Slipperduke
The Camden Cad
As anyone who recalls my contributions to 'The Bet Shop Boys' will know, I'm not much of a gambler. Instead of always betting on the likeliest outcome, I have a reckless and self-destructive habit of only making predictions that might make me seem really clever. Sometimes, like the time I backed Bradford to survive their first season in the top flight, it works wonderfully. Sadly these moments of smug glory are very much a rarity. Usually I hit the target with the same frequency as Alfonso Alves and so, with that in mind, Arsenal fans will be disturbed to discover that I've got half a mind to back their team for the title.
It's only half a mind because, as regular readers will already have surmised, that's all I've got to work with, but it's also because I still believe that they lack a genuine replacement for Mathieu Flamini. Scan the Arsenal messageboards and you'll see that I'm certainly not alone in that conclusion, but you try telling Arsene Wenger that. He is insistent that the current squad is good enough to go all the way. Now, he might be correct in thinking that Emmanuel Adebayor is no real loss, given the return to full fitness of Eduardo and, in Thomas Vermaelen, he may already have a direct replacement for Kolo Toure, but does that really add up to a title challenging squad? I'm not so sure that it does.
At their best, Arsenal are the most exciting, most devastating team in the Premier League, bar none. They put four past Liverpool at Anfield, their form in the second half of the season was impeccable and, lest ayone forget, they reached the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and the Champions League. For all the desperate whining of a particularly spoiled section of their supporters, most teams in Europe would be delighted with a season like that. Unfortunately, at their worst, Arsenal are barely top six material. They can be desperately weak in the middle of the pitch sometimes and they are often intimidated by physical pressure. They need that one player who can break up the opposition's attacks. Their rivals all have them. Darren Fletcher and Owen Hargreaves for Manchester United, John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien, Javier Mascherano at Liverpool. Rumours of Patrick Veira's return may be idle speculation given Wenger's propensity to cull his 30-somethings at the first sign of a grey hair, but Wigan's Lee Cattermole would be a perfect acquisition, as indeed would anyone who can tackle.
This weekend's Emirates Cup may shed some light on the matter. We'll know a lot more when that first team-sheet lands. Wenger deployed Alex Song in the rottweiler role last season with some success, so perhaps that will be the way forward. Of course, this could just all be an elaborate ruse. Wenger might be laying down decievers for the press to obsess about while he sneaks up and snares an expensive young whippersnapper in the confusion. I'd like to think that's the case.
I'd like to be the pundit who breaks the mould and picks someone other than Liverpool or Manchester United for the title. I'd like to cut this page out, preserve it in bubble-wrap and then taunt everyone with it come May becuase that's the kind of petty-minded hack I am. Unfortunately, unless there's at least one more high profile arrival or an extraordinary improvement on display at The Emirates today, I'm going to have to be boring and back someone who might actually have a chance of winning me some money.
It's only half a mind because, as regular readers will already have surmised, that's all I've got to work with, but it's also because I still believe that they lack a genuine replacement for Mathieu Flamini. Scan the Arsenal messageboards and you'll see that I'm certainly not alone in that conclusion, but you try telling Arsene Wenger that. He is insistent that the current squad is good enough to go all the way. Now, he might be correct in thinking that Emmanuel Adebayor is no real loss, given the return to full fitness of Eduardo and, in Thomas Vermaelen, he may already have a direct replacement for Kolo Toure, but does that really add up to a title challenging squad? I'm not so sure that it does.
At their best, Arsenal are the most exciting, most devastating team in the Premier League, bar none. They put four past Liverpool at Anfield, their form in the second half of the season was impeccable and, lest ayone forget, they reached the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and the Champions League. For all the desperate whining of a particularly spoiled section of their supporters, most teams in Europe would be delighted with a season like that. Unfortunately, at their worst, Arsenal are barely top six material. They can be desperately weak in the middle of the pitch sometimes and they are often intimidated by physical pressure. They need that one player who can break up the opposition's attacks. Their rivals all have them. Darren Fletcher and Owen Hargreaves for Manchester United, John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien, Javier Mascherano at Liverpool. Rumours of Patrick Veira's return may be idle speculation given Wenger's propensity to cull his 30-somethings at the first sign of a grey hair, but Wigan's Lee Cattermole would be a perfect acquisition, as indeed would anyone who can tackle.
This weekend's Emirates Cup may shed some light on the matter. We'll know a lot more when that first team-sheet lands. Wenger deployed Alex Song in the rottweiler role last season with some success, so perhaps that will be the way forward. Of course, this could just all be an elaborate ruse. Wenger might be laying down decievers for the press to obsess about while he sneaks up and snares an expensive young whippersnapper in the confusion. I'd like to think that's the case.
I'd like to be the pundit who breaks the mould and picks someone other than Liverpool or Manchester United for the title. I'd like to cut this page out, preserve it in bubble-wrap and then taunt everyone with it come May becuase that's the kind of petty-minded hack I am. Unfortunately, unless there's at least one more high profile arrival or an extraordinary improvement on display at The Emirates today, I'm going to have to be boring and back someone who might actually have a chance of winning me some money.
