Arsenal, Season 3
Season 3 has come to an end and Arsenal again have managed to secure a 3rd straight 8th place finish. With expectations at the start of the season to finish better than the previous season, it turn’t out to be a successful season on the basis that they finished 2 points better than season 2 and if it wasn’t for a poor performance on the final day against already relegated Fiorentina would had finished in a very respectful 7th place. With that in mind season 4 expectations will be to, as always, finish better postitionally or mathematically than the previous season.
Season 3 saw a few highly rated players leave for new challenges. The likesof Gareth Bale & Borges Willian were just 2 of the high class profiles which left leaving big holes in the attacking third and needing replacing. James Rodriguez was one of the names who came in and really set the ground running. Bowes looked towards more youthful players this season, players who he felt could have more resale value. Some top talents made the trip to north London, the likes of Raheem Sterling moved from Chelsea, Yannick Carrasco arrived from Spain before eventually moving to Portugal at the back end of the season. Emre Can, Saido Mane, Giannelli Imbula, Kelechi Iheanacho & Breel Embolo are just a few other who also made the trip to London.
Players with years of experience under their belt also arrived or left the club. Petr Cech was one name everyone was surprised to see leave, regarded as a world class keeper, left for a relative small fee. It showed the Top 100 community the route Bowes was looking to transform his team, English prodigy Jonathan Leko being the main focal point of the deal along with German stopper Kevin Trapp. Xabi Alonso was also another to leave Arsenal, a fee believed to be for 2 players from new Inter Milan manager Alex McLean in Geoffrey Kondogbia & Federico Di Marco. Another message of what MB was looking to achieve with the team.
A new signing which has got everyone talking is the arrival of Spanish playmaker Alcantara Thiago from Bayern. Michael Bowes has been trying to bring the midfielder to England for many months before the deal was agreed and the continued pursuit shows how highly the young English manager rated his new signing.
“To bring Alcantara here is something I’ve tried for many months, he brings some much needed quality in to the team and someone who I feel will progress massively to become a world class player here. We will give him the support and coaching needed to let him showcase his talent on the highest stage. It’s a message of content that we can bring these high standard of players to London and Alcantara will fit in with the likes of potential we have here in Ross Barkley, Luke Shaw, Raheem Sterling & Hector Bellerin”
Along with Thiago, Bowes has managed to bring in defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic. A player who is one of the best in his position will bring some quality to replace the departed Alonso. With previous experience in England with Chelsea it’s expected Nemanja will slot straight in.
“It’s great to be back! After spending a couple seasons in Germany with Schalke and Dortmund there’s just nothing that compares to England. The fans here love there football and the passion is easily visible”
With transfers wrapped up its time to look to the results side of business. The season started quite poor and seen the side fluttering around the bottom few places for the first 8 games. Results steadily improved as the team full of new players and characters gelled. Mid season saw the team steadily climb the table before the gunners took their foot of the gas as the final few games dribbled in. Arsenal managed to get to the 3rd round of the cup before being knocked out by Lazio, a run which had hoped for bigger things. Lazio were again the opponents in the 4th round of the shield and gained their revenge by beating the Italians 2-0 away, the run ended in the Semi finals against Andre’s Porto with the departure of Petr Cech a huge loss to the side.
With the team looking to take a youth step, Arsenal will be looking at the possibility of entering the Youth cup for the first time in season 4. With the youth setup at Arsenal being highly rated for many years is surprising that this will be their first appearance in the tournament. With season 4 in mind, the reserve side looks in a solid shape and a good cup run again is something we will be looking to achieve along with a improvement on our league position.
One thing is for sure, Michael Bowes is the right man to take us forward!
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