Keep The Faith

Gooners will make no big money signings this pre-season and will not be selling any players either, FMR has been busy working on a plan to both win the RMI and improve his team in the long term... and belives he now has a winning formula.

During last season the Gooners boss spoke out many times about their goal keepers and saw this as their major weakness, but with Seaman's end of season performances it would have been a heartless decision to let him go. As for Akinfeev there is significant improvement season upon season and FMR has promised him atleast the chance to prove he can be world class.

Gooners will then start the new season, almost as they finished the last... they are as always looking to add more youth to their numbers and have been evaluating many options although obviously have failed to find that special something they are looking for. Laurent Koscielny was added to their ranks and is very much part of the bigger picture, Gooners are still tracking players on this path and have made offers.

FMR has hinted that players may be sold during the season, we think this refers mainly to Busquets who is the clubs record signing. He looks much more settled now but will need to be working hard on the training field as goals alone wont be enough after last season disaster. Akinfeev is another who will need to work harder than others if he is to remain at the club. FMR himself is still confident and had only positive things to say;
"Yes the season is almost upon us and there has been no big signings but we are confident and optomistic as ever, development is key to our immediate success but at the same time we feel capable of competing well this season. On paper obviously some are already saying we are not up to the task, the game has never been played on paper though and I am looking forward to the challenge... very much so.

The board have asked only that we survive this season...but I have set my sights higher! I have looked at the coming season in some detail and I feel that we can maybe get some unexpected results in the first half for sure. We play away an awful lot and this will remove a lot of pressure and also allow us to try some different approaches. A good start could make a massive difference and we are in the best shape we have ever been in before a season, the first game is also one I feel we are more than capable of winning also.

The squad is very small and without many alternatives, so avoiding injuries as always is key for us. That said we do have plans in place to level the playing field when needed and we are happy there will be adequate playing time for the fringe players also. We also have some options during the season if early on we find certain players struggling for form we will not hesitate to list them and that alone could have dramatic effect on things. We hope that that is not an option we are forced to use as the preferred plan is to acheive success with every player we have on the books curently.

My target is to do as well as I can this season but we are already looking toward the two seasons after and feel that may be our best chance to win the RMI. So again it is key to push our more experienced players harder than ever... Henry had a troubled season last time around so he has some catching up to do, but we are happy with the work done with Bergkamp and Lang and feel we can push them up a level as early as this season! Im sure Cesc can improve so if we can work some miracles with Borja and he stays on I feel we can at least match some of those more established teams for a short period.

It is a diffcult balance to maintain but I feel that with my current plans it will not harm the club to keep players such as Lang, Bergkamp. Henry and Borja on til retirement. I feel they will bring us success and I feel confident there will be enough here after their departure to rebuild upon in a short period of time."