No minutes for Ramsdale
Our former number one didn’t return to first team training until last weekend due to England’s exploits at the Euro’s. This meant he was unavailable for all but two of our pre-season friendlies.
Mikel Arteta opted to play David Raya for 90 minutes against both Leverkusen and Lyon rather than give Rambo some game time. A clear indication that the Spaniard is still first choice.
The future is unclear for Ramsdale now.
No club has yet come in for him and not got a minute for Arsenal in pre-season
Having not played a single minute at the Euro’s, you have to wonder whether Ramsdale could have got himself back to training earlier and played a part in those initial friendlies. That would have put him in the shop window for a move.
Zinchenko looking good
I have never been on the “Zinny is a bad player” bandwagon. He is clearly a fantastic footballer, with many of the issues around his positioning being due to the way Arteta was asking him to play.
The Ukrainian has looked fantastic in pre-season. Whilst Riccardo Calafiori played the final game, I would not be surprised if Zinny starts the first game of the season.
With White and Timber, Calafiori and Zinchenko, Arteta has the choice of playing an inverted full back, pushed further into midfield, on either side. Expect Mikel to chop and change throughout the season depending on opponent.
Havertz number 9
The early days of pre-season saw Gabriel Jesus play through the middle. When Kai Havertz did play it was in a deeper role.
Against Lyon Arteta went with Havertz up front, and I think that is how he Weill start against Wolves.
We are seeing a lot of forwards who are inferior to Havertz moving for £60m+. He will get us 20+ league goals if he starts consistently down the middle this season. And that is without penalties.
Jesus then becomes an impact sub. Someone to offer us something different when chasing a game. The Brazilian is also an option on both wings.
Nwaneri ready
Whilst a lot of talk this summer was about Chido Obi Martin and Amario Cozier-Dubbery departing, one teenage Arsenal star was getting plenty of pre-season minutes.
Ethan Nwaneri has shown if you have the talent, and apply yourself yourself in training, you will get opportunities.
He now needs to keep working hard on the training pitch, improving day in, say out.
With fitness concerns for Fabio Vieira and Bukayo Saka being an army of one on the right, there will be opportunities for Nwaneri if he works hard for them.
Life is different at Arsenal these days. To get a shot at our first team squad it is not just good enough to be one of the best youth players in the country. You need to be looking at being one footballers in the country.
Nwaneri is on the brink. He now just needs to keep pushing himself.
Set piece kings
I always remember Big Sam Allardyce talking about set pieces.
His philosophy was to not overcomplicate things. Just swing the ball in at pace, aiming for the centre of the 6 yard-box, and have your best headers attacking the front post, back post and middle.
Ball drops a little short, and your first man knocks it in, it goes deep and the fella at the far post gets it. If it’s a perfect ball the one in the middle scores.
We saw Declan Rice do this last season to great success, and with two goals from corners against Lyon, it looks like set pieces will be key again.
Final thoughts
We look no weaker than last season. And whilst we are starting this campaign with much of the same squad, so are Liverpool and Manchester City.
A key difference is that our young squad is a year more experienced, whilst their ageing squads are a year older.
During pre-season we have played games against high quality opposition.
The “worst” team we faced was Bournemouth, who are still a Premier League side. Playing top opposition allowed Arteta to know exactly where his squad is throughout.
We could have taken an easier pre-season against Scottish and lower league clubs before a tour to the Far East to face glorified charity teams. That would have led to a load of hype for youngsters and false hope before it all came crashing down in the first proper friendly against a top European side.
Our preparations have been spot on. We now need to start off fast against Wolves!
UTA
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 