By Dave Katz
One thing that’s unique for us, as football fans, is the anticipation of a new season, and all the potential it brings.
Don’t get me wrong – I love watching movies, I love TV, as I’m sure many of you do. The marketing arc towards the launch of a film can certainly excite, in and of itself; the initial hint that a specific actor is attached to a project with a certain director, the months of speculation as a cast emerges, a teaser or trailer perhaps, still images or the official poster, the occasional detail emerging around story or subject matter, yadda yadda yadda.
Or the knowledge that a specific writer of a long-finished TV show is working on a new project, perhaps even a couple of cast members from one thing are to reunite on another or, even better yet, a few cast members from different shows brought together (as if by an algorithm – funny that) to work on something that’s going to hit the screens in just a few months time…… it is thrilling, sure, but nothing, nothing at all, hits us quite the same as the anticipation of a new football season.
We know how we did last year. We are aware of our shortcomings, and our strengths. We know what we were capable of doing last season, if only…… but no need to reflect on that any longer. We have had a summer of attempts to fill those gaps, without losing what we had and that window of opportunity is not yet over. As have all of our rivals.
The start of a new season is an opportunity for all of us to dream, again. To set aside what happened before, and write a story that may somehow take into account the old, but also render it entirely irrelevant.
For three years in a row, we have finished second. For three years in a row, we have gone a step further in the Champions League (if you count ‘not being in it’, three years ago). For three years in a row, we’ve pretty much failed in the domestic cup competitions. On the eve of a new season, those facts are no more or no less true, but we all have a unique sense of hope right now. We all know, in the back of our minds, that a if team can narrowly escape relegation one season, and begin a season as a 5000-1 shot can, in their next season, win the league – well, Arsenal certainly can do this year.
Sure, our main rivals have strengthened well, at least on the surface of it (but VVD and Salah can’t play at that level for ever, right? RIGHT???). City may have some new players in there, some of the ones they bought in January didn’t entirely fail (Marmoush) whereas others did, and they’ve managed to get a few new guys in since then (none of them enormously excite me personally, but i suspect they’ll get Rodrygo – he just smells like a City player, no?). Chelsea are somewhat resurgent, having finally stitched together some kind of team by buying most of the players and seeing which ones don’t hate each other. United, Spurs, can’t quite be as bad as they were before, surely they’re not going to finish just above relegation again, or throw away two goal leads with 6 minutes to go and lose on penalties?
In my opinion, we were close for three years in a row, two in the league, one in the Champions League. You can argue how close, you can argue the whys and wherefores, but the positions don’t lie – two seasons in a row we got to the very end in the League and last season we narrowly lost a CL semi-final that would have seen us face a far less strenuous challenge in the final match, had we got there, than the previous couple of rounds and the manager was very short outside of the first 13 or 14 players of options he felt he could rely on for rotation. Again, yes, you can argue the toss over who was to blame for that, but personally, i don’t think it was Mikel.
The proof of that will be whether we see minutes spread out more broadly between the individuals in the squad, over the first 10 games. Will he make subs earlier than before? Will he tinker with the starting line-up like we’ve not seen him (willing or able to) do?
Consider this – as I write this, just before the first weekend – how many players in the starting line-up for Old Trafford are you certain of? Last season, it would have been at least 10, if not 11, before the weekend for any match – and yes, we probably know at least 7 or 8 right now – but will he start Ben or Jurrien, Calafiori or MLS? Will Kai get the nod over Big Vik, or is it obvious that the shiny new toy will get to start against United?
We all begin the season with the same questions, and the same prayer – ‘please, let this be our season’ – just as fans of every other team in the Prem are saying. The only difference between them and us? We deserve it. Well, we all have to dream, right?!
Images courtesy of Reuters/Action Images