One more to go…
It’s usually a game of two halves and, by my reckoning, it’s been a pre-season of three parts – and we only have one game to go until we countdown to Ipswich.
There was our trip to York that got early minutes into the legs, especially for those few who didn’t take part in the World Cup. Then we went on to the US for multiple events to promote the club, and we threw in a few games of footy in the sweltering heat while we were at it.
The third and final part of our close season was proclaimed quite early
on by the manager as the most important – and after our win against Lens, we’re now on the final leg of our French double-header, that brings Stade Rennais to the Stadium of Light on Saturday.
When you read it out loud, it appears to have been a definitive plan to ramp up nicely to the opening day during a summer that has been impacted significantly by players returning from the World Cup. It was clear against Lens that Le Bris has asked everyone to collectively step up the intensity and, knowing our manager as we do, we all know that he likes the final pre-season game to be as close to the real thing as possible.
And how are we looking? I hear you ask.
Well, I like what I’m seeing.
For a start, our one signing looks impressive, and he’s not even guaranteed a place in our starting XI. Thomas Meunier was literally head and shoulders above most of the other players on display, and you can see a few balls coming in from the left that might be looking for him at the back post this season.
When we’re looking at signings this summer, one thing we have to keep in mind is that all of those players we gave a first season to in the Premier League last season are now one year older, wiser and, in theory, more prepared.
The likes of Sadiki, Diarra and Talbi now know what to expect this season, and as we know how the club now functions, they will all have development plans for the years ahead to build on last year. In the past, we’ve allowed promising players to stagnate because they’re young; the theory was that they should just get better without any input. We now put the work in to do everything in our power to make this happen.
The one player I left off that list was Chris Rigg, because it feels like he looks the part ahead of the season opener. When you remember that his first full season where he was consistently involved in the first team was our promotion season, you realise how well he did last season.
This is especially true when he was obviously lightweight compared to the majority of opponents, but seeing him in pre-season suggests that this is going to be as much of a thing this year. Again, the club will be wary of placing any more blockers in the way of his development.
We’re also continuing our evolution that began towards the end of the season, that included a higher press and committing more bodies to our attacking play. In some of the chances we created, it was good to see players find pockets of space on the edge of the box and it just looks like we’re asking players to make those runs more than we did.
And we’ve got one more to watch to see if that continues.
Exciting Few Weeks…?
I hinted above at avoiding the temptation to add numbers to the squad for the sake of it, and Le Bris’ comment saying we needed to be “precise” confirms that it won’t be the way forward. But he has stated on a couple of occasions that we’ll bring in a few new recruits, which all means we could be in for a few exciting weeks until the window “slams shut”.
Where last summer we were squad building and needed to move quickly, this year we can wait for the exact profile of player we’re looking for, all safe in the knowledge that we’ve still got a pretty talented starting XI – as they showed against Lens, even with a few people out injured.
But it all points to what could be a potential historic few weeks where we could see our record transfer fee broken by a decent distance.
Membership Thoughts…
If you listen to today’s pod, you’ll hear me, Gav & Martin chat about the new club membership scheme.
While I think it’s an inevitable development for the club to come out with, they’ve made a hash of it. The rule is that usually you provide people with a fantastic offer where paying a certain amount of money gets you something tangible, but this membership offers the chance to get something.
The way this was announced was that the club was offering all fans a fantastic deal and a brilliant opportunity, but it essentially buys you a lottery ticket. Whether it’s the chance of a home ticket for exiles or an away ticket/Europa League away ticket for season ticket holders, it simply adds your name to a list of names.
Most other clubs have these schemes where you can see where you might get some benefit, especially if you continue to invest in the club, but we have a lot of fluff attempting to make it seem worthwhile.
While I’m on it, the communication around it all has been crap as well. Look, we all know this is the way it has to go at some point, and I’ve already bought one because otherwise I wouldn’t have a chance of getting tickets, but otherwise the club aren’t really providing anything worthwhile as part of what’s included.
Premier League wide open…?
Looking at this season’s Premier League, well, it’s a bit weird.
The traditional top six as we knew it might still exist as far as the media are concerned, but it’s been smashed wide open.
Pep’s gone for a start, so who knows how Citeh will get on without him. Liverpool are starting from scratch, Chelsea are signing older players to reverse a few years of a strange transfer policy, Carrick is hoping for the best at United, and Spurs are just hoping to not be looking over their shoulders this season.
It’s very early days and this isn’t a prediction, but the evidence points to Arsenal retaining their title purely because they’re the most stable, but there’s a huge chance for a number of clubs to take advantage of the state of some of the establishment.
We can also look up to that lot up the road when trying to correlate spending a fortune and it not bringing success and/or stability.
But for a club in our position, and when I say that I mean we’re one of a few who isn’t starting the season with a new manager and we’re looking to build on the momentum of a good season with one of the longest-serving managers in the Premier League, there’s a big opportunity.
I’m not sure we’ve ever had a Premier League like it where so many sides are unknown entities and the old top six are finding themselves – it’s going to be interesting.
