An Arsenal_ManU game will always be the game to watch…no matter how many ever pretenders try and take that away from the two teams..I mean….derby games would run close…and I’ve heard people say..Chelsea-Liverpool…is the game to watch nowadays…but truly nothing nothing…even comes close to the roller coaster ride that a fan goes through when he/she watches an Arsenal-ManU encounter…my thoughts in more detail…
I read an absolutely stunning article the other day on arsenal-mania.com about a guy’s hatred for ManU and I found myself quite caught up in it…
http://arsenal-mania.com/articles/2992759/More-than-just-a-game—a-tale-of-passionate-hatred.html
I found myself cheering the guy on…my own blood pressure rising each time I thought of that SOB Gary Neville kicking the crap out of JAR and calling it passion for the game…honestly he’s probably the only footballer …that I truly truly wish something bad would happen…ofcourse in footballing terminology…where someone kicks the crap out of him…and calls it passion for the game…call me a sadistic freak if u want but thats the way it is…
I then watched the game…watched us play a very even first half…watched Gilberto miss a penalty he shouldn’t have been taking…proof of this is that I had the TV on “Mute” when I watched the spotkick….watched Cesc n Mozart link up beautifully in central midfield…then expected us to fall away a bit in the second…but we fought and we fought and we scrapped and gave as good as we got….and Arsene made his substitutions well this time….and Baptista came on at just the right time to scare United’s weakish midfield even more…and then I …
Watched the little genius Cesc disposess Mr.Show Pony …get a bit lucky with his first through ball as it kindly bounced back…and then watched him hold his composure through one of the most brilliant 20 metre runs I’ve seen where the ManU players just didnt seem to be there and thread a great ball through for the much maligned hardworking Ade who poked the ball home with the outside of the boot…in the 85th minute….I couldnt quite take it all in…..I was so caught up with emotion…I realised at that moment that there was nothing in the world that I wanted more than us to beat ManU at Old Trafford……all I wanted was revenge …revenge for JAR…revenge for that ludicrous Rooney dive…revenge for all those physical encounters where we came off second best to ManU…all I wanted was for us to somehow somehow see out those last 8 minutes or so….
I watched Ole Gunnar Solksjaer nimbly dance into the dee…dummy a defender…. Toure I think or was it Ade…and unleash a venomous left footed drive across the face of goal……5 seconds later I thought it had gone in…and I thought we had lost the lead…only to find myself staring in utter joyous disbelief at my TV screen that King Jens had pulled off an absolute stunner of a save…I’ve rewatched the clip almost 20 times…and I cant say any keeper wouldn’t have been proud to make a save of that quality in such a high pressure game…
The last few minutes were agonising…and Im sure my heart beat was a 120 a minute…but when the whistle went…and I realised that we’d done it….the feeling of ecstasy was arguably one of the greatest emotions I have ever ever experienced in my 24 years of life….I wanted to go out there and hug Ade…hug Cesc and thank the team for doing it for all of us fickle demanding fans…I listened to an amazingly mature Cesc…he’s only 19… and a candid Ade speak their hearts out…and I woke up the next morning to go to work and realised that we had indeed won…and it wasnt a dream….and I was on a high all week long…
The next match would be crucial to prove to the team that they could keep up the level against a weak Sheffield United…and we scrapped our way to a 3-0 win..not convincing but the ingredients are there in this team to better the invincibles….if they stay together and keep their heads…and as I write this ManU have scraped a draw at Reading…would have been nice if they’d lost …but hey I’m not complaining…this has been a great great week…..
A GREAT GREAT WEEK….your comments???
3 Responses to “What the ManU match meant to me!!”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
September 25th, 2006 at 7:50 am
Understanding exactly what u meant LDE! I felt exactly the same, “blood pressure rising” are the words alright! Cheslea, Man U, Spurs in that order, everytime seeing us beat them almost feel as good as watching Arsenal win a trophy! Beating Chelsea/Man U/Spurs in a league match honestly gave me more a buzz than watching us beat Southampton the likes in a FA Cup final.
There were so many United players whom i used to love to hate - Cantona, Schmeichel, Roy Keane, van Nistelorry, Gary Neville… the list can go on and on. Having said that, I do respect them in one way or other. Schmeichel was the best keeper i ever saw. And I love the toughness of Keane, and can’t deny van Nistelorry was one hell of a striker.
The sad thing, in a weird way, today is the “hate factor” towards United has receded a bit. Mainly because the “leading characters” have mostly gone. We no longer had Keown and Vieira, their Keane and van Nistelorry are gone. The players are now almost too “nice” to each other, no more fire and spark on the pitch.
Sometimes I think a “riavlry” is good for the game. As it generated passion and interest. Vieira were all fired up whenever he played against United, and i love to see that in our players.
As fans, you always wanna see your players give 100%, and give u a feeling that they are on the pitch no just playing for their 80k weekly salary, they are playing for the shirt, for his teammates, for the fans, and for the win. The United/Arsenal clash always gave me such a feel which otherwise i didn’t feel it as often when we were playing other opponents.
September 25th, 2006 at 6:59 pm
Yeah I understand your sentiments
Arsenal vs ManU. Man this tie really used to get me wound up. And I took that awful loss 2 years ago pretty hard. Arsenal could have lost to any other team and I would not have felt that bad. But the way they lost, the way they were cheated, well I was gutted. It took me a while to get over that loss, and I even posted something on this website, where I basically said that I should focus only on Arsenal, no matter how much the opposition (ManU) is kicking and cheating. Too much hatred on my part….I have cooled down since then.
For this recent encounter, deep down, I had a feeling Arsenal would come away with a win this time. They had to. They had no records they had to defend (55 game scoring streak, 49 unbeaten) so they could walk in unafraid. Also, the team was coming off the worst season ever under Wenger, a lot of the players had changed since the fiery encounters a few years ago and the current team had not win a single league game. Sure enough, they did win. But you know, for the longest time, it didn’t look like the case. I kept thinking of last year where for the first 20 min, Arsenal dominated ManU only to fade away after that.
Yes the end result is sweet, truly sweet. They won the game fairly and unlike ManU didn’t cheat…Now, I suppose I want to wait for the day when Arsenal will truly destroy ManU on the pitch with a jaw dropping scoreline 3-0 or better 5-0!
I might have to wait longer for that scoreline but for now, this win is just pure delight!
September 26th, 2006 at 12:22 am
Hatred. That sums it up. I hate everything Manure. From the owners to the fans.
Nothing best describes my joy when Adebayor (goaded by all Manure fans as “useless”) scored and I went on my knees in celebration.