Buckle up - It's going to be a bumpy ride

I honestly didn't expect us to win on Friday night. Not because I think that Brentford are a more talented team, but at no point during our pre-season games did I get the impression that we had showed any signs of improvement, in particular in our attacking play and chance creation, so really there is no point in going over the details of the game in any depth. 

What I didn't expect was for the team to seemingly roll over and give up with out much of a fight. In fairness, I thought we started the match pretty well. Not brilliantly, but we were at least competitive. But as soon as the first goal went in, I had very little faith that we could turn things around, and that lack of belief is born out of the last year or so of watching us do the same thing time and time again without any success, but persisting with it anyway. I mean, how many times can you expect Kieran Tierney to ping crosses in to the middle where no one is waiting before you think to yourself "hang on a minute. Maybe we need to get some bodies in there, or we could just try something else"?

And that is not a criticism of KT by the way. He is given a job to do and he goes about that job with 110% commitment without fail. Or until another part of his leg goes pop. In fact, from the starting line-up it is only he, Emile Smith-Rowe and Albert Sambi Lokonga, making his premier league debut,  who I felt came out of the game with any real credit. It's hard not to love the perpetual energy and swiftness of thought that ESR brings to the team. His turn and run early in the second half was one of few genuinely exciting moments that we produced that conned me in to thinking that maybe things could be different. As for Sambi, making his debut in the premier league replacing the injured Thomas Partey was never going to be easy, but he went about the job with confidence, kept it simple, played his passes and looked to get forward. Unspectacular, but a promising start for the 21 year old.  

What the game showed us is what we already knew. Missing players aside, this team is in dire need of some major reconstructive surgery. Bernd Leno looks like a man who really doesn't want to be there anymore, a feeling which was epitomised by his unwillingness to break through the crowd and clear a long throwin for Brentfords second. Callum Chambers is a trier, and probably a perfectly serviceable back up right back and centre back, but is not the top class counterpart for Tierney on the other side that we clearly need. There was a reason Pablo Mari found himself playing in Brazil so early in his career, and we are finding it out first hand. Xhaka is Xhaka, but with a new contract extension. I'm prepared to cut the front four a bit of slack due to their youth, at least in the case of ESR Martinelli and Balogun. I do think there is a player in Pepe, but it would be great to see some consistency. Maybe his kind of free-spirited approach just doesn't fit with Arteta's regimented style?

So by my reckoning we need a goalkeeper (either back up or  good enough to step straight in), a right back and a midfielder who can help link the play between deep midfield and the attack. I think its fair to say that Gabriel walks back in to the team when fit, Partey is obviously a starter, and either/or of Auba and Laca start, unless one is sold of course. I'm encouraged by the positive Odegaard news. I think he did well for us on loan last season pre-injury, and although his numbers don't jump of the page, he always seems to be the guy who sets up the assist, like a modern day Alex Hleb. but that still leaves a lot of business to be done, and it doesn't even take in to account the outgoings. Edu has some work to do when he puts down the barbecue tongs!

I think part of the reason people are panicking over Friday's result is because of what is to come. I know I had built the game up last week as an almost must win game considering the looming spectre of the European champions coming to the Emirates on Saturday, followed by a Saturday lunchtime trip to the home of the English champions. It is a very real possibility that we start the season with 3 defeats from 3 games and then head off to the international break to stew over it for a couple of weeks before Norwich roll in to town. Obviously Arteta and Edu know this. You'd imagine the Kroenkes might have an idea about it, but they may just think we wont make the play offs this year. All this means that some serious business needs to be done in the next couple of weeks, if nothing else then to try and stockpile a little bit of goodwill,with the fans because if they don't then it could be a decidedly rocky atmosphere at Emirates stadium on September 11th.

Mikel and Edu may wan to buckle up.