Arsenal only nine wins away from being Champions
March 8th, 2010 | Author: admin
What a week.
Let’s get this all clear before we start. Depending on who you talk to, if they aren’t an Arsenal supporter you could very well believe the following: Ramsey’s leg broke itself, it did this, just before he managed, with his self-broken leg, to be too quick for Ryan Shawcross, who was only fractionally late going for a 50:50 ball. Shawcross, as you all know by now, is a lovely lad, who has never done this sort of thing before, apart from the time he crippled the ex-25 after the ball was long out of play last year, or the year before that when he broke Francis Jeffers ankle from behind, or when he did this.
Now none of this is me saying he might have had intent. Nor is it me saying he is a malicious player. What I am saying is that when a player has been reckless in the past, you cannot use the fact that he is ‘not that type of player’ as a defence. He is very obviously a reckless player. You do not accumulate two leg-break credits by the time you are 22 by being Denilson-like in your tackles.
As expected, with the exception of Patrick Barclay, Arsene Wenger received more criticism for his post-match comments (which were fair, accurate, and very understated given the circumstances) than Shawcross has received for his tackle. This simply cannot be right.
The hypocrisy drives me insane. On the one hand the press tell us that Arsenal are the neutrals choice due to their overwhelming desire to play football the ‘right’ way no matter what they are facing, yet on the other they tell Arsenal they need to toughen up and ‘don’t like it up ‘em’. It’s almost schizophrenic.
We watch as teams in every division hit the wall, buried under a mountain of debt, while we hear Wenger accused of being stingy. We listen to Ferguson moan about everything, right down to the three extra seconds he thinks his team weren’t afforded, while Wenger is castigated for daring to say a leg-shattering tackle is ‘unacceptable.’
But in May, if it the fates should so deem that this battered, bruised, fractured, and ‘fragile’ team may lift the Premier League team, those same papers will be lauding Arsenal for winning it the right way, while on the other page discussing how we only won it because Man United or Chelsea threw it away. Isn’t that how leagues are won? Didn’t Man United only win it last year because no other team could get more points than them?
So what do Arsenal have to do to gain press approval? Only have players who dive if they’re English? Forgo football for tactics which wouldn’t even be tolerated in rugby? Or simply win something?
Should winning come at any cost? I for one don’t think it should. There is a pride in being an Arsenal supporter that no other club can boast. A moral high-ground bought and paid for which we have every right to stake claim to. We sit at the top of the fair play league at the same time as sitting at the top of the most fouled league and most injured league. We have not had a red card in over a year. We do not hound and harass referees in the way Chelsea, United, and so many others do. We appeal for blatant penalties like cricketers. When the finger isn’t raised, we simply play on.
Well I have a finger to raise for the rest of the league. It is firmly extended and waiting for May. It is pointing upwards from the middle of my hand, and it will be waving like a crazy in May, of that I’m sure.
Ramsey doesn’t just symbolise one player and one injury any more. He has, inadvertently, become the figure-head for the entire Arsenal team. A team which has decided enough is enough. He represents those who were broke before him, and the players know that he also represents what could happen to any one of them at any time. His injury, to Arsenal, has become much more than a badly broken leg. It has become a cause, a force uniting (almost) all Arsenal fans at a time when fractures in the support where showing wider and deeper than before. He has reignited a spark in those feeling jaded by the lack of trophies and humiliations at the hands on United and Chelsea. He has caused many of us to fall in love with our club all over again, and for others reinforced just why we put ourselves through ‘it’ every single week.
Anyone watching Match Of The Day, having not had the pleasure of watching the full match against Burnley at the weekend, would be forgiven for thinking Super Nik only missed three glorious sitters. This was not the case.
In the second half alone he missed enough for a double hattrick and I don’t mean half chances, I mean full-on, let it hit you anywhere and it’s in an open net from six yards out chances. The first one he missed, in the first half , was because he was off celebrating the goal in his head before he even made contact with the ball. And what a ball from Eboue who was absolutely electric all day. For Nik, the chances just got easier while his standard of miss got worse. When he was subbed with 15 to go he got a roaring chorus of ‘Super, super Nik’ he gestured to the crowd with shrugged shoulders, a ‘what else do I have to do’ sort of thing. Learning where the goal is would be a start.
It was unbelievable, so much so that a scoreline of eight or nine one would not have flattered us on the day.
It was a strange start to the match. Where most of us were expecting blood and thunder from the Arsenal team and raucous support from the home crowd everything was eerily subdued, so much so that the only free kick given (or even called for) in the first 20 minutes was for a Nasri handball. There was a real reluctance for anyone to tackle and it weird watching Burnley fly up to Arsenal players only to stop dead rather than complete the tackle/assault on the Arsenal player. Refreshing, but weird all the same.
When the tackles did finally start going in Foy clamped down with immediate yellow cards (when deserved) to the delight of the home support, but the first hard tackle, which might have won the ball cleanly, came with a full-blooded, studs up challenge. It was one Theo was not appreciative of, and his reaction of squaring up to the Burnley player and shoving him in the chest (twice) probably would have earned him a booking on another day. Not this one though. Not with banners draped all around the Emirates reminding Foy just exactly why Theo was reacting as he was. Or the ‘Get Well Soon Aaron’ Tshirts worn by Arsenal right up until quick off. Even Foy knew better.
Foy showed amazing understanding for a referee but Theo’s reaction was indicative, not only of the teams awareness of Ramsey, but also of a little bit of bite he seems to have added to his game lately, he’s not quite Mr Super Nice Guy anymore, and he is a better player for it.
When Diaby started warming up early in the second half we knew it had to be for someone, and while most of us hoped Wenger was going to break a habit of a lifetime and make a tactical switch early on and take Deni off, it was for our captain, who just seemed to come to a stop no longer after the superb opening goal. He just didn’t have his turbo-boosters, but that was the only sign that was something up. Hopefully it’s not a bad reoccurrence of the injury which kept him out for three weeks earlier in the season, but Porto seems a big doubt.
That first goal, what a goal. The pass from Nasri was Cesc-like in its beautiful chipedness, and Cesc’s finish, striking the ball just as it hit the ground to slot it between Jensen’s leg was a technique Nik could do well with studying.
After Cesc was replaced, Nasri was moved back in to the middle to join Diaby (superb) and Denilson (better than usual) and he just started running the show. He was man of the match, though it was close between him, Eboue, and Theo, but the authority he stamped on the game was from a page straight out of Cesc’s midfield manual, and he seemed to revel in the responsibility.
As the afternoon wore on, I’m afraid you can blame no-one but me for Burnley’s equaliser. Not five minutes before Nugent shinned the ball over a stranded Almunia (good game with authority and brave takes) I had commented to Clownshoe about Nugent’s shitness.
I should have known.
It was typical of this Arsenal team, we should have been goals clear, enough so that Burnley’s goal should have been only a mild annoyance instead of bringing us all to ‘one of those days’ mindset.
Theo had other ideas. His goal, with his left, was a fantastic placed shot and no more than his efforts on the day warranted. He has come in for a lot of criticism this season, most of it unwarranted, but he answered in the best way possible and was a constant threat to Burnley, so much so that we could have went all Villa on their asses and just pinged long balls over the top for him to run on to and cross for Nik to miss.
Arshavin, even though he scored, looked like he wanted to be anywhere but on the pitch and his introduction dropped us to 10 men. His attitude was appalling and he needs to sort it sharpish.
At 2-1 Burnley had a glorious chance to make 2-2, wholly undeserved it must be stressed, but with that butternutted cunt (and yes he is a cunt because he managed to somehow pass his normal level of shitness to put in a display which was nothing short of horrific) at the back anything was possible.
Thankfully though they didn’t and we managed to get a third in the 94th minute from Arshavin to put the game, finally, to bed.
A four goal winning margin would have seen us, briefly, regain top spot, and this was indeed a game which we would have drawn last year, such was the manner of it, but I didn’t want top just yet. Too much pressure. We’re perfectly fine where we are.
For now.
Next up Porto and the Champions League. Are you ready?
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