Arsenal certainly have tried doing everything they can on the pitch to right the wrong that was the loss to Aston Villa on opening day. Their 3-0 drubbing of Fenerbahce and 3-1 dismantling of Fulham as resolute performances as can be expected from a squad that finished out the previous season with 11 games unbeaten.
The key to those performances could be said are a result of a team intent on proving its doubters wrong and to some extent that’s probably right. This version of Arsenal does seem to show more mental resoluteness then other recent interations of this club. However, there was also the performances of Aaron Ramsey.
Ramsey is up until recently a fan favorite for criticism. I should know, I have often criticized him for his lack of “simple” play. In the past he tried to hard to force things. He made what I can only deem as stupid decisions, like trying heel passes that 9 times out of 10 always were intercepted resulting in play breaking down. Now, there is more confidence and strength and now some of those errant passes are finding men in red shirts.
It should also be noted that he is showing the promise alot of us expected at the time he suffered his injury. At the time both he and Jack were coming up only to have his time cut short and the light shining brightly on jack. Now with Jack just returning to the fold its Ramsey’s turn to shine in the light and its not hard to argue that right now the midfield is performing better with Ramsey in it then with Wilshere.
No, its not a slight on Jack. Jack is going to require possibly this whole season to wind up being the talent that made Barcelona look silly. He’ll get there but right now as he finds his way fully back and gets integrated more into the team its Ramsey who looks more effective along the likes of Rosicky and Cazorla.
So with the ship seemingly wrighted, it now runs into two more matches in August before an international break. First up is the 2nd leg of the Champion’s League tie and I am sure this what Bayern supporters felt heading into the 2nd leg against us at the Allianz. 3-0 seems a tough nut for Fener to crack. A draw or even an Arsenal win secure a 16th consecutive trip to the Group Stages of Europe’s premier club tournament. And while I would always urge caution if Fenerbahce come in with the same attitude as last week, i would say its a done deal.
As for the second match its sort of anti-climatic if you will that a we face of against Tottenham. North London Derbies are always cagey affairs and in the last few years have actually had some meaning to them. One this early in the season is only going to be for bragging rights as the result for either team can easily be overcome with 35 matches left on the schedule should either get the result they don’t like.
We discuss this and more with this week’s guest James McNicholas. James is a blogger known on twitter as @gunnerblog who also writes for various outlets including Bleacher Report. james and go over all the topics we just previewed and pay specific attention to Ramsey and Wilshere and their respective roles in the squad.
Tom and Bill are off this week so you are left with me in the YAMA Broadcast center trying to avoid those brainwashing air waves from the English Media.
We hope you enjoy this episode. . . Until next time Stay Goonerish!
All episodes of the YAMACAST can be accessed on iTunes via the following link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/you-are-my-arsenal-yamacast/id615279052
