So who am I talking about in the title? None other than our old friend Jose Mourinho, who has started the phony war nice and early. He just can't help himself, can he, and he cares not even when he gets his facts wrong?
On to Arsenal's pre-season:
Off the pitch, the goalkeeping issue appears to have been well and truly addressed. I think we'd all agree that Cech is an upgrade on what we had; even if he is possibly past his best now, I personally will take him over Szczesny and Ospina every time. With the added pleasure of knowing that his move has really annoyed Mourinho.
Ideally, I'd also like to see cover in defensive midfield, and a world-class centre forward. If there are two areas where inconsistency was shown last season - certainly in the first half of it - they were an inability to break up opponents' play that led to goals, and a lack of goals themselves (Sanchez excluded) from our own forward line.
On the first point, the re-emergence of Coquelin surely occurred merely by dint of good fortune, and I somehow doubt that Arteta will be sufficient cover for him. On the second, there was far too much reliance on Alexis for too long, and apart from not expecting him to repeat that goal tally this season I feel that we probably need 15-20 extra goals this season compared to last.
It seems that Wenger is going to rely on a fit-again Walcott, plus bigger contributions from midfield, to make that up; unless circumstances in the transfer market free up the mythical world-class centre forward as they did with the arrivals of Ozil and Sanchez. He's not a transfer instigator, is our Arsene, but he does tend to pick up some tasty scraps in the transfer fallout. And to visit an old theme of mine, having addressed his tactical blind spot midway through last season this is perhaps where our esteemed manager lets himself down; leaving us just short in key areas.
Nonetheless, from what we've seen of Arsenal pre-season (for all that's worth) things seem to be gelling together well and the side look readier than they did a year ago. Although the acid test comes on Sunday, of course. The main issue for Wenger seems to be how to shoehorn all that talent into the side, and in the absence of Alexis I suspect Arsenal may line up:
Cech
Monreal - Koscielny - Mertesacker - Bellerin
Coquelin - Cazorla
Ozil
Ox - Giroud - Ramsey
which has Ramsey bunged in on the wing, and no Wilshere or Walcott in the starting eleven. So, with Alexis still to come back, a wealth of talent going forward and a massive personnel dilemma for the manager.
On to our title rivals:
Manchester United are spending vast amounts of money, and several of those buys look rather tasty. Particularly Schweinsteiger (literal translation is 'pig climber'), a player I have admired for many years. But they still have issues in defence, I reckon, for all their clean sheets last season (most of which can surely be attributed to their soon to depart goalkeeper) plus the lack of goals last year means they surely have to buy someone to play up top - for all that Memphis Depay looks something special. They've got just too much ground to make up, I reckon, in the forthcoming season.
Manchester City have made two shrewd buys in Delph and Sterling, but they need cover for Aguero and more importantly look really light in defence. They need more, and if they end the transfer window with the squad they've got they'll surely fall short again.
And so to Chelsea. Aaah, the little horse have hardly spent any money at all so far this summer, have they? And for all the world-class talent of the likes of Hazard and Fabregas, I think/hope that this will prove to be a mistake. I'll put my neck on the block here and now and say that I simply do not understand the signing of Falcao; if last season showed anything, it's that he is not the same player he was before his knee injury. Add that to Costa's continual hamstring issues, that leaves Loic Remy - and I don't think that anybody can imagine any team winning the title with him up top. On top of which, I imagine that we may start to see a gradual decline in the form of their esteemed captain (my favourite player). So again, unless they buy, the cracks may start to show. One can always hope, as there's plenty of ground for the opposition to make up on them.
On Liverpool, all I can say is that the loss of their best player two seasons in a row must surely continue to hurt them. Benteke looks a useful - if overpriced - purchase, and Clyne is clearly a decent player, but they look miles short still.
I'm not sure why I'm bothering discussing Tottenham. Actually, I don't think I'll bother, except to say that 5th must surely be the absolute limit of their ambition/potential this season.
And so we come to the Community Shield:
Last year's ritual slaughter of Manchester City proved to be something of a false dawn, but whilst it's merely a friendly this is different gravy. The opportunity to score some psychological points over Chelsea really must be taken; and bearing in mind that they've hardly been setting the world on fire in pre-season we have some expectation, despite The Dark Lord's hold over Wenger.
And so to the Mind Games. So far, quite pathetic, really. If that's all he's got, then I'm sure we're all delighted. But it's a phony war, and it's Hazard and Fabregas etc. who we really need to worry about. Here's hoping for a decent performance and a positive result, and I'll see you next week.
