That’s all folks! The 2007-08 season came to an end today with that most famous of Arsenal score lines, 1-0 to the Arsenal.
Theo Walcott’s excellent solo effort 24 minutes into the first half was all it took to ensure that the Gunners finished the season on 83 points, four behind champions Manchester United, and two behind second-place Chelsea.
It does nobody any good to think that had we won just two of our draws against the likes of Birmingham or Wigan in late February/early March, this post wouldn’t even be up yet, because we’d all be too drunk/busy celebrating.
Oh well.
The 06-07 season was frustrating, because you could see the talent, but the finished product was just out of reach. It was a necessary evil to allow the team to grow and gel as a unit. This season was the next logical step. The ingredients are starting to blend. The finished product is almost here. Everyone can see it, even supporters of other clubs have commented to me that they better get their trophies in while they can, before Arsenal sweep all before them over the next five years or so. It’s going to happen. This season was a tease as to what will come. Something’s happening here, and I for one wouldn’t miss it for the world.
14 Responses to “Sunderland 0 - 1 Arsenal”
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May 11th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Walcott’s finish reminded me of Ljunberg. A run from midfield (ok, not behind the defense, but nevertheless) latching on to a through ball. We need more of those.
May 11th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Sooooooooo close. Damn. Here in Canada, the tv analysts and commentators are going on and on about how great Man U were, how they played the best football in england this year. Really. When? At the end of the day, they kept getting results and even certain decisions their way. How it was not a penalty for Rio today, I don’t know. I can complain about a few odd games but the sad truth is that after 38 games, they got the most points.
For Arsenal, I really hope the team gets better next year and goes to the top and stay there. Arsenal had their fair share of problems this year, some not in their hands. But I am not sure what the problem is with Barca. They were much worse than Arsenal and never really played to their full ability. Whereas, Arsenal did turn it on in quite a few games and looked like champs at diff stages during the season.
In Italy, Inter are doing their best once again to throw away the title. Year after year, only Inter can find ways to make life difficult for themselves. Maybe after today, Hleb might decide the ice cream won’t be worth it. Milan duly lost away to Napoli. So now Fiorentina are back in 4th spot with one game to go. Wonder what Flamini is thinking? I guess the extra money might help pay for his thoughts.
May 11th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Inter are the utter definition of chokers. They have no CC cups, no worthwhile FA cups and they have been out of the CL since February……they have been leading the league since the beginning ….and they have conspired to CHOKE it spectacularly….
Now they go into the last match…AWAY to Parma….who are NOT friendly to Inter in any way. Parma must also win to stand any chance of avoiding relegation.
Inter are just plain, outright useless.
I hope Milan dont make the CL as well.
Visions of Flamini sitting on the bench in a uefa cup team is very nice.
May 11th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Walcott needs to be on the pitch more. Assuming Hleb exits, it looks like it could become reality.
May 11th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
SeattleGunner @ 4
Walcott will only get on the pitch more when he proves he can displace RVP or Eduardo as the support striker or Vela when we switch to a 4-3-3. He has been included in the English squad and IF he gets playing time and has success he will be hard put to be placed on the Arsenal bench.
Like other youngsters, he will get playing time when he earns it and this will show whether he has a hunger to be successful or not. I wish him all the best.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Why does Walcott have to “displace” RvP or Eduardo (and why does Bendy have to displace Ade). Cant they just ALL rotate??? What is wrong with rotation. Man U and Chelsea rotate - sensibly (not Rafa-style rotation though)
Walcott has already given the play of the season with that solo effort against Liverpool….and has shown some strength in stepping up in the Birmingham game with 2 nice goals. He also stepped up in the Derby game at 3-2. It seems he is the kind of guy who likes to step up to the plate and take charge.
Walcott will break out next season.
If Hleb was in Walcott’s position today he would have tried to pass square to Adebayor to avoid scoring himself.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
In addition to Arsenal, I support AC Milan. They were my first love in addition to the Brazil 1970 team. I go back to the days of Van Basten, Rijkard and Gullit. Today, I’m torn about AC Milan. All because of Flamini. He did nothing wrong. AC Milan did nothing wrong in signing him (Memo to: Real Madrid and Inter Milan, F**k Off!) This is about something that Wenger brought up this week and that its about values. AC Milan are a great club but they are a morally bankrupt club and they cannot deny it. Calciopoli was not their first fall from grace. Flamini dragged out his negotiations until Champions League football looked like a ’sure’ thing for Milan. That pissed me off to no end. Flamini and his agent made a major miscalculation. AC Milan are closer to Bayern Munich at the end of last season. An aged team, out of the title and out of the CL. Despite reloading, Bayern got schooled by Zenit in the UEFA Cup where you would have thought they were a ’sure’ thing. Its not that easy or simple to win. Death and taxes are sure things Flamini. In football there are no sure things, just ask Henry at Barcelona. If Fiorentina can do the double against Torino next week, Milan will finish 5th and I will be very ‘happy’ for Flamini.
I’m in a vengeful mood today. I’m glad Fulham stayed up at the expense of Alex McLeish, Gold and their Birmingham City Legbreakers. I like Steve Bruce and thought he got a raw deal for whatever reason. Birmingham City’s lost was Wigan’s gain. Not only was McLeish an idiot in his defense of “Tiny” Taylor, he stupidly let Wilson Palacios go to Wigan with Bruce. If Wenger recommends a player, and you let Bruce steal him back, you are incompetent as a manager and deserve to be relegated. If Wenger sells you to a Championship side (Muamba and Larsson) then you didn’t have the quality needed for Arsenal.
Arsenal’s future remains bright. 3rd place and 83 points shows progress. We did this with injuries galore, a new #1 goalkeeper, poor midfield scoring (compared to the days of Pires and Ljungberg), a central defense that played better on paper than on the field and a right midfielder who brought little to the attack. All told, not bad. Our goals remain winning the title and the Champions League. It’s a little sad and delusional when Jermaine Jenas exposes his wet dreams in public:http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/article1146759.ece. Sp**s and their supporters hung up with petty dreams and jealousies. Sp**s, please get a grip and try a baby step and finish in the top half next season.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Fred@6
Not saying they should not rotate. Rotation is great especially when you have the luxury of interchangeable pieces as with Manu and Chelsea. However, even with rotation there is a pecking order and first in the order will play 3 out of 4 games unless there is a rash of games within a short period.
Walcott has not yet earned the primary role and until he does so he will still only start 1 in 4 games and be an impact substitute in others. The only manager who does wholesale substitutions is Benitez and his results speaks for it self.
Walcott will face even more competition next year when Vela is added to the squad and will have to prove he is the most viable option in order to get additional playing time.
Not to say he won’t step up to the plate, just saying he still has to prove himself on an everyday basis. Last game he was very innocuous and he still does not know how to leave his imprint on a game at all times. He is still young, does not not have the footballing background of a lot of players his age and Arsene is doing the right thing by easing him into the rotation.
One play does not make a player. It is the ability to perform at the highest level day after day which separates the good from the great. Walcott certainly has the talent and I am sure we are all looking towards the day when he is able to comfortably handle the tag of “genius”.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Well said ctpa@7.
I love it. Total endorsement of all your statements.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
theooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! is the man
May 11th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Ofcourse, one play doesnt make a player….but I never actually believed he was any good before then. I think he and Bendtner have proven this season that they have talent and barring disaster will be awesome players.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
i think theo will come alone next season when he gets more time on the pitch i think he will play more because hes shone that he can make and score goals but the team needs to add some older players that have been there before and know whats its like to win at a high level players we dont have to wait to become good players who are allready are good
May 11th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
ctpa, I also used to enjoy watching the Sacchi Milan team in the early 90’s while supporting GG’s Arsenal team. I could enjoy both as they were completely different styles. Although the styles are reversed now and I prefer to only watch Arsenal. I still try to catch Milan every now and then. A few friends are hard core milan fans and they have been upset with the AC team for a few years now. Even though they were happy that Milan won the CL last year, they thought it would mask the team’s problems and prevent an overhaul, which is something they want. The defense has been aging for years now and there are no signs of any improvements there. Even Milan’s recent signing rumours show no sense of improvements — Ronaldinho, Sheva if they come in won’t solve their defensive problems. Milan can’t keep up with a lot of league teams in Serie A. And while I thought Flamini was great for Arsenal, I am not sure how much impact he will have at Milan. And what about Gattuso? will he leave? Because how can Gattuso and Flamini play on the same team?
Wenger plans his signings out in advance and brings in players to slot them into specific positions. While some of those signings may not turn out to perform as intended while some exceed expectations. But he does not buy a player first and then figure out how to fit the player in the team. This is opposed to what Milan and Madrid have been doing for a while — they buy players and then leave it to the manager to fit the players in the squad. Arsenal took a step forward this year but Madrid, Milan and Barca went back a few notches. Still Madrid’s title will keep the critics at bay.
In some ways, Arsenal showed some of the same defensive problems as the previous two years but those damn injuries are still a big problem. For once I would like to see an injury free Arsenal season. Maybe someone can invent an invisible force field around certain arsenal players? Unfortunately, science is still a ways behind what Star Trek has shown so I can stop dreaming of that for next year
Euro 2008 can’t start any sooner. Can UEFA just decide it has seen enough and skip the CL final this year and instead re-schedule the final game in Moscow to be instead played out as the english charity shield game in August as opposed to seeing Man Utd take on the F.A Cup winner?
May 12th, 2008 at 1:08 am
Wenger said “we were one game away from the title”. After all was said and done about us throwing away 5pts, it didn’t seem as bad now that we were only 4pt behind, and would have been a 3-pt swing our way had we held onto beat United.
It was that close.
As for breakout years for Walcott, well, the luck of the Arse tells me that either he’ll get injured or someone will come for him with a price tag. It’s always happen to us. So I wouldn’t predict too much until the start of next campaign…. It’s not so much the injuries that we suffer from back tackles but the players themselves being too fragile (RVP, Rosicky, they injure on their own routinely) and it would be interesting if the Boss thinks he will need to buy an extra player in their places to cover or (most likely) just “hope” they won’t be injured and leave our squad thin once again….
As usual, United got their calls (but they would have won anyways), and the “bushwackers” can go back to the Championship and continue their leg breaking tackles in the lower leagues. Too bad Reading went down, would have like to see Bolton gone down instead….they are still our bogey team
I’m sure ACMilan will fix some more matches to get into the CL, they’re too big not to be playing in Europe’s top competition. They’ll do a better job at hiding their bribes this time… but yes, I would be saying “ha ha” to Flamini should AC Milan’s “fix” doesn’t work out and they’re playing Spurs next season!