ClapApproaching the start of a brand new season isn’t always the easiest thing to do – especially if you’ve got to contend with so much additional pressure from outside of what actually happens on the pitch. While Colorado Rapids are in the midst of their campaign, Arsenal are only just beginning their preparations ahead of what is bound to be one of their most important seasons in recent memory.
As reported by Metro and Mirror, the two sides went one on one last night in a pre-season friendly which saw the Gunners run away with a convincing 3-0 victory. They raced into a 2-0 lead within the first half an hour of the game, and then in the second half, Gabriel Martinelli was able to put the finishing touches on the win with a really nice goal that has opened the eyes of many Arsenal supporters regarding what he’s capable of.
Making the time count
Beyond this being a standard friendly, though, it feels as if this game also confirmed something many of us already knew: the gulf in quality between the Premier League and Major League Soccer is still so overwhelmingly large, and it’s painfully, painfully evident at this stage.
While the money may be helping the Americans bridge the gap just a little bit, that still isn’t really going to impact things in the long run.
‘Our idea is to give every young player chances to be with us, first in the training ground and after in matches,’ said the Arsenal manager. ‘The idea is to continue working with them and give them chances. ‘They will win chances to show us what you can do.’
Emery, as you can quite clearly read, appears to be planning for the future in a big way – and the fact that the future stars are already able to dispatch of teams like the Colorado Rapids so easily is interesting to us.
Perhaps if LAFC were the ones getting involved in this friendly then it’d be a little bit different, but you really can never tell for sure one way or the other.
Stars of the future
In terms of where Arsenal go from here, fans can’t let this win distract from the fact that they need to go out and make some more gains in the summer transfer window. If they continue to struggle to bring in new names, then there is a very good chance that they’re going to be left behind once the race for the top four really begins.
As it is, though, they can sit back and enjoy this win – whereas the Rapids really do need to think about the future of their franchise. They’re lingering down towards the bottom of the Western Conference and while there’s no major threat of them being relegated or anything like that, they will still be well aware of the fact that major improvements are required.
Whether or not they make those improvements remains to be seen, but this is as good of a warning sign as any.
