It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it? I actually stopped visiting the site at one point because there were so many doom merchants around. Sure, you guys are entitled to your opinions, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t feel like taking a baseball bat to some peoples’ heads a la Robert de Niro.
Last season, we were in transition. We went through a long rough patch in the league, and ended up scrapping with Sp*rs for fourth place.
The thing is though, that even when we lost matches, I could not always fault our players for effort. I could see that they gave 120% game in, game out. Every game they lost was a heartbreaker. You could tell that it was perhaps only the TV Cameras that prevented them from bawling on the pitch after every defeat. That some persons simply refused to acknowledge the fact that they were indeed trying hard, but just not getting the rub of the green made it very frustrating. The press gleefully proclaimed the death of Arsenal to banner headlines, and began touting Sp*rs as the new power in North London. Our move to our new home would bankrupt us because no one would come to see UEFA Cup football. Our best players would all be sold, with Barcelona already getting dibs on Henry. Wenger would retire to a Paris ghetto to spend the rest of his days in a bar. Highbury would be turned into a memorial to lofty dreams of silly men.
On this site, I once remarked that the negativity was so thick you’d need a chainsaw to cut through it. I was wrong. You actually needed about a dozen light sabres just to make a dent. Those of us who dared to express our belief in the team, to insist that things would get better, that we would definitely improve, that the manager knew what he was doing, were shouted down. We were told to take off the red tinted spectacles, wake up and smell the coffee, and so on.
Are we vindicated? Not yet. Are there signs that we will be? Hell yes.
The team, after a slow start to the season, has begun to pick up. Some hard fought victories have seen the team make steady progress up the table from the previously unthinkable depths of 17th place. From looking unlikely to win any games, the swagger and confidence are returning. Prior to the Man Utd game, a friend told me to prepare for a heavy defeat. He said we’d be overrun, and he jokingly voiced his concerns about my mental and physical health should that even occur. I had eagles in my stomach, but I put a brave face on, and told him to shut up and watch the game. When Adebayor scored, I lost my voice. I screamed for about 5 minutes. Admittedly, we caught Man Utd when key players weren’t at their best, but they’ll get no sympathy from me. I loved the way Cesc robbed Ronaldo, got lucky, jinked his way forward and then turned Gary Neville inside out before slipping an inch-perfect pass through to Adebayor. Cesc didn’t have his most brilliant game overall, but in a week when Cashley Cole labelled him “lightweight”, I was delighted for the lad.
But for Jens Lehmann’s heroics we’d have drawn at Charlton two weeks later, and perhaps they should have had a penalty, but after Hasslebaink’s offside decision that wasn’t given, I’d say we were just about even.
Thomas Rosicky looks every inch a quality player, there is no doubt we got the better end of the Cashley Cole deal, Julio Baptista will surely turn out to be the true midfield terrorist, and the youngsters are all more mature. Even Justin Hoyte has begun steadily improving as a left back. Once again, we have spent little in the transfer market but look set to reap huge rewards when teams like Sp*rs spent over 20 mil, and still look like crap.
Will this run of form last? I hope so. Can we beat Chelsea? I really hope so.
I know we’re bound to lose a game sooner or later, and the nay-sayers will return in force, but until then, us positivists will enjoy our time in the sun.
UP THE ARSENAL!!!
7 Responses to “Long Time Coming”
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October 11th, 2006 at 7:19 am
The progress has been slow but steady. I have been tracking it one step at a time this season
- score first (OT)
- first league win (OT)
- first league win over ManU since 2002 (OT)
- score first at home (Sheffield)
- first home win (Sheffield)
- score more than one goal (Sheffield)
- score in the first half (Charlton)
- come from behind to win (Charlton)
Note that, we have had three bad results and three good results in the league. It’s all about confidence and we need to carry it on. We need to show that the two week international break doesn’t affect us by beating Watford and CSKA. And of course, we HAVE to beat Chelsea head-to-head this season.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:37 am
I think it was a good idea for you to move on if you felt like smashing people’s heads in with a baseball bat because they said something negative about your beloved Arsenal.
Try and get things in perspective. People who are vociferously negative often feel the pain of the defeat as much as the players, which is why they react the way they do. In other words, they are supporters through and through. Someone like Stag falls under this category, but unfortunately he’s rarely able to rationalise his comments and seems to remain in a permanent state of mental anguish, which simply gets on people’s tits.
The turn around was always going to happen, because Wenger’s success tends to be cyclical - every 2 or 3 years. I’m not convinved we’re there yet or are able to overpower Chelsea’s cash spending power enough to win the league, but at least we’re back to playing great visual football - and football is about entertainment primarily, trophies are a massive bonus.
Some people get over-excited and some are quite negative. A handful of us can see both sides of the coin. Whatever, it’s nothing to get worked up about.
October 11th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
I can’t figure out if I’m being overly optimistic, or whether the strength of Arsenal’s team is really as good as it seems…
There has been a complete overhaul of the team in the past two seasons, but now that they are gelling, it seems that this team has everything:
1. Excellent defence
The addition of Gallas and development of Senderos, Eboue, Djorou and hopefully Clichy makes this a very strong and quick defence, with significant depth.
2. Solid and Improving Midfield
Rosicky has slotted in straight away, and Hleb has been one of our best players this year. Walcott looks like a viable option on the wing, and Ljungberg despite not giving us goals gives us intelligence and good ball retention.
Fabregas is Fabregas, and Gilberto has been excellent for the last calendar year. Flamini is a good reserve and Baptista should certainly add some steel and goals to the midfield. And we still have Diaby to come back.
The addition of Ribery would make Wenger’s job of keeping everyone happy very difficult!
3. Good Strikers
Maybe a slight question mark, but if RvP scores 15+ goals then we are in business. Hopefully one of Bendtner, Lupoli, Aliadiere and Walcott can step up and bang in the goals from next season.
In my mind the jury is still out on Ade, but if he can be like Kanu was for a a number of years, then he will serve a useful purpose.
4. Strength in depth
See above.
5. Fantastic Balance in the Squad
Unlike Chelsea, Arsenal will soon have an excellent balance of young, hungry and very talented players, combined with experienced stars like Henry, Gallas, Toure and Gilberto.
Chelsea on the other hand just have established stars many of whom aren’t content to sit on the bench.
This is a vindication of the God that is Wenger.
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It is the above that makes me think that Arsenal has a squad that matches Chelsea, or will with the addition of say Ribery.
So assuming arsenal v chelsea have roughly equal squads in terms of quality and strength of depth, which will win out in the end? Wengerball or Mourinho pragmatism?
I certainly know which one I would like to watch, however which one will win more trophies?
As nipuna made out recently, adopting the the 4-5-1 more frequently, which offers us more defensive protection, might be the way to go to winning more trophies…
October 11th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
England is starting to turn themselves into a joke. For a team giving their transfer value alone probably cost more than any other national team in the world, yet they can’t even link a few passes together. Any pass longer than 5 yards is gone. Croatia is hardly the world’s most talented team, yet England made them (Croatia’s passing game) look like Brazil tonight.
Anyone ever watched the English TV comedy “England Manager - Mike Bassett”? It’s almost that bad tonight. The own goal England conceded is the worst i ever seen in international level. When I saw Enckleman the former Villa keeper scored a humiliating own goal i thought it was bad enough, wait until u see Paul Robinson’s mistake… For God’s sake this is an INTERNATIONAL game, and he’s the England NATIONAL team goalkeeper.
4-4-2, 3-5-1.. whatever. McClaren is plain simple CLUELESS. Somebody tells me what exactly is the DIFFERENCE from Sven’s reign to Big Mac’s?
The only difference, as far as I’m concerned, is now they no longer have a foreign manager and David Beckham to blame.
Talking about honor playing for your country. England, when down by two goals, spent more time on the defensive end rather than opposition half. For those who didn’t know might have mistaken they were the one who’s leading by two goals. Those “World Class” players in the England team no longer bother to fight, to put their feet on where it hurt.
PRIDE? The only player who you feel would really feel proud playing for his country is their former captain. And he’s now out of the team, for NO particular reason (apart from pleasing the media i supposed).
The worst part is Croatia had been talking so big prior to the match, anyone who has a bit of pride left would come out fighting and try to prove a point or two. Frank Lampard urged let’s stand up and be like a man. On tonight’s evidence, obivously nobody had listened, including himself.
October 11th, 2006 at 6:30 pm
Congrats to Gary Neville for scoring his first international goal.
October 12th, 2006 at 12:47 am
What else do you expect when a “Carling Cup” winning coach is selected over and above guys like Hiddink and Scolari?
October 12th, 2006 at 7:43 am
Was this result really such a surprise? It was obvious. Nobody is proud to play for their country - they play for themselves, their ego. When push comes to shove most of them don’t care what happens. Any player stupid enough to think his country cares about him will probably play well, but the proof is in the pudding - because England has been **AYE CARUMBA**(censored) for 40 years, except for like 3 games when Venables was in chardge
I saw Robinson’s o.g. on the news today. Hilarious. What do you expect from a Tottenham keeper? Maybe if he was a proper professional he would flatten any divots that are close to his 6 yeard box - you see other keepers doing it all the time. What a bunch of jokers, I love watching these England tears - it’s so funny!