (true) and the noise from the home fans. Yet it was quite clear from the TV coverage that it was the Arsenal fans making the most consistent noise. Our away support is amazing. The icing on the cake was the rousing rendition of the Vieira song towards the end when the points were in the bag (not that poor old Paddy seemed to care).

RockyLives

And so the time has come for…the season to begin! but allow me to first congratulate all our England fans here for the amazing Euro win by your Women’s team! What a tournament and what a team! 4 Gunners in it as well 🙂

Back to EPL footie now, Crystal Palace won’t be an easy game to play…especially away. They only lost 4 games at home last year and we did not beat them either last year so the reading of stats and last year’s history does not favour us…

One of the key match ups will be Zaha – White and I think Saka-Partey-Saliba will need to be strong because there is no way White will be able to contain Zaha…

So while the season is looking mighty exciting with the great pre-season and our good transfer window so far, I think that we will be missing Tomy a lot tomorrow…

Most likely line up:

Ramsdale – White, Saliba, Gabs, Zinch – Partey, Xhaka – Saka, Ode, Martinelli – Jesus

Most likely score line: 2-1 to CP with a goal from Martinelli

but I am hoping to get a point from Vieira’s den tomorrow….

7 things we are learning so far during the tour:

1. Turner will definitely not be a threat to Ramsdale’s nr. 1 spot unless Ramsdale’s level drops immensely
2. Saliba is going to push hard to be in the starting line-up
3. Jesus seems to adapt well to the team and the team to him
4. Martinelli is looking sharp
5. Zinchenko had a good 45 mins
6. Partey-Xhaka to still be our central midfield double-pivot
7. Odegaard to be named as our captain?

So the need to trim the squad is still there and the need to get a reliable back-up option to Martinelli is still there too. As mentioned, I d go for Barnes or Kostic. I am not sure the club is looking to buy a steelier midfielder, unfortunately…

COYG! Only a pre-season game but always nice to beat Chelsea

“We have a large squad so we have to make some decisions as well on the players that we’re not going to be using consistently and be fair and straight with them and that’s a process that is going to start very soon as well. We have a big squad and now we have to make things happen.” Arteta

So who could likely to be concerned by the squad trimming process:

• Leno (sale), Runarsson (sale or loan)
• Cedric or Bellerin (sale)
• Pablo Mari (sale)
• Nuno Tavares (loan)
• AMN (sale), Torreira (sale)
• Sambi (loan), Vieira (loan)
• Pepe (sale or loan), Nelson (sale or loan), Balogun (loan), Marquinhos (loan)
• Oulad, Azeez, Patino, Taylor-Hart (all loan)

We will be playing the EPL, Europa League and FA Cup next year…3 competitions, we need a squad of up to 26 players including 3 GKs and 2-3 youth players…we already know a large portion of our squad for next year:

GK: Ramsdale, Turner, Okonkwo (3)

DF: Tomy, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Holding, Tierney + Cedric or Bellerin (7)

DM/CM: Partey, Xhaka, El Neny, Zinchenko + Sambi or Vieira + Patino or Azeez (6)

CAM: Ode, ESR (2)

FW: Saka, Martinelli (2)

ST: G. Jesus, Nketiah (2)

That is a total of 22 players already and that already includes Patino or Azeez (one young gun).

There are 4 spots left: including 1 at ST, 2 at FW and 1 for a young player at the back (Norton?).

So we could definitely keep Balogun, Pepe, Nelson or Marquinhos but will they want to stay?

I think it is a clear departure for the Mari, AMN, Torreira though…

Let us see…what are your thoughts?

On the outgoing players:

• Leno
• Bellerin
• Cedric (?)
• Mari
• Tavares (?)
• Torreira
• AMN (?)
• Nelson (?)
• Pepe (?)
• Balogun (?)

On the incoming players:

• Left back: Zinchenko?
• Central/Defensive midfielder: Tielemans?
• Winger: Sane?

Ramsdale – Tomy, White, Gabs, Zinchenko – Partey, Tielemans – Saka, Ode, Sane – Jesus ?

Turney – Cedric, Saliba, Holding, Tierney – Vieira, Xhaka – Pepe, ESR, Martinelli – Nketiah ?

Is that it?

So it seems we are starting to also look at midfielders to bolster our squad…We got F. Vieira who is clearly one that needs a bit of time to settle given his young age and lack of EPL experience. But a few names are resurfacing more relentlessly now:

• Tielemans – a good eye for a pass, a decent ability to work in midfield to get the ball back, a good ability to drive the ball forward and a good shot as well. Could go missing in games and also prone to injuries…
• Milinko-Savic – a hard working midfielder with a very good shot. An improved Xhaka going forward but suffers from same lack of pace.
• Paqueta – a very good attacking minded midfielder. Excellent dribbling and shots and ability to get in the box.

Out of the 3, I d take Tielemans but still think we can get better players…

Test

Gabriel, Gabi Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus…3 Brazilian starters at AFC, 3 international Brazilian players, 3 exciting players…Edu bringing exciting Brazil to AFC after the early mishaps with Luiz and Willian…

Now let us see what Marquinhos has to offer too…

Yesterday, Gabriel Jesus scored a quick double and could have had a hat trick. Promising start by our new Nr. 9 – I liked his ability to get to the ball (crosses/passes) and to finish the chances provided to him.

Whenever El Neny scores, he scores wonder goals…what a strike yesterday!

We conceded goals but we fought back but let us remember that we need to shore things up…When we started playing exciting football last year, sometimes we lost our defensive shape and this cannot happen this year. We need to improve our game without the ball. For the rest, we have the players to create chances and hopefully score them now.

COYG!

Ramsdale, TURNER

RB: Tomy, Cedric

CB: White, Gabs, Saliba, Holding

LB: Tierney, Tavares

Seems that our two weaker points are our back-up RB and LB…Tierney has been injured a lot so we need a player that can fill in regularly…There is a lot of chat about L. Martinez but he has been mostly used as a LCB and then as a LB so let us see. He is a quality player know as the “Argentian/Ajax butcher” because of his rough tackles. As for the RB, I don’t hear much rumours but shall we start the year with the above-mentioned players, would you feel confident?

In his latest interview, our sporting Director Edu has indicated that as a club, we are definitely focusing on young, hungry and talented players. He has emphasized that the plan is to have this group of young players to play together at the club for a couple of years (he said 4 to 6 years). The strategy is definitely one that is aiming for a medium to long-term gains, which is fine…BUT:

1. We need to do well already now as other clubs are also strengthening and next thing you know, clubs like Brentford, Brighton…also get bought by rich Emiratis…
2. It is unlikely that all our exciting young players stay with us for sure for more than 3 years…

So although, I like the strategy and the goals. We also need to ensure that we do purchase “EPL-ready to perform at a high standard players” and that we also mitigate our expectations with regards to long-term commitment to our clubs from all the players, especially the young ones that want to get playing time…

Besides that, it is a very exciting plan and if the players develop as Edu-Arteta expect them to, we are in for a fun couple of years…

Ramsdale -24

Tomy – 23

White – 24

Gabs – 24

Tierney – 25

Partey – 29

Fabio – 22

Saka – 20

Ode – 23

Gabi – 21

Eddie 23

That is young and talented and we still have Turner (28), Saliba (21), Holding (26), Lokonga (22), ESR (21) and that’s not including AMN, Tavares, Marquinhos, RN, Balogun,

I would have liked to see Raphinha join us but many are correct, he plays on the right and we already have Saka…so maybe this one is a fake one…In terms of Nr.9, we are still linked with G. Jesus (25), T. Abraham (24), Scamaca (23) and Richarlison (25) so still very young…

Out of the bunch, I am more and more inclined to make a push for Abraham or Richarlison because of their presence in the box…they also try to support defensively and both contribute with some assists…

Ramsdale – Tomy, White, Gabs, LISANDRO – Partey, FABIO – Saka, Ode, Martinelli – RICHARLISON

Turner – Cash?, Saliba, Holding, Tierney – El Neny, Xhaka – Pepe?, ESR, Barnes? – Eddie

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