Arsenal: Reasons for hope; the seeds of doubt

Arsenal have now concluded their U.S. pre-season tour. There were plenty of reasons for hope, but one large seed of doubt remains: the defence.

As Arsenal’s U.S. pre-season tour comes to an end, we can look back upon it and feel encouraged. There were positive signs, some good results, and several well-performing individuals. But despite all that encouragement, I still feel a tinge of doubt.

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The youngsters were the stars of the tour. I have long said that Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock need to be brought into the first team and they proved my point with some eye-catching displays. Coupled with the emergence of Robbie Burton, Buyaka Sako and some impressive cameos from new signing Gabriel Martinelli, there is a crop of young talent that is worth nurturing. Unai Emery surely must feel that some, if not all, can make the step up to at least the fringes of the first team next season.

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The performances against the likes of Fiorentina, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, who fielded near full-strength teams, were also encouraging. Pre-season or not, Arsenal looked impressive for the most part in those matches. Obviously, these are pre-season games and a team’s mentality is never the same at this stage than during a competitive season, but the early signs are good.

However, and this is where the doubt kicks in, the usual problems still persist. Emery has stressed the importance of defending, but from what I saw, the same defensive vulnerabilities still plague the team. It will very likely be the weak link next season.

The need for a new defender next season is still painfully obvious, even though I am intrigued to see how an English centre-back pairing of Callum Chambers and a fit-again Rob Holding could fair next season if given the chance. Shkodran Mustafi once again proved his ineptitude with some rash moments and poor decision-making, while the age of Sokratis and impending departure of club captain Laurent Koscielny after he threw his toys out of the pram are also looming issues.

Now the club are back in the UK, I’m fully expecting Arsenal to press on and spend the last few days of the transfer window adding much-needed quality to the squad, especially since Josh Kroenke said fans should be excited by the transfer dealings they have in the pipeline.

I’m not overly convinced by Kroenke’s proclamation, but the impending signings of William Saliba and Dani Ceballos, which are expected to be announced in the very near future, do give me reason for encouragement. I’m then hoping these signings are followed by a couple of other quality additions, whether that be Kieran Tierney, Wilfried Zaha, Everton Soares or whoever.

Most pressingly, though, it wouldn’t be too much to ask for another centre-back to be brought in. With Saliba returning to Saint-Etienne on a season-long loan as a part of the near-£30 million transfer, Arsenal need help at the position in the here and now. But with no concrete links, I highly doubt it will happen. And this, as you can see, is where the doubt really creeps up.

So, there are some things to be encouraged by and I am quietly confident going into the new campaign, but how many times have the hopes of a season been dashed by the deficiencies of a defence? We have encouragement, but there is always doubt, and both are thriving this summer.