Morning folks, happy ‘middle of the week’ day. I don’t like it when people call if ‘hump’ day – makes me think there’s some sort of orgy on a school night. Most unacceptable.

What’s also probably unacceptable is those leaked Arsenal kits. The home one I can just about tolerate, but the away and third kits are a bit of a travesty. Mind you, at least we’re not Puma, because Man City’s away white kit looks like somebody has stuck a load of microscopic viruses on it as some kind of sick joke.

After this season’s awesomeness I was hoping for some good stuff from Adidas but they’ve clearly decided to give the job to an intern for next season. I don’t necessarily mind that to be honest though; I bought both kits for this season and it was expensive enough. I think I’m ok leaving it a year or a few years before I decide whether to bother buying any more.

And after all, a kit is a kit and even though Adidas nailed it this season both home and away, the team butchered the season along with the coronavirus too, so these kits will hardly go down as ones that will have happy memories. That’s because the kits with the memories are the ones where teams win things. Everyone can remember the Invincibles kit with the O2, simple red and white, then away kit of the bright yellow and bright blue; perfect kit, in Arsenal’s traditional colours, with a perfect team to match. That’s all that really matters and if we can go on and actually win something in that kit next season I would certainly not mind.

There’s a podcast on the official site with Thomas Vermaelen that I might have a listen to when I go for my run later. He’s an interesting player. I remember when he first signed for us and scored on his debut. I think he scored shortly afterwards too and I remember thinking that we’ve got ourselves quite a centre half there. Maybe it’s just my fading memory but I seem to recall he also looked like quite a commanding centre back in that first 2009-10 season and coupled with scoring goals as well it looked like we’d got our Sol Campbell replacement. But alas injuries hit him and he never really recovered from that first good season I don’t think, eventually losing his place to Big Per and Koscielny. And even when he did return he looked a shadow of his former self.

That seems to have been a recurring theme for us over the years; players picking up long injuries and never quite returning to their former promise. I can think of loads off the top of my head; Rosicky, Wilshere, Eduardo, Diaby (although he was always injured), to name but a few. I often think of those players and think about ‘what could have been’ with some of their careers. Particularly Eduardo who was an absolute beast in front of goal and his confidence seemed to be really hit after that horror tackle in Birmingham. I often wonder what would have happened if he could have had five or six years at the club with minimal injuries off. We could have potentially looking at a guy who bagged at least 100 goals, rather than the 21 in all competitions that he got during his short time at the club. A fully fit Eduardo may have also softened the blow of losing van Persie to United a few year’s later perhaps?

There’s not really a lot else going on other than the usual transfer rubbish from the media houses looking to earn your clicks. I’m having a ‘can’t be arsed with that’ day today so I’ll not bother to regale you with stories about how we’re going to sign Messi or some such nonsense. So I’ll take my leave but before I do I thought i’d point you in the direction of the Gunners Town podcast, as I’ll be hosting it and this evening I get back in the hotseat with Dave and Charlie to talk about the upcoming restart and what our hopes and expectations are for the start of the season. If you’d like to listen in you’ll be able to do so via the GunnersTown website where we’ll post all of the show details – https://www.gunnerstown.com/radio

That’s all for today folks. Catch you tomorrow.