Gooners To Return To The Top?

After five rounds of holding the top position in RMI Division 3, the team finally relinquished their lead against Futsal and went on to give away first place in the dying moments in a comfortable game against The Kings! It was by no means a disaster and in both games they played well but have yet to find the cutting edge in this new look line up. Gooners are still the strong side they were last season and still manage to dominate the play for ninety minutes week in week out but just recently they seem unable to kill teams off when given numerous opportunities.

Then there is the defence which last season was almost unbreakable, whilst this season even when easily winning games they seem to always leak atleast one weak goal. Seaman was something of a legend last season and has now regained first team form and the manager will look to him to stop the opposition dead in their tracks. You must also consider the change of personnel, for instance the departure of Lauren who was a massive part of their success last season... on the other hand they brought in Adams who has been an amazing player for them since his arrival.

Even with their recent slip in form it's still hard to find any major faults in the team and it may just be a case that they havent played together long enough to find the understanding required. After all they still have led convincingly for a long period whislt racking up some above average score lines along the way and as they proved last season they are a team that can take everything the opposition can throw at them and still come back stronger than before. The fans are sure they are on the brink of seeing something special from their team and who would bet against this as with each passing game the team work becomes stronger and stronger and the new players find their feet.

With that said Gooners now enter a tough period of fixtures, facing Juventus whilst on low form and then moving on to current league leaders bully boys. Gooners will need a convincing victory against Juventus to carry them through into what may prove to be their toughest fixture so far. Then again if any team can come out the other side intact it is Gooners with their winning mentality and never say never attitude. The coach will need hardly any words of motivation after what can only be described as stupid irrational rants by the Bully Boys coach who obviously feels extremly threatened at the thought of facing a weaker and less skillful side.

Here what coach FMR had to say after recent events:

It has been an interesting period for us and i dont really see that many negatives after dropping from first to second, we were never going to hold first place for the entire season with so many similary skilled teams in one divsion. Being off the top spot may be a blessing in disguise as it takes the pressure off of us and gives us something once again to aim for, we will of course try to win the division but a top three finish is the main goal along with improving the young squad we have. I feel only an "idiot" would make predictions in a division such as this i expect the top spot to change quite frequently and for there to be many an upset along the way... not including injuries, cards and improvements from other teams. The winner will be the strongest team over the whole period and the team that can deal best with the many hurdles a season can throw at you, who that is remains to be seen.

As for Gooners as usual we are too busy concentrating on our own game to be intrested in what goes on else where, I have a tough fixture against Juventus next as the puchase of Anelka has upset the camp quite a bit and form is very much at an all time low. What I need to see from my players now is the charachter that proves we can bounce back from anything this season might throw at us. In the last round we were despreately unlucky in reality and I think the players already showed me what I need to see. Against Juventus we must give everything and get a result that raises our game to the next level, for sure we are on the verge of something special with this squad but we must maintain our high standards this season whilst bringing through the quality youngsters we have.

As for Anelka he is a very serious addition to the squad and we will endevour to get him to a level ASAP where we can get him first team football as a late developer the window of opportunity is much smaller. Although we feel he has a very bright future ahead of him here at Gooners and if he reaches his targets he is sure to fetch many econs on the transfer market and it is a win win situation for us, with that said the main reason behind his purchase was goals and when he is ready we feel he will be among the top scorers in the league. That is some way off though and with Wiltord and Henry we feel we have plenty of time to bring him through the ranks and mould him into quite a player!