The Community Shield from an Arsenal perspective
357 comments August 6th, 2007
As weekend readers will know, I was at the Community Shield yesterday to see Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties. To be honest, there wasn’t a huge amount to be read into the performance of our rivals, as both still have players to return from injury and signings to complete.
One thing that stood out was Man Utd’s dire lack of defensive cover. Brown and Silvestre are about as effective as The Chuckle Brothers, whilst John O’Shea has completed his transformation from average defender to averager midfielder.
On the Chelsea side of things, it struck me that if Arjen Robben leaves, they may be lacking somewhat in the final third, especially when Didier Drogba goes off to African Nations. Drogba and Essien are vital players in the blue machine, and their absense, combined with the loss of Mikel and Kalou, could allow any potential challengers in.
So if we sign a winger, Chelsea sell Robben, and Drogba, Neville, and Evra are remarkably unlucky with injuries, we might have a chance. Excellent.
I’m off on my holidays today. If there’s no update tomorrow, assume that a) there’s no internet access in the hotel, or b) I never made it.
Adieu.
