In case you missed the CL qualifier, I just want to start off by saying that Arsenal actually won the match against a relatively fancied Italian opponent, clean sheet intact and all that, although some newspapers might have you believe that winning nowadays is not the point. The media have been banging about on how Arsenal just escaped, how SZCZ's saves barely rescued us from embarrassment, how frail the team was and so on. It seems to me that most of these nut-cases who wrote these reports had started with an already planned agenda before even watching the game. Now, while I acknowledge the fact that there is frustration in Gooner world around Arsene Wenger's reluctance to splash the cash in the transfer market, those wearing the Red and White on the pitch did a lot to lift our spirits and gave us a win.
Some articles suggest we just got away while others said that if not for Chesney (can't spell his name) it could have been a disaster. I wonder if giving credit to an Arsenal outfit has gone out of fashion or something. Okay, the Arsenal defense needs strengthening and we all know that. Still, negative vibes continue to engulf the Arsenal back four which is partly if not mostly created by the media. This, to the extent that it seems opposition teams should not even be allowed to have a shot at goal, for the defense to be appreciated. If a few minutes of thought are put in it will be quite easy to remember that during the match the sub who came on to replace an injured left back, had to be subbed, and a former league 1 defender came on and played on the opposite flank to the one he's used to, in his first ever competitive appearance for the club. Despite all this the clean sheet remained in-tact and so please allow me to salute the Arsenal defense. However bad they might have been in seasons past, they've kept two clean sheets. Credit where it is due. If they fumble, we'll give them a hard time when it happens.
Speaking on this topic, I just remember Arsenal v Man City last season. Arsenal tore their defense on a number of occasions that day, hit the post twice I think and forced some very good saves. In the post match reports though, the Man City defence wasn't shit, it was the Arsenal offense that was shit. Imagine, Man Utd winning their next trophy on the last day of the season (1-0) perhaps with De Gea making some spectacular saves and then waking up the next morning to read a headline, "Man Utd scrape through to take title in-spite of defensive blunders". Yeah, just imagine, because it ain't gonna happen. Man Utd winning could happen, but you're more likely to read something like, "Character shines through, Utd win the title" or "Magnificent De Gea epitomizes the winning mentality at Manchester Utd". Ah well...
Anyway now for some news. Seems Kenny Dalglish is looking for a new left back. The new guy was doing the "kick-ups" at his unveiling and the ball dropped after three touches. Dalglish is therefore not happy and he's on the market again. Meanwhile Fabregas passed the "kick-ups" test admirably and has since been given a thorough induction at Barcelona (despite already possessing the DNA). I heard that diving, peeking at the referee through fingers to see if a card was given to the opponent(while clutching face), public speaking (to tap other players who have Barca DNA) were all on the agenda plus an added e-learning module on "How to behave like a cunt". So prepare to see him engaging in the same kind of cunt-ery that we've got used to from Barca, in the near future. As much as a lot of Gooners like him, I'm afraid he's one of them now, which is sad, but true. He used to be skipper at Arsenal and probably part of Plan A, B, C and any plan that existed for the last few years. Now he's plan B (Bench perhaps?) at Barca. At least I hope that bench has a nice cushion or something.
Salute to last night's Arsenal defence again.
No comments:
Post a Comment