This was not your regular pre-season game, Robin van Persie punctuated a physical and intense tie by scoring in the 88th minute to give Arsenal their second trophy in a week. I’m not much for in-depth analysis of pre-season games but I know that Bakari Sagna looked weak and RVP will score a ton of goals for us. Please don’t hate Hleb, he’s going to be a big asset for us this season, yeah I know he completely disappears for long stretches of the game but he makes up for it with some nice and timely plays. Patience my dear, patience.

Anybody see that play where Eduardo had the ball, got tackled by two defenders, fell down and still managed to control the ball, and as he’s finally getting up they foul him hard. Eduardo’s a fighter. He’s obviously no Henry but the man plays every time he’s in there. I also think Flamini is made of molten lava and Denilson is underrated. Check out the match report, it’s written by professionals. Or if you prefer some really amateur but accurate analysis possibly written by a 6th grader check out post 157 by Grandizer on the Gunnerblog. There’s also some post-match interviews on the Sky Sports website.

Here’s the quote of the match and it comes from the beaten Dennis Rommedahl:

“I don’t see [Arsenal] as a candidate for the title”

Thoughts? No? Well, I have some. It’s going to be tough for us to win the title but we’re definitely a candidate for it. If our strikers stay healthy, our midfielders repeat their performance from last year and our defense gets a little tighter, we’ll be a shoe-in for Champions League play and quite possibly be in contention in April. Rommedahl used to play for Charlton and we’ve kicked their ass so consistently that he probably still has nightmares and just wanted to take a shot at us. Fucker.

I don’t speak a word of Arabic but goals sound better in it:

I was going to post a lot more highlights but both PPMate and Sopcast let me down.

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It’s still early August and almost three more months to go to till opening day but there are some things that I’m already looking forward to.

CBC broadcasting 10 games: It’s only ten games but it’s the first time Joe Farmer in Edmonton will get to see the Toronto Raptors by just turning on his TV and giving it a few slaps. Puckheads across Canada will gets to see what the big fuss about the NBA really is. If the broadcast team is halfway decent, this actually might be good.

Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors: Allen, Garnett, Pierce vs. Bosh, Parker, Ford will be as marquee as matchups go in the East. The defending Atlantic champions facing the usurpers coveting their crown. I say the best player on the Celtics is still Paul Pierce so although on paper they’re looking good, it might not translate to the domination some are expecting. Marbury agrees.

Anthony Parker: After a season where he played exceedingly well and while not even being close to the focal point of the offense, it’ll be interesting to see how Parker’s role will grow. He can be a primetime offensive weapon and I’ll be keeping a close eye on how Sam Mitchell can utilize Parker’s deadly outside touch and ridiculous mid-range game.

Jason Kapono’s defense: The Mo Pete for Kapono was a lateral move where we “traded” good offense, good defense for great offense, bad defense while blowing away our Mid-Level Exception . Depending on how well Kapono shoots we might be willing to let his defensive inabilities slide. Either way it’ll be interesting to watch him try to defend while trying to be an offensive threat.

Bargnani in the post: No-brainer here. He’s 7-ft tall, let’s see if he learned how to use that frame to his advantage yet. Same for his defense.

Crowds at the ACC: Back in early 2000’s it was Purple Fever and last year it was Let’s go Red. Attendance for regular season games should improve from last year and we’ll also see how Raptors fans react to being somewhat out-shined by the loud and vocal Toronto FC supporters.

Raptors TV: After years of dreadful production and mediocre analysis, they lose Norma Wick, Brian Heaney amongst others. Maybe this is the year where they realize that the studio is too bright and pink and viewers expect more than mundane “analysis”.

Raptors PodCast: It’ll be good. If you’re interested in contributing, drop me a line: arsenalist | gmail.

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