As the Transfer Window Closes...

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!