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As the Transfer Window Closes...

8/26/2016

Sorry for the late post everybody. As I sat down reviewing what I wrote I began to take note of the general tone of the entry. It was one of frustration and anger. After reading it several times, I decided to scrap the entry because I realized that my thoughts could have been compiled better. So instead of that I decided to write something a bit different.

Opening day at Ri Ra’s was incredible even if the result was less than stellar. Gooners from all over Charlotte came to watch our beloved Arsenal take on Liverpool in what was on paper the match of the weekend. The regulars who have been with us for years mixed with so many new faces, those who heard about us in various ways, all ready for a new season to get underway. Getting an early goal really set the tone for what we hoped to be a promising match but in the end after going down 4-1, the 4-3 final result looked closer than it really was. We left for the day, dejected that we lost but the atmosphere was still amazing among us all. Smiles and laughter, a bit at ourselves and the bewilderment of what we just saw, but mostly it was all of us in one place cheering and yelling in frustration as a group of supporters who for one reason or another love this club and want it to succeed.

As I said in my first post of the season, a loss at the beginning of the season doesn’t mean relegation and a win doesn’t mean the title is ours. The cliché of “it’s a long season” rings true, especially when you suffer a tough loss out of the gate. Once that loss occurred and the dust settled, we eagerly awaited match number two, away to the champions Leicester City, but a team we beat twice last season. There was reason to be optimistic that the first match was just a one-off. We had veteran players back in the squad, especially the return of Koscielny who was a rock in defense and with Holding, kept a tidy clean sheet that we desperately needed. Also the rumblings of a possible defensive signing means that maybe the frustrations would come to an end soon. A dull 0-0 draw ensued. It was a defensive performance, away to the champions so it wasn’t a terrible result, but after two weak displays from the squad. Patience was wearing thin.

Two matches in and we are becoming frustrated. The frustration isn’t necessarily at the players but the manager and our lack of transfers this summer. Maybe we are products of the instant gratification age where we have access to everything at the tap of a smartphone screen so waiting for a transfer for the entire summer makes us irritated. It’s the waiting that kills us and the dread that despite the holes in our squad, we won’t do any more business and therefore looking at another season of injuries with a threadbare, overworked squad. The digital information age has given everyone an outlet to speak out and dig deeper into the dealings of the club, something I am not sure Arsenal or the manager have accepted. It’s like your grandparents refusing to get a cellphone or a computer. The denial that technology has taken over every facet of our lives and working with outdated methods. Arsenal strive to keep every deal in the dark until the last second. With cellphone cameras and the internet, one picture of a player outside the Emirates can be sent around the world in seconds. It’s the lack of transparency and the enigmatic and often defensive comments about transfers that further annoys us. When probed, we hear the same few remarks. It’s tiring to hear it over and over again. Every club in the premier league does the majority of their business ahead of the deadline day. It seems like we are the ones who wait until the last minute.

Years of paying off the stadium debt and being extremely frugal in the process has made being stingy the rule rather than the exception. Spending on players like Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez was starting to look like we were finally opening the wallet a bit more and investing on high quality players. While other top clubs are breaking the bank for every player on the market, Arsenal do try to not overspend and that’s both admirable and a product of living fiscally sound for several years. I am not saying we have to spend more than everybody else and frankly, I do not want that. I often scoff at Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City spending every penny on players because the money they spend affects the prices the league pays as a whole. This shouldn’t really be a problem for Arsenal as we have the funds to spend but it affects the other teams without deep pockets. If we aren’t careful, the Premier League will turn into Spain, where a couple teams dominate and the rest just play to pay the bills.

I understand Arsenal wanting to be realistic and nobody wants us to spend 100 million on a player, but at least prove that you are trying to get the best you can. The worst part is that once the season starts those gaps in the squad become visible to all and the prices go up anyway. I said after the Liverpool match that the price of every defender we would try to get would go up by 5 million pounds or more. Striker prices have always been high and even more so because it’s an area we have been needing improvement. Players coming in need to be at least as good as or better than what we have. The rest of the league is improving and we are stagnating because we would rather wait for talent to develop instead of fixing what needs to be fixed. Nobody objected to Rob Holding coming in the squad because he is an option and looking to be a decent one at that, but when you look at our defensive injuries and the length of time for their absence, it is apparent we need depth. Our striker experiments aren’t working as Sanchez doesn’t play like we expected in that role, but to be fair the team around him isn’t set up for him as striker. We continue to play as if we have Giroud in the number 9 role which doesn’t suit his game. We did the same for Walcott and others. Everything seems a bit disjointed at the moment but hopefully we get back on track.

With Watford this weekend and the rapidly approaching close of the transfer window, it’s time for Arsenal to do two things: Win and sign two players. All are possible but only one seems probable. Hopefully the best case happens and we get players and the win. Right now, we all want something good to happen because if we start with the doom and gloom stuff this early in the season, we aren’t going to have a great time. We can argue and speculate all we want before and after but at least during the match we want the same goal: win. The players are talking about having the mentality and the drive to win the title, then there is no better time to start showing it then Saturday against Watford. Come down the pub and cheer on the Arsenal because no matter how much we gripe and groan we still love watching our favorite team play.

C’mon you Gunners!

The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. As optimistic as I was before the match, I am wondering if I was insane for thinking that the match against Liverpool would go any other way but south. Its not that I think Liverpool are better than us or that I have no faith in our players, it is simply that our last seven opening matches have been lackluster and our only win came with a late goal. By the time this is posted, most of you will have already read many match analysis or reports and have formulated your own opinions about why opening match of the season was such a horror show.
The script was probably written well before kickoff when we were without our two best center backs, the experienced back up, our star midfielder, and our established striker. Injuries and resting players back from their summer tournaments limited our starting lineup to a slim squad. Our midfield wasn't anything to be concerned about as Ramsey led the attacking midfield with Coquelin and Elneny. The fullbacks were Bellerin and Monreal so no real surprise there. What was alarming is that Wenger chose Holding and Chambers as the center back pairing. It did not fill me with the greatest confidence but I was still calm knowing that we had Coquelin and Elneny ahead of them to help mitigate the attack. Sanchez leading the line as the lone striker was fine as he definitely has the qualities to be a striker. Walcott on the right was not much of a surprise as we are used to seeing him use his pace from this position. Lastly that leaves a talented but still raw Alex Iwobi on the left. I would be lying if said I wasn't slightly worried that our squad was under powered and inexperienced to take on a Liverpool squad that is trying to rebuild and prove itself under Jurgen Klopp.
The result of the team selection was going to 4-1 down after being 1-0 up. The lack of experience and no bite wrote the result in a 20 minute stretch in the second half. Sure we got a couple of late goals to make the scoreline more respectable but the damage was done. We lost an opening match at home...again. Anger and frustration were the emotions of the day. An all too familiar set of emotions that we Gooners have been feeling for a long time now. The back to back FA Cup wins are sinking in the horizon as we rode those coattails into a second place finish in the league last season as a result of Spurs being so Spursy. That hilarious and jubilant day was mostly a bandage on the stab wound that was missing out on the league to Leicester, who frankly, pulled too far ahead for anybody to catch them anyway, like a motorcycle race where a last lap crash takes out everybody but the lead bike.
I mentioned insanity to start because we are left in the same position again, the same as it has been for many years now. Every season we watch the gaps in our squad go unfilled entering the season. We suffer the same type of losses and wins turned into draws. We repeatedly watch us drop points that cost us so much in the end all because we haven't fixed the glaring problems in the team. I am not blaming the players at all. This Arsenal is filled with not only incredible players but experienced ones and young ones. We all love watching Ozil play the sublime pass, Sanchez scoring a wonder strike and laugh as Giroud misses a sitter, but slots home a shot from the most acute angle it takes a double take to realize what happened. The same goes for us cheering on Bellerin as he plays a cross into the box one second, then is sprinting down the right to stop a counterattack. We have so much talent and skill that it makes it that much harder to rationalize a loss.
Insanity when we lose is watching two of your established center backs get injured in the offseason and not getting a replacement. Insanity is seeing your striking options getting injuries or playing themselves out of form and not getting another one to help take the load off of others. Season after season we don't do anything to fix the problems that everyone can see exist. We were without a true defensive midfielder for years and we finally got one out of sheer blind luck (and the underlying skill) of Coquelin. We played with fire as we relied on him and an aging Flamini to hold our midfield together. Finally we mange to get Elneny to assist too little too late last season. With the signing of Xhaka early, it seemed we were finally learning our lesson and being proactive. It was all smoke and mirrors as we enter the first game without a striker or a center back. We are not proactive and barely reactive in the transfer market. If anything we are static. We pray to the injury gods every season and every season, those gods smite us but we continue to hope that everything just works out in the end. Spoilers: it hasn't worked. To add insult to injury, Iwobi and Ramsey suffered injuries on Sunday so now have to deal with that. Thankfully, the transfer market is still open so we can grit our teeth and wait for us to make a signing that will give us the edge to turn that second place finish into first place.
I said last week that a loss opening the season doesn't mean all is lost but it doesn't give us the confidence that the season will be filled with trophies. Our emotions as supporters are often tied to whether or not we win or lose. This kind of passion and connection to a group of strangers is fascinating. Our work weeks seem longer when we lose as we trudge to the weekend, waiting for the win to turn or frowns to smiles and our curses to cheers. Win our match and suddenly we are ready to take on anything. The first week is even harder as we have been without our Arsenal for a few months. Sure we have international competitions and some preseason matches to tune to but it just isn't the same. The season is upon us and we can once again share the gauntlet of emotions the season will bring.
We take on Leicester this weekend, who lost to Hull, so maybe some hope that we can put last week behind us perhaps? Time will tell.
Until next week, C'mon you Gunners!

Welcome back everyone to a new season of the Arsenal and with it comes a new season of the Cannoneer. Sorry for the lack of blog posts on the back end of last year but things got a bit crazy for me and I had to put the blog on the back burner. No longer! I am eager to get back to writing for all you awesome Gooners here in the Queen City and beyond. I'll keep this post short and sweet for you as I know all of you are ready for a new season to start and see if we can improve on that league position to get that title into our trophy case, where it belongs.
To start, I would like to thank our two teams who played in the Street Soccer 945 Open Cup in June as both teams battled the heat and some tough opposition to exit the playoffs with their heads held high. We are disappointed to miss the final but if we get the invite next year we will come back ready to fight hard and bring glory to our group. The tournament is for a great cause and we are proud to support Street Soccer 945 and Urban Ministries here in Charlotte. For more information see http://www.streetsoccerusa.org/portfolio_page/charlotte/ and http://www.urbanministrycenter.org/
The summer tournaments are coming to a close and all the players are getting their last minute holidays plans finished as we wait for that opening game against Liverpool. Being at home you naturally have to give us a slight edge but it wouldn't be the Arsenal if we didn't give a few reasons to possibly question our opening match. Entering the last few seasons we walked in with our heads high as we looked to start off our season as title contenders, what we got was a loss to Villa, a win over Palace and a loss to West Ham. Not a glorious record. Those were all lesser competition, matches we should have won and lost two of three. Nothing sours a start to the season quite like a loss out of the gate. Immediately, the finger pointing begins and Gooners lose their minds blaming the manager, or player x, y, or z. I am not exactly innocent either as I have joined the fray after a bad opening loss but as we have seen, a win at the start doesn't guarantee the top spot at the end of season and loss isn't the end of the world.
This season we get the task of facing Liverpool, a team who isn't the title winning dynamo of the 80's nor is it the weakest team in the league. They are, however, a team rejuvenated by Jurgen Klopp who are looking for something to prove as they floundered last season under Brendan Rodgers and slightly less so under Klopp. They have made a few signings and can be dangerous but are completely beatable which means they will give us trouble and will make all of us uncomfortable when they attack. Both our matches ended in draws last season which means that we give them just as much trouble as they give us.
We enter this game without the fabled striker signing that we all expected to come before the start of the season and barring any major news in the next few days, we will remain with the same strike force as last season. With several players in national tournaments over the summer, we may not see Giroud or even Sanchez but the latter could feature as a sub. Akpom up top or even Walcott as striker are possibilities. Walcott had a decent game against City and even scored so Wenger may opt to give him one last hurrah as the lone striker. Ox also had a good preseason and will probably start as Ramsey will likely replace the rested Ozil leaving a space on the right for Ox to fill. Our newest signing Xhaka may start alongside Coquelin or even Elneny. Despite the negativity on the lack of striker signing, I still feel confident our midfield and attack can make a dent in light defenders of Liverpool.
Our weakness is in defense, which has been elevated from “we kinda need another backup center-back” to “DEFCON 2: RED ALERT: SIGN A DEFENDER ASAP”. Injuries to both Mertesacker and Gabriel have seriously put a hurting on our back four, which was already light to begin with. Koscielny may not start as he has only recently been back in training which means Wenger will have to decide between moving Monreal to CB and placing the experienced Gibbs at LB, using either Chambers or new boy Holding or both of the young defenders. I am glad I am not making this decision. I may sound hypocritical but if we were playing Bournemouth or Burnley, I'd say let the young defenders prove their worth. Since we are playing Liverpool, my selection would be Monreal and Chambers. Obviously I would prefer Koscielny to start and play Monreal with him but I am betting on a worst case scenario here. Luckily, Liverpool face a defensive crisis equal to ours so this match could be filled with goals or a dull affair. Only time will tell.
This season also brings us to our second season with Ri Ra's Irish Pub being our wonderful hosts. After the success of last season here in the Queen City at the Irish Pub, we can be glad to call it our supporters club's home. Opening day is sure to bring a crowd as we have a free breakfast buffet for all Arsenal America members, and $10 for non-members. Members also get 10% off their food purchases all season with your Arsenal America membership card. Being an Arsenal America member also helps the group, so sign up and get your Arsenal America Membership pack and enjoy the benefits they bring with our group and theirs. Tune into our Facebook Live Pre-Game show 30 minutes before kick-off as your hosts give you match info and score predictions. This is bound to be another great season here in our beloved Queen City and we will continue to be the best supporters club in the city! I look forward to seeing all of you at the pub this season!
Come on you Gunners!

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