Arsenal Win the Emirates Cup, but New Signings Are Still No Closer

It's a bank holiday Monday here in Ireland and after managing to avoid some very bad traffic by taking the back roads I'm back from my mini break in sunny Wexford.

Unfortunately, while I was enjoying myself I missed the Emirates cup as Arsenal managed to win it for the third time in its four-year existence.

First of all, they drew 1-1 with AC Milan on Saturday and then they knew that all they had to do was beat Celtic on Sunday to emerge as winners. They managed that feat in typical Arsenal style by taking a 3-0 lead before just managing to run out 3-2 winners in the end.

It's nice to have picked up the trophy for a tournament held in our own stadium yet again and I'm sure the fans enjoyed getting to see the players play at home for the first time this season. The new kit looked absolutely fantastic in my opinion, and despite saying I won't be buying one I will have to seriously reconsider that decision. 

I know it's still only pre-season but I thought we created plenty of chances and we looked very good going forward, especially considering the fact that our two best players were still unavailable after their World Cup final appearances. However as it stands all of our defensive options are being used and we look decidedly uneasy at the back.

The only new player in the  mix is Koscielny, so it's not a case of the players fitting together properly. Perhaps the fact that Song wasn't there to help the defence from his holding role in midfield was a factor but I thought Celtic got far too much time and space in front of our defence. They may be a good team in Scotland but they are no better than a mid-table Premier league team at best and we will have to tighten up an awful lot more when the real action begins.

There is of course still a possibility that the boss will bring in some more defensive players, as he says he is still in the market for them but as the end of the transfer window starts to draw closer and closer, us fans will get more and more nervous about our defensive options.

We are still heavily linked with Mertesacker of Werder Bremen and Germany and the boss refused to comment when his name was brought up after yesterday's game.

He did say that we are not close to signing anyone and he refused to comment on individual names as it raises the price by 50 percent straight away in his opinion.

For me, our season will be defined on whether he can bring in the players that are needed to strengthen our defence over the next four weeks. If we don't add a centre back and a goalkeeper that are good enough to walk into the team, then we will suffer for those shortages at some stage in the season.

Ideally, I would like to see those players sign immediately but if we have to wait until midnight on August 31st I can live with it as long as we get them.

It would be great if any new players got a chance to work with the rest of the defence before the season opener away to Liverpool in 13 days time as we will need to have a solid defence at Anfield with Liverpool trying to impress their new boss and potential new owner.

New signing Laurent Koscielny is still keeping his options open on what country to play international football for. He has been asked to play for Poland as his grandfather is from there but by the sounds of it I think he is holding out and hoping for France to come calling as it's the land of his birth. He will have to make himself a permanent fixture in our first team if he is to do that and then hope to catch the eye of the new French manager.

Some of the other players have been talking him up on the club site as well as our other new signing Marouane Chamakh. Sagna spoke of how good both players are and how he has been impressed by them since they arrived. Meanwhile, Vermaelen was full of praise for Koscielny as he said he looks to be the "complete player."

The boss has said that he is so impressed by the form of both Wilshere and Frimpong that we don't need to strengthen our midfield any further. I am sure Wilshere is going to be a star of the future and I hope he gets plenty of chances to show us what he can do this season.

However, I think that Frimpong is far from an ideal replacement for Song right now and he has an awful lot to do to compete in the Premier league and/or Champions league. I hope he turns into a fantastic player but I still think it's a big risk not getting suitable cover for Song.

The way I understand the current rules, we can still buy up to four players without having to lose any players from our first team squad and that leaves plenty of scope for transfers in my opinion.

The boss now has almost a week to work with the players before our final game of pre-season fixtures away to Legia Warsaw next Saturday afternoon at 3pm. As it stands the game can only be seen on the Arsenal TV Online and I don't expect the likes of Sky to pick it up either. That means that most of us won't get to see the team play again until that trip to Anfield, and 13 days seems like an awful long time right now.

In the meantime, I'll attempt to keep you up to date with all things Arsenal as I see them on a daily basis now that my break is over. I'll be joining the other members of the local supporters club to watch that game in The Strand in Bray on that Sunday and I also have to get my supporters club blog up and running again with the new season drawing in.  

Here's the highlights from the 3-2 win yesterday.

See You Tomorrow.