Arsenal Squad Austria: Senderos Last Chance Saloon?

Arsenal will announce the pre-season squad which will travel to Austria to play SS Columbia on Tuesday and begin the real pre-season preparations for what will be a long and arduous season for the club and many players. NO player from the First Team squad will be left behind unless there is a last minute injury, what remains to be seen is which players from the Youth squad will make the cut. As it is, Arsenal have a squad of 28 players, 3 Goal Keepers, 10 Defenders, 11 Midfielders and 5 Strikers, which is a large group already.

One player who has kept a dignified silence and worked extremely hard in training thus far has been Philippe Senderos. Having spent last season on loan at AC Milan where he failed to get a deal, the teams that have hovered for his signature in the ensuing weeks have not been to his wanting. Will he stay and fight to win a first team place? He must try emulate the attitude of Mathieu Flamini who two years ago made the central midfield position his own and kept the then Copa America winning captain Gilberto-Silva on the bench.

The first goal Arsenal conceded yesterday cried out for a commanding and organizing defender to deal with, Vermaelen-Gallas-Djourou-Silvestre, all rivals, failed to deal with it, would Senderos have done better? In January to March 2008, he deputised well for Toure, and performed so well, the consensus was why did Senderos have to make way for Toure after his AFCON 2008 return.

There is still a spot up for grabs alongside Gallas, he is the second tallest player in the squad, and he is the only one to have shown himself capable of withstanding an aerial assault in the team. The question is does he back himself to leave his rivals on the bench and finally realise his potential? If he stays and fights, he will be an asset to the team.

Barnet 2 - Arsenal 2.

A so/so start from Arsenal, however drawing 2-2 with a low opponent even in a friendly is not as bad as the performance that went with it, especially in the first half. There are still some remnants of the bad points from last season.

1) No cohesion of the primary defensive unit and no organizer. Four central defenders played, Djourou-Gallas-Vermaelen-Silvestre, and none could organize the defensive scheme for set pieces, and the longer this persists, more goals will flow. This is the easiest route to score vs Arsenal. If you do not have a tall defender, then find other solutions to counter this threat, unsettle the opponents so they don't have clean runs to do damage. BIG BIG BIG IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED.

2) No emphasis on reclamation of the ball when it is lost. There is no need for a defensive midfielder if the other members all contribute to stopping the team coming under pressure. This is a serious issue to be addressed, the attackers must also work hard and become defenders as soon as the ball is relinquished. Oneplayer cannot be expected to perform this if the opposition uses 3-4 players to attack.

However as i noted earlier in this blog, Rosicky and Arshavin have already developed a relationship as both speak Russian, and it is a pre-cursor to the 1 playmaker - 1 fast player model that Wenger will look to employ this season on the flanks.

The Return of Tomas Rosicky

The Czech midfield maestro will make his long awaited return tomorrow at the pre-season match against Barnet as he will start the match. The Czech had been due to return after the Roma matches last season, there were no real setbacks, but as Arsenal had secured 4th, there was no need to risk him. As for the cup matches, it was felt his mental preparation would have taken much longer, especially to play in matches of such magnitude.

The word from the training ground is that he has a good relationship with Andrey Arshavin, and that his technical ability is there for all to see, all that needs to be put to test is his mental hurdle after such a long time, and if he is able to get into the rhythm of the team quickly, a starting berth is there for the taking. He is applying himself well in training and is working at just getting to the level of the squad after such a long time out. Rosicky is often the man everyone forgets about when naming their ideal team for the season, he may just force them all to re-evaluate those thoughts as he is aiming to get back to being an important cog in the first team

Welcome back 'Little Mozart', and we all hope you return to your best as soon as possible.