Gunners: The Next Generation

What a big difference a few years have made to the Arsenal first team!

From the class of “The Invincibles”, we had world class players in Patrick Viera, Thiery Henry, Robert Pires, Dennis Berkamp, Freddie, Seamen, Sol, Gilberto to name a few. They brought us the title and an inconceivable unbeaten run that was not matched by any team in the EPL till date.

Fast forward to today, Henry has left and Freddie is the latest to leave. Will current and possibly the last Invincible, Gilberto Silva leave too? Who is recognizable from the current list of first team Gunners? One may argue that Gilberto, Gallas, Rosicky, Toure, Lehman, Adebayor are all regular players for their national team. However, you look closely, none of the current players belong to the group of special players that can turn a game around with a flick of the boot or the cross or charisma to bring the team up when the chips are down.

The current group of promising but inexperienced youngster includes the fabulous Fabregas, the free scoring Robin Van Persie (RVP), the resolute Eboue, the tireless Clichy, the ferocious Diaby, the skillful Walcott and promising Bendtner. They are young, fearless and represent the new generation of Gunners!

With the young team straining to prove themselves, they strive to replace the heroes before them. Diaby is the brooding youth that will grow into the next Viera, Clichy is very similar to the now departed Cashly Cole, Walcott is the next Pires (albeit with more speed) and the RVP idol is Berkamp.

With Wenger at the helm blending the young ones with the wiser heads, what will the future hold for Arsenal? Will we crumble from the loss of so much experience in the past few years? Or will the young ones lift themselves up to the next plateau? Will we be the surprise package of the season? I am dying to see what the kids can do when the season starts next month. Lets GO GUNNERS!