Preview: Arsenal 2014-2015 Season

It’s here already!

Lord knows I have missed watching Arsenal play in a competitive game, the World Cup was ok but nothing beats watching Arsenal and all the nerve-wracking moments that go with it. The remote is back in my control and I ain’t letting go…

No Arsenal fan needs a reminder of how we were at this point last season. I dare you to read you your timeline this period last year when we had only signed Flamini and Sanogo, for 99% of fans it would be stark contrast to what it is now. Two trophies (yes, two trophies! If we had lost the world would have been on our backs so when we win the community shield we have a right to count it) and a host of quality signings after and the mood is heavenly.

The importance of the trophy seems to weigh heavily on the mind of most Arsenal fans as reflected in the polls we conducted with 30 fans. Almost 50% of fans think a key factor that would influence our performance this season is the new-found spirit and desire to win by this group of Arsenal players.

Poll Results.

*Anyone has an explanation why Arsene signing a new contract was least important to fans on this poll?

Aaron Ramsey captured it perfectly speaking after the Community Shield win saying;

“The FA Cup was the first thing we’ve won with this team,”. “It could be the most important one.”It was definitely a great feeling, after winning it, and we want that feeling again and we want it as quickly as possible. “We have got over that hurdle of not having won anything for many years; we have finally put that to bed and won the FA Cup. Now we want to build on that.”

The feeling you get when you win is only matched by the desire to win more and this thoughts are even captured more in professional sport which is a highly competitive environment. Nothing really beats the fact that this crop of players even though almost all were not at the club at the beginning of the trophy drought, it still feels like they have been released from shackles holding them back. Do a quick flash back and imagine this first few paragraphs if Hull had scored that third goal….*scratch the thought quickly.

A thought however  that stayed with me for a while at the end of last season with us losing it by just 7 points was, which factor contributed more to our not winning the league considering the amazing run we had. Did we lose the league because we didn’t score enough or because we conceded too many. Would conceding 3 less goals against Chelsea, Liverpool and ManCity (apologies for bringing that back), have made more impact than scoring one goal against West Brom away and against Swansea at home? One more goals in those games would have given us 6points. I suppose that opinion was reflected also in the poll results when we asked what where fans wanted to see the most improvement.

Poll Result

*seems we have our goal keeping problems really sorted out. Not one vote!

“We gat 99 problems but the FA Cup ain’t one”, at least that is what the result for what fans desire the most from Arsenal this season is. For all the joys we had winning it, no one seems to want it as first choice. The desire to be successful at home slightly edged winning in Europe and I am of the same opinion. I love those champions league nights but maybe after we have won the league back to back then I might consider winning in Europe over the EPL.

Poll Result

Like Jay Z, if we have 99 problems, the contents of our next poll would be in the top 5. As night is to day, so is Arsenal to topping the injury league every season. Signing the new fitness instructor Shad, from the German Team has been seen as the club reacting to the spate of injuries that continually bedevils it. A clear 73% of our voters choose better injury management over Arsene Wenger improving on his tactics.

Poll Result

* I wonder if the result of this poll would have been different if it was taken immediately after we lost 3-0 to Everton with Martinez tactically displacing Wenger. (why do I keep bringing up bad memories, forgive me)

If Injuries are that critical to success which Gunner would you like to see have an Injury free season. I got this question from Andrew and James from Arsecast, the weekly Monday podcast on Arseblog.com.  Isn’t it just amazing the answer to this poll? Aaron Ramsey the clear favourite here. How one of the most maligned players in Arsenal history can turn around to be the most valuable player in the team is amazing. No words can describe it so I’ll let you make what you can from the poll results. We collected it in free text hence the presentation in a tabular format.

So, enjoy your weekend and if we are up for it there might be preview of the palace game tomorrow on the site, if there isn’t well there are always a lot of lovely previews to read online I’m sure. However we welcome @ReallyCrossRoss our new blogger on CanonCrested and he would be writing weekly on how Arsenal is faring compared to our title rivals. Take my word to the bank, Ross, his sense of humour and his dire love for Arsenal is something worth looking forward to.

I feel really positive about this season; there isn’t a reason not to. You see the club and the stability it has had with Wenger signing, the commercial department seems to be doing excellently, the fans have never been more united, the quality of the squad is not in question, the players are in awesome spirits, what else can one really ask for going into a football season.

Cheers friends. Thank you to everyone that helped with this post by participating in the poll.

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