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Interesting Days To Be A Gooner

By on August 30, 2010

The opening 13 days of the 2010-11 season has been dominated by a few motifs. The first is the emergence of Theo Walcott. The second is the “re-emergence” of Tomas Rosicky. Third, we have the neverending Mark Schwarzer saga. And now, it’s been capped off with the “arrest” of Jack Wilshere. Ah, interesting days to be a Gooner, to say the least.

Well, we were all treated to a rare, but always satisfying, sight on Saturday evening… that of Alan Hansen eating crow. It was nice to see Shearer put Hansen’s comments from the previous week to the test. I mean, who the fuck is Alan Hansen to talk about a football brain? But, anyway…  Four goals in the first three matches for Theo has seen his stock rise and everyone take notice. There is no doubt that he will benefit long-term from being left out of the debacle that was England at South Africa this summer. Ironically, going to the World Cup in 2006 proved to be detrimental to his career, while missing it in 2010 will likely prove to be beneficial.

What else is there to say about Rosicky’s start to the season? I covered it in a post last week. The only thing to do when it comes to Rosicky is pray. I have no doubt that he can sustain this kind of form long-term throughout the season. The key, however, is will he even have the chance. With an injury record that almost makes Robin van Persie look like Superman, Rosicky needs a full season at this point in his career. He is 29 now and has watched what should have been his prime years as a footballer pass him by. He is not too old yet, but he certainly is not too young either.

I think we all knew that the Schwarzer saga would go down to the final day of the window. Hughes was never really prepared to sell him until he could be assured of a deal to bring Given to Fulham on loan. That end appears to have been worked out and I imagine Hughes will now take Arsene down to the wire in an effort to increase Arsene’s desperation and, therefore, the fee. Meanwhile, rumors are that Arsene has upped his original bid of £2.5m to £3m.

Should Schwarzer come in, and Almunia leave, it still will not resolve our long-term keeper situation. I think it is a rare Gooner these days that has any confidence left in Fabianski. He just never seems to have gotten over that night at Porto. That leaves Szczesny and Mannone, neither of which will truly be ready to be a top 4 club’s number one in a year or two, which is the most we can expect from the 38-year old Schwarzer. Having said that, if you were to ask me who will be the Arsenal goalkeeper 3-4 years from now, I would have to say it would most likely be Szczesny.

Finally, as I’m sure most of you have read by now on Young Guns and all over Twitter, Wilshere was indeed “arrested” and released on bail following a fight in which a woman suffered a broken elbow and a man was injured. It has subsequently come out that he is an “important witness” to the events and “played the role of peacemaker.” One cannot help but be reminded of the trouble Robin van Persie got into in Holland during his more impetuous, early spell with the club. Obviously, the media jumped all over this and, while, I’m sure we’d all like this story to go away or resolve itself sooner rather than later, I doubt that will be the case.

As we move into the international break, I think we can feel about as confident as we could have to hoped to be following our first three fixtures. It’s hard not to think back on the opportunity lost at Anfield, but it’s hard to break down a team like Liverpool, especially with 10 men all behind the ball and the lead. The result at Blackburn was encouraging but not quite as significant as some may think. Lazy pundits still expect us to lose when we go up north. The loss at Ewood Park at the end of last season nothwithstanding, our record away to clubs like Blackburn and Bolton in the last 3 years has been very good. I did the numbers last year on our trips to the north over that period, but just don’t have time to dig them up this morning. But trust me, they’re good. Nevertheless, it was a stern test for the club and will have clued in players like Koscielny and Chamakh more into what to expect in England than either of the two previous matches.

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