Escape to N5 is back from it's little hiatus and just in time for the start of the new season. I haven't blogged on here since May and that's down to a couple of reasons. Since my last post I have finished university and completed my dissertation, I have moved house and had to reconnect to the world wide web. So there's been a couple of obstacles in my way when it comes to blogging about the Gunners. Plus, Arsenal hardly finished the 2010/11 season in style which caused me to lack motivation to blog about the sorry state of the team - that end of season lap of "honour" was depressing wasn't it?
Anyway I'm back now, just as Arsenal have kicked off their pre-season activities. The Gunners are currently on a tour of Asia and dispatched a Malaysia XI yesterday with a 4-0 win. Wenger started with quite a strong team, handing first team debuts to newboys Carl Jenkinson and Ryo Miyaichi, and the opposition were naturally no match for our boys. Ramsey scored from the penalty spot early on, then Walcott lobbed the keeper to make it 2-0 just before half time. Carlos Vela produced one of his trademark chip shots to make it 3-0 and Rosicky headed home the fourth goal just before the final whistle to put the gloss on a typically sluggish pre-season game. The squad needs to get their fitness up and games like these are perfect preparation ahead of the new season. Arsenal travel to China next on their Asian tour and have the Emirates Cup to look forward to at the end of the month.
In transfer news, not a great deal of activity has occurred during my blogging absence. Clichy has left for the billionaire babies at Manchester City, which makes me slightly sad because I always liked our French leftback. The "Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona" saga is still on-going and I have practically ignored anything to do with Fabregas and the Catalans. The constant rumours of him leaving and twats like Dani Alves and Xavi piping up every minute have led me to become completely disinterested in this story and I pretty much ignore every 'rumour' concerning Cesc these days. The same can go for Samir Nasri and his quest to leave us for Manchester United; I'm not listening to any of the crap the media comes out with until I see Nasri holding up that shirt at Old Trafford - I'll believe it when I see it. Almunia and Bendtner are supposedly in talks with clubs looking to take them off our hands. Almunia should have been sold years ago and its probably the right time for Bendtner to leave. In the right system I think the young Dane will flourish but I don't think he was ever going to fit into the Arsenal system and Wenger's tactics, which is a shame because I'll be pissed off if he goes to another club and bangs in 20 goals plus next season.
The biggest piece of transfer news of late is the club have finally confirmed the signing of Ivory Coast striker Gervinho from French club Lille. This transfer has been wrapped up for a while now but it still took its time to become official. We've all had a good inkling that Gervinho was already a Gooner a couple of weeks ago but its great to finally hear he's one of us now. I'm looking forward to seeing him play and hopefully he'll add some much needed firepower to the team. Wenger now needs to turn his attention to some of the other gaping holes in the squad; the most pressing concern is his failure to address our defensive problems. I'm sure our manager is working on it, we all know he likes to play his cards close to his chest and release no clues on his transfer dealings, but a big-name centre back signing for the club would put all our worries to rest (for a while anyway).
That'll do for today, that's enough rambling I reckon. I'll post a bit more frequently now when I get the time and of course I'll comment on any big news concerning Arsenal in the near future. Until then...
Thanks for reading.
