It’s all got a little slow now in terms of goings on at The Arsenal, eh? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but speaking as somebody who wakes up in the morning and thinks “I wonder what stuff has been happening, or will happen in the next 24 hours, should occupy my thoughts today”, this time of the summer can be quite boring.

And repetitive. During the season proper there are at least one game a week to be thinking about and next season, hopefully if the team can successful, that’ll be two games a week. It is plenty of take up your time as you think about build up, the match day, post match and then looking forward to the next one. So for around nine months of the 12 you’ve got plenty to concern yourself with. Then when it is the summer it is the inevitable transfer guff that comes out, only we’ve sort of started to already get our dealings done and dusted and now we’re just hanging around online waiting for official confirmations. We’re in a state of flux; a summer transfer limbo in which fans like me just think about the new signings so much that there is literally nothing more to say on the two deals we’re waiting on.

I almost don’t even want to say the names of the players in question that we are buying, because I feel like I have written again and again about them and it is getting quite repetitive and boring.

I guess on the upside we have the first proper pre season game coming up in two days in which we’ll be able to watch some highlights having seen the players step out on to the pitch against FC Nurnberg on Thursday. I say ‘first proper’ though because we have already had a behind-closed-doors game against Watford, but those matches always feel to me as though they never truly count; it’s at London Colney, there are no fans around and the players are playing on the same pitches they train every day. Watford train next door to us so it is just a jump over the fences for them and when we usually play a side behind closed doors it is Watford. So part of me thinks that the 1-1 draw last week probably doesn’t count.

Not that pre season really counts in itself though, eh?

Or does it?

I mean, I’ve always written this blog and said ‘meh’ about pre season, but last summer’s impressive showing from the team followed by the excellent start and then season we had, did make me wonder if actually pre season DOES mean something after all. Now, the results in themselves don’t mean anything and that is the difference between now and the real matches, but the way in which we set up and play I think does mean something in the context of the upcoming scenario. For example: if we played Man United on 22nd July in the US, absolutely batter them in terms of the way we play, then end up drawing 2-2 because they get two penalties and we get two brilliant goals, I’m not exactly going to be chewing my fingernails down to some stubby ends. Instead, I’m going to look at the way in which we are playing and how those players appear to bear gearing up to the next season. Or, for example, if we play our strongest XI for the first half against Barcelona and go in at halftime one up against them, only to make a load of subs and Barca to peg us back and beat us 2-1 in the second half because we’ve rotated the whole team out for the second half, I’m hardly going to be firing up the warning flares of a potentially disastrous season.

Having said that, what you don’t want is an absolute tonking with some of your best players on the pitch. I can’t remember which podcast I listened to recently, but it was an Arsenal one and they had a Chelsea fan on to talk about their abysmal season, in which they had three managers, finished 12th and spent £600million in the process. There wasn’t a ton of insight from the chat, but what I did get from it that stuck in my head was when the guy was asked where the problems started, in which he traced the origins back to pre season 2022. In July we played them in Florida and we absolutely tonked them 4-0. We didn’t know it then, but it was a sign of what would happen for the respective teams; we went on to start brilliant and challenge for the title, Chelsea had a mess of a season. And you could tell in that game too, because it is not as if Chelsea didn’t put out a strong team; they had Mendy, James, Thiago Silva, Jorginho, Gallagher, Havertz, Mount, Sterling and Timo Werner in their starting XI. That was as close to full strength as you’re going to get and we tore them a new one.

The reason I’m bringing this up is just to show that whilst the result doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, what you are looking for is performances, cohesion, an approach that is potentially working and signs that we’re going to have a great season ahead. Post that game I think Tuchel questioned the mentality of the players; that was in pre season and you’ve got a manager who can smell that something is wrong. There is no cause for panic when you are in July, but if there are warning signs then you need to course correct and so for me what I’m looking for is not warning signs, but more signs that this team can maintain the excellent form from last season.

Then you’re looking for how the new signings bed in, how we might rotate this season, etc. But broadly speaking it is about overall performance and that there is a cohesion in the side that can leave you excited for the nine months ahead.

I’ll leave you pondering that I think for now. You enjoy your Tuesday and I will catch you all tomorrow with more of my random thoughts.

Have a good one peeps.