Winning the Champions League is hard. We’ve never done it and we’re a club who has won almost anything you can win in football, often multiple times, so whilst it’s always interesting to see who we’ll get in the Group Stages of the Champions League, it didn’t really bother me too much.

The truth is, we’ve got a decent pedigree in the initial phases and with Dynamo Zagreb and Olympiakos making up the other teams aside from Bayern Munich, you’d still fancy us to progress. It’s pretty irrelevant which Pot 1 team we’d have got. We’ve finished first and second in our groups before and still been knocked out in the round of 16 or quarter finals.

I’m not being defeatist. If we get a decent result at home against Bayern,  you’d hope we can get wins home and away against the other two teams and be in the running for topping the group, giving us the better chance of progressing in the next round. But the belief has to be there regardless, if we ever want to get to the final again.

That belief starts by putting a run together domestically and there’s no better time to start the aforementioned confidence building than by beating Newcastle at St James’ Park. It won’t be easy and I’ll have a bit of a match preview for you tomorrow, but Arsène was quizzed in his pre-game presser and he spoke of how tight and fought the games always are up there. It’s true; we may have had three wins on the bounce, but each of them have been by just a goal margin and there have always been scary moments in which I’ve looked at The Management with my hands over my mouth and a worried glance.

The manager also spoke about the importance about managing abroad and how that will Schtand Schteve in good stead. I agree. He’ll be able to conflab with Wijnaldum in his mother tongue and tone, so we’ll need to be careful of the Dutchman getting proper instructions and actually doing us some damage on Saturday.

As for us, we need to improve our end product, which is also something Arsène picked up on. He’s right in his assertion that teams sit deeper at home, but sometimes that can also be true away and I suspect we’ll see Newcastle trying to remain solid for the start of the game tomorrow and grow in confidence. It’s probably also why we haven’t seen that much of Theo, because when teams defend deeper his primary asset – raw and explosive pace – is often negated. I suspect we’ll get the same tomorrow too.

What we won’t get is a new face announced, which I’m fine with to be honest, because we have football to distract us from the salvia thing and foaming at the mouth of many people. I prefer to concentrate on the real thing rather than the speculation. Life’s too short don’t you know. But I am starting to get a little bit more apprehensive about whether or not we can compete. I’ve been so resolute all summer about how we don’t really need an engine overhaul, just a fine tune, but having seen our stuttering start I’ve started to waiver in my own belief. It’s sad, I know, but I can’t help it. It’s probably partially driven by Moneychester City’s brilliant start, as well as the lacklustre finishing on our part, but I am starting to get worried every time Coquelin goes down holding a part of his body. I still believe that Arteta is a good player and will be valuable to us, but when that thought process gets immediately countered in my head by “yeah. but sure only when we are a couple of goals up early on against Swansea or Stoke at home?”, I get flashes of doubt that grow bigger. I do think we need a destroyer. The return of Welbeck will at least mean we have another option alongside Theo if Giroud isn’t working, so numbers-wise we’re fine, but that centre midfield anchor is still missing. None of us want a prolonged period of games where Flamini is attempting to relive his previous Arsenal life, so let’s hope Arsene is looking at that position more than a striker.

Maybe it’s a bit of a reverse of what he’s done in the past. You know, like when we all cried out for another striker, so Arsene went out and bought Monreal. Or when we all wanted another defender and up pops Andre Arshavin. Maybe whilst everyone is screaming for a Benzema, Wanyama can sneak in through the back door at Colney and then jump out of a bike cake for us on September 2nd? We shall see.

Anyway, I’m off to prep for my sojourn up north, so I’ll catch thee in the morrow for a pre-match musing from Morpeth.