Plop!  The last bead of sweat wrung from my sodden brow hits the steaming hot black top.  It’s summer; it’s the dog days of summer – it’s the type of summer that causes climate change deniers to bury their collective heads even deeper in the sand with the hopes of finding cooler nadirs.

Doubled over, I catch my breath momentarily before the panting returns.  I’m not meant for this; I need cold beer in a semi-frozen mason jar, I need shade, I need Arsenal, I need to write.

Late afternoon walks across the car park are all like this these days.  What are fleeting and beautiful moments in the spring sunshine have transformed into epic, Sahara-like sojourns through the furnace that is lot 9.

Slacks sticking to my tired legs, tie loose at the gritty neck, laptop dragging like a stubborn burro that will walk no further.

This is not the place where inspiration should hit, muses are few amongst the beige Toyota Corollas and yet I find myself settling on the Arsenal.

Inspiration hits in strange places

It’s the heat that gets me there.  I’ve been listening to Simon Collings on the old banger reporting on a Singapore that sounds equally sweaty and an Arsenal that is consistently doing two-a-days.  It sounds like both heaven and hell wrapped into a single, tidy city-state.

I can barely waddle my way across the poker-hot car park and yet the guys are putting in shifts so hard they can’t walk afterwards; all while baking in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

I’m reminded of the quote from Moneyball: “hard work may not always result in success, but it will never result in regret” and it hits me like a cool Pacific gust: I’m excited.

The predictable expectation of the last several seasons has washed away and been replaced by something new: exhilaration.  There is no sinister *but* leering at me from the shadows of my football mind as I look ahead.

Such is the power of change.  Even tossed aside relics of last year’s dismal performances have been replaced by Unai Emery’s potentially golden idols.  Arsenal is not yet transformed but the chrysalis is there and I wait in anticipation of movement.

Sideshow Robert

Of the new charges, Mattéo Guendouzi has caught the eye.  At 19 years old, his presence on the ball belies his inexperience.  Playing the ball forward quickly breaks pressing teams and he seems to have that ability lurking behind the Sideshow Robert locks.  The Premier League will either harden his soft edges or chew him up and spit him out but August is not the time to know for certain which future will unfold for young Mattéo.

For now, he appears to have settled and I am airing on the newly found side of positivity.  The frequent social media behind-the-scenes looks have caught him no further than arm’s length from the Francophone striking contingent of Lacazette and Pierre.

Beaming through dance routines between the grit of Emery’s preseason training programme, Aubamayeng looks fantastically sharp.  A full season in North London is tantalizing with the very real possibility of 30 plus goals in the offing.  Lacazette too, looks hungry for success; the thought of a missed hoisting of the Jules Rimet mark II a likely contributor.

But it’s not just the potential goals of Aubama-Lac that get the pulse racing.  Everything from work-rate to attitude seems to be in check and the relationship the two seem to have struck could point to a truly iconic strike partnership.

Defensively, the pair will play an important role as well – with the front line being key to the press once the ball is lost.  Lacazette and Aubamayeng’s understanding and work rate may very well allow the adoption of the new press system to be accelerated.

Based on the preseason, I do think the two will start together with Emery seemingly preferring a 4-3-3.  I’ve always liked the idea of a fluid frontline and those two switching positions will tie Premier League defences in knots.

Across the middle of the pitch, I’m most excited to see the enigmatic Mesut Özil.  He, more than anyone else in this Emery side, gives me butterflies in intense anticipation. The obscene post-World Cup reception by his nation has asked the question of both his on field and off field credibility and Mesut is due an emphatic answer.  Add to that the closed door family response by Arsenal, which I think was the perfect reaction, and I think we will see an Özil with an edge we have never seen before in the Premier League.

We will see the best from this man

Much has been made of how he will line-up in the front three but I believe we will see him as the most advanced in the midfield trio, with the front line being completed by Iwobi or Mkhitaryan.  The running options ahead of Özil are simply mouthwatering.

Behind Mesut, the spine of the team has been strengthened with the finest steel Fray Bentos has to offer.  Lucas Torreira joins us after a successful Russian experience which saw him win a place in Uruguay’s starting eleven as the tournament played out.  The graft and work rate had already won over many supporters before his preseason debut in Stockholm.

Defensively is perhaps the only area of the pitch that I still have questions about; where the excitement turns to slightly apprehensive nerves.  Reinforcements have been made but similar faults have persisted thus far – this will take more time.  I am consoled by the fact that there is a good team at Arsenal that was wildly Jekyll and Hyde on a weekly basis last year: with the good Doctor only really appearing in North London, leaving the havoc of Hyde to away days.

Emery and his coaching team are displaying all the right signs with the squad showing a togetherness that is encouraging.  I am ecstatic to see a more formalized press introduced – something I’ve been crying out for since Leicester won the title in 2016.  The Premier League has transformed since then with more teams adopting pressing styles, especially at home (see Hyde comment above) and several of our players are deliciously poised to dovetail nicely into this type of system.

The only distraction in an otherwise harmonious pre-season has been the Ramsey contract situation; which is about as welcome as a sonorous fart during intercourse.  But like that awkward interlude, I do think all parties will emerge unscathed – if not a little unpleasantly odorous.

For what it’s worth, I believe Ramsey will sign with one of the reasons it has taken this long being a wait-and-see approach with Emery.  I take the news that the two sides talking as a positive – but that may also be a consequence of my newly found optimism.

Ramsey in a press would thrive and both Arsenal and the player would be better for it.  To lose him now would be a disappointing anti-climax to a potentially legendary career at the Emirates.

As was said above, hard work is never regretted and Arsenal are putting in the work this summer.  We can’t regret this season – for what it is and what it means to Arsenal football club.  We’ve collectively felt held back; restricted from progressing (either artificially or not).  With a top four place beckoning, the limiter is off – like a welcome breeze across an asphalt parking lot in the dead of summer.

Youknowit,

OG

Post Script: It is perhaps significant that I dust off the keyboard and update my wordpress plugins now, after not writing a word in anger or optimism since January of 2017.  My reinvigorated commitment to Arsenal fan fiction may not continue this season but like Arsenal, let’s wait and see.