I'll start today's blog with a confession. From 11.15pm last night I was queuing at my local Asda for my copy of Fifa 11, I finally got home at about 1:00 in the morning, popped it into my Playstation and started my first FA Cup with the mighty Arsenal.
Now this isn't a game review, but one thing that made me think, was the quality of our squad. As I chose my starting 11 I couldn't help but notice the quality I was leaving out. If everyone is fit the the likes of Rosicky, Chamakh, Wilshere, Vela, Denilson, Bendtner, Gibbs, Eboue, Diaby would all struggle to get into our team, then if you consider who is in our team, Vermaelen, Fabregas, Van Persie, Walcott, Nasri, Arshavin and so on you have to ask yourself the question "do we have the strongest squad in the Premiership this year?"
I can't think of another team that has so much quality in depth, ironically the one thing that Arsenal have been criticised for in past seasons. If we look at our rivals for the league title, Chelsea obviously have quality in their first 11 in the form of Thug Terry, Fat Lampard, Malouda, Anelka and of course Didier 'must score twice against Arsenal' Drogba, Essien and as much as it hurts to say Cashly, but who do they have that can step in in the case of an injury? No-one. Man Utd are even worse on paper, they have Rooney as the only real big talent in their team, not one other player in their squad would be a regular in Arsenal's starting line-up, they have a few players starting to emerge like we did 3-4 years ago but I think they are entering their transition stage now, once Scholes, Van der Sar and Giggs admit defeat to old age we could see a new era for Man Utd and not in a way their fans are going to like. It'll be interesting to see how much stick they get when they go a few years without silverware.
Next down the league is Man City who have attempted to buy everyone available aka Chelsea when Roman Abramovich was still interested in owning a football club so obviously they have a lot of talent but talented individuals do not make a quality team as i think they'll find out this year. Liverpool don't even warrant a mention, and the I'll let the spuds keep thinking that they have a decent squad.
I know that I am biased in my opinions, but what other team has a bench full of players that have all been capped at full international level and then a group of youngsters waiting in the wings with the ability of the Arsenal kids, no-one else has a Frimpong, JET, Lansbury etc etc.
My point is, that with the squad we have available to us surely we are scarily close to a fantastic era in Arsenal's history. Our team have been playing together for years now and that can only help the team as a unit (something Man City will not benefit from for a couple of years at least) and silverware cannot be far away.
Keep the faith Gooners, Other clubs are already copying our youth structures and financial plans, it won't be long until they wish they could copy our success too.
Lets hope our squad players can come in on Sunday and prove me right by spanking Chelsea at the bridge.
Back with a match preview tomorrow,
Goonerfish.
No comments:
Post a Comment