Written by Mean Lean
on
Tuesday, 01 March 2011 12:59
I am over it, it is now part of the miserable side of our history. It can be filed along with the likes of Galatasaray, Barcelona, Liverpool and many more. When you think about it, it leaves you with a treacle of frustration but it is a distant frustration and that will do for me.
As Arsene said recently, it is better to always look forward and not get hung up on what has happened in the past.
There is talk of the upset of losing the final possibly derailing our season but I do not see that happening, if anything it will make the players refocus on what they have to do to beat teams and win football matches. If there is anything that will make us go off course then it is injuries and not a last minute mistake against a side fighting to stay up.
For a large chunk of this season I have been finally granted my wish, a wish to see our best players available at the same time but not only available but match fit and sharp, having games together to improve partnerships, to get an understanding of each other. The result of that is there to see.
Having our key players fit has lifted the team within four points from the top team with a fixture at home against said team still to come. Regardless of the outcome it has got us to our first final since 2007 and still in the FA Cup. In previous seasons we have had a chunk of key players sitting on the treatment table for long periods at crucial times.
This is my fear. It would just be awful if our players start to fall like flies at such an important time in the season. There has been talk of Robin Van Persie being unavailable for Barcelona due to a knee injury that he picked up scoring his fantastic goal on Sunday. If Theo Walcott is also out for that game then that is just bad news.
I have plenty of faith in our squad, I think we have the strongest squad in terms of depth of quality in the country but if we are not able to field our strongest available side away to Barcelona then I don't fancy our chances. I don't like saying that, but that is the truth.
Cesc, Theo and Robin have to start if we are to have the quality to beat what is commonly regarded as the best team in world football at present in their back yard.
I still think the bread and butter should be our main focus, we need to keep winning games in our league and keep the pressure on the Mancs. We need to find our game again which has gone missing for the last few. Leyton Orient, Stoke City and then Birmingham City has seen our levels drop. We have lost a bit of spark and fluidity and I put that down to a number of factors, such as rotation, injuries and lethargy.
We need to get a second wind somehow and get back to the type of display on and off the ball that saw us spank the Chavs, rip Birmingham City to shreds away at St Andrews and the type of performance that put Manchester City on the ropes for 90+ minutes.
If we continue to play the way we have done in recent games then we will get unstuck in the league but if we can regain our form, the form that has allowed the team to go unbeaten in the league since our 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford back in mid December.
It is not just a case of having players out through injury, it is hard to predict how long they will take to get back to the right levels.
I am going to be shamelessly supporting Chelsea tonight. Ok perhaps that is the wrong term, I will be hoping that Chelsea win the game, supporting and Chelsea just sounds too wrong for me. Hopefully the big game can get the best out of their players.
I almost don't want to talk about the Rooney escape. It is not worth my energy because I knew he was going to get away with it. At this stage of the season, with such important games coming up for the Mancs, the FA were always going to bow down and kiss Fergie's boots and whatever else they could find on the way down.
It wasn't even debatable was it? It was as clear as day and the FA must have red faces today. Probably matching their Manc shirts they have underneath their suits.
Needless to say, had that have been Emmanuel Eboue swinging an elbow into the face of that Wigan player, do we really expect that he wouldn't have been punished? To be honest Clattenburg would have probably acted at the time so we wouldn't have even got this far in the first place.
This is nothing new and I stand by my thoughts that Arsenal don't just have to beat the opposition on the pitch, there is plenty more to overcome if we are to be successful this season and future seasons.
It is a massive shame that Aaron Ramsey cannot feature tomorrow night, it would have been the perfect platform for his reintroduction into the first team. I hope he comes back into the fold sharp and full of confidence, the team certainly need that spark right now.
We are all looking forward to the return of Thomas Vermaelen into the squad, every squad would welcome back a player of his quality but the hype about how we need him back into the team right now because of one mistake is beyond absurd in my opinion.
Johan Djourou and Laurent Koscielny are very possibly the form center back combination in the league right now, yet one mistake and we need to rush Vermaelen back into the team because we lack someone next to Djourou is laughable. Well it would be if it wasn't one of our players at least.
The amount of times perspective gets thrown out of the window, I wonder how much perspective mess there is on the pavement floor down below. Lets keep the streets clean and tidy and just try and keep hold of a little more perspective.
We need Vermaelen back because we need to rotate with so many games in a short space of time and not because all of a sudden Koscielny is rubbish again. Give me strength.
Speaking of Koscielny, I didn't actually see the slap on his head until yesterday as I turned the game off pretty much bang on the final whistle. Watching Koscielny not react because of the sheer disappointment made my heart sink and it was a total lack of class from Barry Ferguson. He is just lucky that he doesn't have another game against Arsenal this season. I would be awfully disappointed if one of his team mates didn't seek some sort of revenge. Or is that just my thinking?
Lastly, Thierry Henry has reiterated his desire to come back 'home' in some capacity. I say get the old boys back on the training pitch and perhaps do a 'I'm an Arsenal coach get me out of here' type show. We can vote each of them out until we find a winner, that person can become Wenger's successor. Perhaps the board have a better way but how else are we going to decide between Bergkamp, Henry, Vieira, Parlour, Bouldy et al?
Anyway, that is more than enough waffle for one day.
Back tomorrow for pre match talk.
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