Arsenal 1-3 Manchester United

I’m in no fit state to comment on tonight’s events. At some point, I’ll probably update this post, once I’ve had a chance to absorb what’s transpired. But not now… not yet.

I still love my Arsenal… I just have to step away and breathe a bit.

UPDATE
Ok, stream of consciousness time… I’m afraid nothing else is going to be forthcoming, as I’m still feeling pretty gut-punched right now and don’t think I can manage a properly planned blog entry.

At this point, I’ve read all the other blogs that I usually do, or at least as much as I care to anyway. It made me feel a bit better to read some other stark, although pragmatic views on the match. Yet, I’m still feeling just a bit glum about the whole thing. To see a team with such promise, such talent, come away yet again… with nothing. It’s a lot to bare. And I think I feel the most for the players themselves. How hard they’ve worked, and for so long… all for naught. Sure, there’s some consolation in being paid handsomely for playing a game you love. But I don’t think that’s enough for many, if not all of them. The reason these men are at this level in their sport, the reason they play for one of the most prestigious clubs and in the most prestigious competitions in the world… is because they are at heart, true competitors. And when that’s your line of duty, losing cuts deep… right to the bone.

So, now what? Does our rebuilding period begin right away, and continue on through to the beginning of the next campaign? I hope so. I wouldn’t be surprised if Arsène Wenger already has those wheels in motion. I don’t imagine a man like him will take this easily, or without reaction. It will be interesting to see just what that reaction is. I, for one, still believe in him. It will take a lot more than four seasons without silverware to change that. Blind faith? Perhaps. But let’s not forget the most important thing that Arsène has delivered: beautiful football. Perhaps not at the levels we’ve seen in the past… perhaps not at the consistency we’ve seen in the past… but it’s still there. And that is what brings me back.

But in the meantime, I’m going to take a step back. The frenzy of the season is over for me for now. Apart from some momentous event in the world of Arsenal, this will probably be the last blog entry on this site until the 2009/2010 season nears. Perhaps I’ll bring it back with a new design, new approach… who knows? But for now, I’m going to take a step back and watch my team play out the remainder of their season, with pride. And then, from a distance, I’m going to watch with one eye as Arsène rebuilds our team from the tatters they’re surely in this morning. Until then…

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

Portsmouth 0-3 Arsenal

Firstly, my apologies for not posting after both the Middlesborough & United matches that recently flew by. On the day of the Middlesborough match I was travelling to the UK and missed it, and for the 1st leg against United… well, let me just share some of the notes I wrote that night from my hotel room:

So… for my first trip to England ever… I’m subject to watching the match in a fucking 2 inch window on a shaky Iraqi stream from my hotel room like some common Yank. Why? Because the front desk hotel twat told me when I checked in that “Yes, we do get all those channels for those matches I was feverishly pointing to in the paper”. But do they? No they do not. And, the local pub didn’t have the match either, because they didn’t get Sky2. FFS.

It almost felt like I was in America (gasp)… but there I was, not 180 miles from Old Trafford, where my team hadgone to play. Was I there on the terraces with my Highbury strip on? No. I was in a hotel in Cambridge, watching stream.  But, the trip was actually quite lovely and I learned that the two things that Americans tend to say about England are in fact, not at all true: 1) the beer is warm and sucky and 2) the food is shite. The truth is, the beer casks that are pumped up from those long handle taps in many pubs are kept at cellar temperatures, which is cool… not warm. It tastes better that way and I didn’t have a single beer that I didn’t enjoy thoroughly. As for the food, again… I had not a single thing I didn’t fully love. The English know their pub grub, and they know it well. I’ll even go so far as to say that a man simply hasn’t lived until he’s had himself a nice pint of Abbot Ale with a Free Press Stack from The Free Press pub.

Ok, so… Middlesborough. Lessee… they were toothless and Cesc pulled a brace out of his bung and we took the points. The first leg against United at Old Trafford… we played like complete fuckabouts and were walked upon for our troubles. We’re quite lucky the score wasn’t worse. I’ve not given up on our Champions League hopes yet, but if we turn up like that for the second leg on Tuesday, they’ve already won. Plain & simple. The good news is, that when people expect us to turn up like that, we ususally don’t. Let’s hope that holds true on Tuesday. By the way… am I missing something? 4th place is all but a lock for us in the league now… is there something else we’re saving ourselves for this season? Because I was quite sure the Champions League was all that we had left. Apparently, Offsidebayor didn’t get the fucking memo. Not just him, the whole side just seemed fucking knackered.

Portsmouth…  they sucked, and we walked all over them with our reserves. Niklas Bendtner is now only 4 goals behind Adebayor for the season, with way less time on the pitch. And Carlos Vela opened his prem account with a nice little shot to right side. That’s about it. Sorry for the absolute short shrift on these last three matches, but I’ve been a busy, busy boy these past few weeks, getting my ass up to speed on a new job. Once I settle in, the blogging will flow again. All three of you who actually read this blog will no doubt be thrilled to learn such. Have a nice day.

Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal

Arshavin 36, 67, 70, 90 – Divers: Kuyt

Now that… that was a proper game of football. I’m as gutted as the next gooner that we didn’t leave Anfield with all three points. But that was a proper game of football. It can’t be said any other way.

I can’t remember the last time I witnessed such an open match. It was pure attack football, with desparate defending on both sides of the pitch. Despite letting four go by him, Lukasz Fabianski put in one hell of a performance, should you ask me. The rest of the defense, although struggling at times, did pretty well I thought. They were under pure siege for the duration, and should be commended.

But the glory must all go to Andrey Arshavin,  who becomes one of only a handful of players to score four goals away from home. They were all nicely done, but his third was exceptional. Stealing the ball off the Scouse defense, he positively blasted an outside curling shot past the fully stretched Pepe Reina.

The match started fast and furous and ended the same way. Even after we went level at 4-4 and the dying seconds ebbed away, still… I sat with my mouth open and wondering if we hadn’t seen the last of the scoring. It could have come from either side, and at any time.  It was just that sort of match.

So, our unbeaten run extends to 19. I’m sorry for all the late posts these days, but I’ve been travelling quite a bit for work lately. In fact, I’ll probably have to settle for watching the Middlesborough match on the laptop as I jet towards Heathrow this Sunday night. I’m spending the week in Cambridge. Unfortunately, the Gunners will be up in Manchester for the champions league. Anyone know where Gooners gathe in Cambridge to watch an away match?

Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea

I haven’t seen the match, as I’m on the road in the south of the U.S. with family. But, I heard the result and I saw the highlights… and I’m pretty disappointed, to say the very least. We can whine all day about how many injuries we have, which is a ridonkulous amount by any measure, no doubt… but our back up players should be good enough, and they just weren’t this time. Eboue and Fabianksi were both pretty much worked. I’m sure they  all put in their best efforts… but the end product just wasn’t enough to deal with the likes of Terry and his slovenly bunch. How sweet would it have been if we won 1-0 on a goal that went in off Assley Hole’s right hand? Sweet, indeed. But instead… it’s him that will return to Wembley for the final. The football gods are truly a cruel crew.

The Champions League was always more important than the FA Cup for me, but I still wanted to see the boys make it all the way to the Finals. They must be gutted. I know I am. But that’s neither here nor there now. We still have our place in the league to defend and perhaps improve, and there’s the small matter of potentially meeting the chavs again for the Champions League Finals in Rome. Of course, that tasty morsel lies past the road through Old Trafford, but a man can dream, yeah?

Preview: Arsenal v Chelsea

You know the saying “Down to the wire”? Well, this must be the wire. Actually, it’s probably one of several wires that we’ll be down to in the coming weeks. The perfect storm has brewed us up one hell of a wicked schedule for this Spring.

We have a minimum of six matches against the other three of the Top Four coming, and in fairly rapid succession. If things go well, that count could go to eight. Not to mention a few other tasty League matches to fill in the gaps between all the awesomeness. And next up, we have a Semi Final clash at Wembley against Chelsea. I’m going to quit screwing around and give you the down-low on this match right now: Chelsea are playing well lately, but I think they’re going to be cautious with us. That might play to our advantage, and I’m hoping it translates to a late match win for us. I’m expecting a low score for the first 70 minutes, and then all hell will probably need to be broken loose. How sweet it would be to get over on those bluish pricks.

Max? Maaax? Look down there. What do you see?

Someone running. Yes. But we’ll soon put a stop to that. Won’t we, Glovey? Sorry… channeling the Blue Meaney there for a second. He’s bluish. All Bluuey.

Unfortunately, the Injury Faeries are out in full force to get us, yet again. For most of the season it was our midfield they hampered. Now, the little bastards are after our defense. Bacary Sagna has been  ruled out for the match, as has Gael Clichy. The Clichy news sounds dire. A stress-fractured vertebrae. I’m not sure how serious that truly is, but it doesn’t sound like something you bounce back from in just a few weeks. I wish him a quick comfy recovery. With Gallas out for the remainder of the season and Djourou still not in sight, that leaves us pretty thin at the back. It’s likely we’ll see Song & Eboue at the back again. They did pretty well against Villareal I thought. They’ll have their work cut out for them against Hiddink’s boys, though. No matter… I’m thoroughly looking forward to this match, and I truly believe we could find ourselves heading to another FA Cup Final come tomorrow night.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

Arsenal 3-0 Villareal

Walcott 10, Adebayor 60, Van Persie 69 (PK)

Well, that was certainly not the match I expected. Despite the posession being pretty evenly divided, Villareal never seemed to threaten. There was one Pires strike early on that I thought might be a spark of life, but it never materialized.

Our first was a gorgeous little chip in over the keeper by Theo Walcott. Beautiful technique and poise in his finish to compeltely stump the keeper and put us ahead. Very well done. The second came nearly an hour later when Robin van Persie found Emmanuel Adebayor coming up the left who did a lovely little flick with the outside of his right foot around the keeper, 2-0. It has to be said… Adebayor is incredibly frustrating to watch. One minute I find myself wondering how someone so clumsy has made it into an Arsenal shirt, the next minute I’m marvelling at his ability to come up with another spectacular goal. Perhaps he’s the root of our bipolar disorder?

The last goal came in the form of a PK when the officials completely got a call wrong in the area. It looked to the official on the touchline that Theo was taken down, but he wasn’t. Then one of trh Villareal players (Gurgen?) managed to talk himself into a second yellow and bring his side down to 10 men. Match done.

So, we’re on to meet the loathsome Red Devils in the semifinals. Should be nothing short of amazing. It’s a good thing we know how to beat them in Old Trafford.

Wigan 1-4 Arsenal

Walcott 60, Silvestre 71, Arshavin 90, Song 90 – Divers: none

Sorry for the late post on this one. I’ve been wrapped up securing new employment. That’s done, so back on with the football.

We went to the JJB the other day, and beat the tar out of the Latics. That’s pretty much it. The first half we looked like shit, the second half we knocked in four goals. How many times have we seen the bipolar Gunners this year? Too many to count.

Good enough… I’ve got a Villareal win to write up.

Villareal 1-1 Arsenal

Adebayor 65 – Divers: none

It was a game of two… nah, fuck it, that’s been done to death. The truth is that we didn’t look particularly bad in the first half. It was just that Villareal looked exceptionally good. But, despite the fact that the commentators pointed out that both Villareal and Arsenal were the “Dark horses of the competition” (read:  shit teams who would never make it in such an illustrious contest), the fact remains: these are the quarter finals. Shit teams don’t make it this far. So, I wasn’t surprised to see Villareal playing like Arsenal in the first half. In fact, I was quite worried by it. Ten minutes in, Marcus Senna went unmarked from about 27 yards out and positively blasted one into the top right past a fully stretched Almunia and we went in the tunnel down 1-0. They were keeping possession quite well, and they looked to have enough steam to keep it up for the full 90.

But then Arsène got hold of the lads in the locker room. As we’ve seen so many times this season, a very different Arsenal emerged from the tunnel, and we began bossing the match. Villareal had seemed to lose a bit of tooth as we started creating chances. Then at 65′ Cesc Fabregas used his incredible ability to pick out the perfect pass and chipped one upfield to Emmanuel Adebayor who, as we’ve seen him do before, took it on his chest and then inverted himself to nail it home. I’ve read in at least one place that he probably won’t be able to repeat such a feat. But, he’s done it before. I’m convinced he practices these type of shots. Whatever, they’re certainly pretty to watch. And, it was a even prettier as an Away Goal.

So, we’ll have Villareal at The Grove next week for the other leg. Despite the advantage we go into the match with, it won’t be easy. They will probably come storming out at us again if they’re to advance. One home goal and a decent defensive performance should see us through. Although, reports are filtering in that William Gallas’ season may be over. Hopefully not. His form has improved drastically since the weight of captaincy was taken off his shoulders. Also, it looks like Manuel Almunia will be sidelined for a bit as well.

This weekend sees us travel up the JJB for our away fixture with Wigan. They’re coming off a 4-0 thumping at the hands of Everton. You may remember the win we barely scraped over Wigan at The Grove back in December. It was also the match where The Ebooing took place. Well, I never thought I’d be writing this back in December, but: Emmanuel Eboue is doing fairly well these days. Including a cheeky little run into the box last night at Villareal that may have created a late winner for us. Perhaps The Ebooing was just what he needed? Perhaps he can show Steve Bruce’s men what he’s really got? We shall see.

Arsenal 2-0 Manchester City

Adebayor 8, 49 – Divers: Robinho

What a return for Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor. The two combined to create both goals and almost a third. With a supporting cast that was firing on all cylinders, Citeh never had a chance.

We lined up in a 4-2-3-1 with Cesc in the hole behind Ade. That, combined with pure speed and trickery of Theo & Andrey on the wings was just too much for Hughes’ men. Honestly, I think it would be too much for most sides. Denilson and Song did a great job in the middle and the back four held the lines nicely. Almunia wasn’t tested much, but when he was, he was spot on as usual.

About ten minutes in, Theo takes a decent knock but continued. He ended the day with an ice pack on his knee, but he’s been passed fit along with Samir Nasri for the trip to Villareal. Kolo also put in a nice performance, getting into the attack on several occasions. One time even getting up along the right side of the goal and nearly netting.

Overall, a great showing, albeit a bit disappointing from Man City. Seeing Robinho and Bellamy in the lineup, I expected more of a test. But they weren’t having their best day. Oh, well… three points to usMy biggest concern for Tuesday is whether or not the team will be rested enough, especially with travel.

Preview: Arsenal v Manchester City

This Saturday’s tea fixture sees the arrival of Manchester City at Ashburton Grove. You may recall the sound thumping we received at the hands of the sky blue half of Manchester this past November. We paid them a visit at a time when injuries were mounting and the whole Captain Gallas affair had reached a fever pitch. After that game, I declared the team officially in crisis. And they were. But I also declared that if anyone was going to turn things around, it would be Arsène Wenger. And he did… by handing Cesc Fabregas the armband. It worked. Soon, the team would embark on their longest unbeaten run since The Invincibles. A run that continues today. Can we exact some revenge upon Manchester City? Citeh’s away form has been dismal of late, producing two draws and four losses. They now sit soundly in the middle of the table, just three points outside of playing UEFA Cup ball next season.

The Arsenal side they face this time around couldn’t be more of a polar opposite than the one they faced in November. Of course, we’ve picked up the obligatory injuries from the pointless International Break, as always. But Arsène Wenger now has an abundance of striking talent to choose from, whereas in November, we almost put Vic Akers on the pitch. By no means do I think this will be an easy match, though. Robinho’s form is off & on. If it’s on, our back four will have some work to do. The same can be said for Wright-Phillips. If he has a good day, we could find ourselves on the back foot, and right quick.

Cesc Fabregas might be in the squad, back from his knee damage. It’s unclear how match fit he will be, but we need him. Also, we should see the return of Emmanuel Adebayor, and it will be interesting to see how he plays. Quite a bit of competition has cropped up in striking roles of late. I’d be shocked if we see the same lackadaisical Manu we saw last. Arsène also has to field a squad to travel to El Madrigal on Tuesday for the first leg of the Champions League Quarter Finals against Villareal. Crazy, but good times for the Arsenal. I’m very much looking forward to both of these matches. Come on you GUNNERS!

In other news: Geordie Messiah Alan Shearer, known far and wide for his spectacular timing, has made his triumphant return to help see Newcastle United safely down to the Championship, where they will prepare for their triumphant return to glory in 2013. God speed, Alan.