4-0 vs. Neusiedl, injuries update & Sol moves to Newcastle 28 July, 2010

Last night was the second and final match of our pre-season tour of Austria and we beat SC Neusiedl 1919 4-0. It was easy for us really, they’re a third division side and never caused us any problems. Well, they nearly did in the second half when out of nowhere Chamakh handled the ball in the area gifting them a penalty but Mannone guessed the right way and it was an easy save for him. Our goals came from Walcott, Emmanuel-Thomas, Chamakh (pen) and Vela; good for all of those forwards to have opened their accounts for the season even if it’s in a friendly like this. Vela frustrates me sometimes but now and again he’ll do another trademark lob and I’ll be on good terms with him again!

It could’ve/should’ve been more but what can you do. Wilshere impressed again and broke through twice in the first half but only to be brought down in the area. Neither time a penalty was awarded and on the second occasion he was flagged offside but those forward runs, the intricate passing and skill from Jack was enough to please me even without getting on the score sheet. However the man of the match was Samir Nasri again, he and Wilshere both got 21% of the vote but Samir just nicked it. It’s been a great pre-season for him though, I think he’s been man of the match in every game so far and is looking to start the season running. I’m excited to see him when it really matters once the season starts; I think he could be a very important player for us this year.

The friendly was marred by Johan Djourou being taken off injured after half an hour. Knowing what he’s like, I think everyone feared the worst. With Bendtner and Denilson already injured and Fabregas and van Persie looking like they’ll be short for the first week of the season it’s not going too well so far is it! Well it now looks like Johan was just taken off as a precaution because Wenger says he should be fit for the weekend. Also in that he says Rosicky had a small problem which is why he did not play but it’s nothing serious.

The latest on Bendtner and Denilson is that they wont make the Emirates Cup, Denilson should make the friendly against Legia Warsaw on 7th August but Bendtner looks likely to miss the start of the season. Also there’s another injury revealed in that, Diaby also has a problem but he might return for the Warsaw game too. It’s a joke how many niggles we’ve got already, every season I hope we can stay fit but every season it seems to get worse. Our squad is far to thin to compete for the Premier League when we’re guaranteed to get injuries left, right and centre. I’m going to start a tally on injuries this season and see how it adds up. I’ll do something on the sidebar or a new page at the top.

Edit: There you go, an up to date list with links on the toolbar. I’ll jazz it up a bit soon as I’m looking at redesigning the whole site.

We still need new faces and especially now Sol Campbell has opted to join Premiership-newcomers Newcastle. We had a deal on the table for him but he’s chosen to move up north for the money. I don’t blame him although I am surprised that they’re only offering a one-year deal too. Anyway, good luck to Sol, I’m not going to bother writing another testimony because I did that the other day – what we need to do now though is be looking for at least one more central defender. We’re being linked with German defender, Per Mertesacker at the moment which would be a good addition. He did well at the World Cup and wont come cheap but if Wenger wants quality he’s going to have to spend money. He’s already spent a load on bringing Koscielny in which worries me into thinking he wont spend a lot more but Arsene can’t deny we need signings there. At the moment we have Vermaelen and Koscielny, plus Djourou if he can manage to stay fit but even then that’s nowhere near enough. There’s Nordtveit but he’s a reserve player; we need two in really, one top class defender and maybe another understudy would suit us.

There’s still time to make some new additions and now Wenger’s back in London he might be able to get some business done in that area. This weekend’s games will be a good test of how strong we really are going into the 2010/11 season and I’m looking forward to seeing how well, or badly, we do.

Thanks for reading.