Posted by Andre The Giant
I sit here late on a Saturday evening with a full red wine glass perched perilously close to my vulnerable laptop. I’ve broken about six wine glasses in the last week (none out of football related frustration surprisingly) and the new ones we’ve just bought don’t even fit in the bloody cupboard. I wonder if they’ll check whether I’ve used it when I take it back tomorrow.
I am a bit sick of Arsenal lately. I mean that in the nicest possible way obviously, like being sick of a close relation or steak and chips. It’s not like I am ever going to stop eating juicy steak, peppercorn sauce and crunchy french fries. But when your last few meals have been overcooked frying steak, chunky, flaccid chips and bland sauce, you just want to give it a miss for a bit and eat a cheese sandwich instead.
There are some obvious facts that we need to consider in an Arsenal context. The end of our season has been disappointing. We thought we could get through our injury crisis and still mount a challenge up to the final game of the season. We couldn’t. It’s hardly surprising really. But the most common consensus view is that the players who are paid tens of thousands of pounds a week did not care enough to put in a decent performance when the chance of silverwear had gone. I don’t completely disagree with that but I do have some empathy. It must be hard to remain competitive when there is no competition to play for. The fans will see finishing third ahead of our archest of arch rivals as an essential act, a total necessity in order to not deem our season a failure. The problem is, our team is built mainly of young foreign players and it is perhaps not surprising that these players don’t understand the importance of finishing above the Scum. With Champions League qualification secured, perhaps the prospect of being kicked around the field by a ruthless Blackburn team wasn’t all that appealing. I know we pay these players thousands of pounds and spiriting a performance shouldn’t be an issue but we all have bad days at the office sometimes, however much we get paid.
As an Arsenal fan you can look at the fact that Harry Redknapp has won manager of the year in two ways. The obvious reaction is one of bitterness. Redknapp has spent significantly more money than Wenger to achieve something that Wenger has achieved consistently year on year. Is it the fact that the twitching one is English that he is lauded? Who knows, and frankly, who cares? The other way to look at is that the recognition and celebration of Tottenham’s achievements this year actually indicate just how far ahead Arsenal are.
Personally I’ve never quite been able to find the hatred for Spurs that most Arsenal fans hold and cherish. Perhaps it is because I’ve never been a regular attendee at the ground but I have always found them to be somewhat of an irrelevance. Apart from a few unique moments, the 1991 FA Cup Semi Final (that I just failed to get tickets for), the 4-4 draw last season and the recent win at White Hart Lane, I rarely remember them being a threat to us. I always find it hard to be competitive with opponents that are basically a bit shit. However, if we do lose third place tomorrow there will be some very unhappy fans. If that happens then I urge them all to watch the following three videos for comfort. Perhaps we should release a DVD.
The last of these clips sums up everything that was promising about this season that never quite materialised. An in-form Van Persie scoring at will and captain fantastic Cesc Fabregas running on pure determination. Amongst all the criticism and speculation about who we should and shouldn’t buy to make our team a title challenging one, I genuinely believe that we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that we did have positive moments this season. We did qualify for the Champions League, we did finish in the top four despite the doubts of nearly all of the pundits and we did mount a respectable title challenge.
I do believe that it is only a matter of time until this team of skilful, ever so slightly petulant boys develops into a team of amazing football players that dominates the English game for a long period of time. We must keep the faith. We must believe.
COME ON THE ARSENAL
Season Finale – It’s Not Been That Bad
I sit here late on a Saturday evening with a full red wine glass perched perilously close to my vulnerable laptop. I’ve broken about six wine glasses in the last week (none out of football related frustration surprisingly) and the new ones we’ve just bought don’t even fit in the bloody cupboard. I wonder if they’ll check whether I’ve used it when I take it back tomorrow.
I am a bit sick of Arsenal lately. I mean that in the nicest possible way obviously, like being sick of a close relation or steak and chips. It’s not like I am ever going to stop eating juicy steak, peppercorn sauce and crunchy french fries. But when your last few meals have been overcooked frying steak, chunky, flaccid chips and bland sauce, you just want to give it a miss for a bit and eat a cheese sandwich instead.
There are some obvious facts that we need to consider in an Arsenal context. The end of our season has been disappointing. We thought we could get through our injury crisis and still mount a challenge up to the final game of the season. We couldn’t. It’s hardly surprising really. But the most common consensus view is that the players who are paid tens of thousands of pounds a week did not care enough to put in a decent performance when the chance of silverwear had gone. I don’t completely disagree with that but I do have some empathy. It must be hard to remain competitive when there is no competition to play for. The fans will see finishing third ahead of our archest of arch rivals as an essential act, a total necessity in order to not deem our season a failure. The problem is, our team is built mainly of young foreign players and it is perhaps not surprising that these players don’t understand the importance of finishing above the Scum. With Champions League qualification secured, perhaps the prospect of being kicked around the field by a ruthless Blackburn team wasn’t all that appealing. I know we pay these players thousands of pounds and spiriting a performance shouldn’t be an issue but we all have bad days at the office sometimes, however much we get paid.
As an Arsenal fan you can look at the fact that Harry Redknapp has won manager of the year in two ways. The obvious reaction is one of bitterness. Redknapp has spent significantly more money than Wenger to achieve something that Wenger has achieved consistently year on year. Is it the fact that the twitching one is English that he is lauded? Who knows, and frankly, who cares? The other way to look at is that the recognition and celebration of Tottenham’s achievements this year actually indicate just how far ahead Arsenal are.
Personally I’ve never quite been able to find the hatred for Spurs that most Arsenal fans hold and cherish. Perhaps it is because I’ve never been a regular attendee at the ground but I have always found them to be somewhat of an irrelevance. Apart from a few unique moments, the 1991 FA Cup Semi Final (that I just failed to get tickets for), the 4-4 draw last season and the recent win at White Hart Lane, I rarely remember them being a threat to us. I always find it hard to be competitive with opponents that are basically a bit shit. However, if we do lose third place tomorrow there will be some very unhappy fans. If that happens then I urge them all to watch the following three videos for comfort.
Tony Adams
Theirry Henry
Cesc Fabregas
The last of these clips sums up everything that was promising about this season that never quite materialised. An in-form Van Persie scoring at will and captain fantastic Cesc Fabregas running on pure determination. Amongst all the criticism and speculation about who we should and shouldn’t buy to make our team a title challenging one, I genuinely believe that we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that we did have positive moments this season. We did qualify for the Champions League, we did finish in the top four despite the doubts of nearly all of the pundits and we did mount a respectable title challenge.
I do believe that it is only a matter of time until this team of skilful, ever so slightly petulant boys develops into a team of amazing football players that dominates the English game for a long period of time. We must keep the faith. We must believe.
COME ON THE ARSENAL
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