Arsenal v Como and hello again Cesc

• Just how much better were Arsenal than the rest last season?
• Why do we bother with the world cup at all?

By Tony Attwood

Arsenal’s next pre-season friendly is today against Como who are now described as “one of Europe’s fastest-rising teams under the management of former Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas.”  After this game we have the Community Shield match against Manchester City which will be played in Cardiff after the officials at the FA forgot to book Wembley in time.

But of course as the media are already pointing out this is not the Arsenal of old, because the defence has (according to the scribblers) crumbled as shown by a 3-1 defeat to to Real Betis in Dublin and then letting in another three in a defeat to Borussia Dortmund back in London.  So all the joy and fun of last season is gone, and we are back to same old Arsenal, slipping backwards…

Ces Fàbregas joined the Arsenal academy in September 2003 and benefitted from being in a club with Vieira and Gilberto Silva – and indeed he so impressed everyone that he made his debut within a month in a league cup match aged 16 years and 177 days.

By 2004/5 he was getting games beyond the league cup, and then took over from Vieira when he was injured.   He also became Arsenal’s youngest-ever goalscorer in a league game.

This was one of the eras in which oppositions realised they could kick Arsenal players with little reaction from PGMO officials and it led to more injuries leading to more chances for Cesc to play, replacing either Edu or Gilberto Silva when needed.

He signed as a professional in September 2004 and became the second-youngest goalscorer in the Champions League after scoring against Rosenborg.  And he played in the 2005 cup final.

After that he had the regular partnership with Gilberto Silva and became a central part of Arsenal’s dominance across many seasons, benefitting from Wenger’s absolute belief in his abilities – as shown by his being given the number 4 shirt after Vieira left. Cesc then, 2006/7, got the Golden Boy award was named in Uefa Team of the Year and was nominated as FA Player of the year.

He was also named the 2007–08 Arsenal.com Player of the Season and became captain in 208/9 .   And then moving forward on 1 July 2023, Fàbregas was appointed as head coach of Como’s under-19 and B-teams following his retirement from professional football.

After 303 games with Arsenal Cesc moved on and played for Barcelona and Chelsea and is now the manager of Como.  He started out with their youth side and as the rest of the club seemed to crumble around him, everything Cesc touches comes out ok so he is now running the first team.

And indeed he is doing very well there it seems, since they finished fourth in Serie A last season which meant they are playing in the Champions League for the first time in their history.   

Meanwhile on the home front, another defeat for Arsenal will have the media screaming for managerial change, and a victory for Arsenal will have reports of Arsenal just managing to beat a very modest opposition who have no real experience of overseas matches.   We’re not going to get a good report either way.

This game is being played at Arsenal’s stadium and the kick off is 7:30pm.  If you are in the USA or the UK you can see the game apparently without any cost (or so I am told, but don’t blame me if it’s not right) for free on Arsenal’s you tube channel.

As for the team, I have not seen a single website that is giving a prediction of how Arsenal will line up.  Players may well be protected as we next have the Community Shield, and then the league programme starts.   We also know that the season ended of course with injured players galore and it would be ludicrous to rush anyone back just for the sake of winning a friendly.

So we could see a different team play in the second half, or one of those mass change overs with about 20 minutes to go.   But either way I would be very disappointed if Cesc does not come onto the pitch before the game to take the plaudits of the crowd.   We owe him a lot, and indeed we also gave him all our support across those years.  Here’s his record…

 

Seasons	Club	Played	Goals
2003/11	Arsenal	212	35
2011/14	Barcelona	96	28
2014/19	Chelsea	138	15
2019/22	Monaco	54	3
2022/23	Como	17	0
Total		518	81