Sheik, battles and goals
Well there you have it. We beat Al Citeh and in the process El Capitan had to take some pretty ‘robust’ tackles. If anyone could answer me one thing, how come a certain Dutchman got away with murder (nearly) and our midfield were all one mistimed tackle away from an early bath? Well apart from some pretty dumb decision making on our players part. Methinks Al Citeh must have used their millions wisely to create a cloaking device. Of course it was quite perfected until now.
Had to laugh, in a hollow ironic way, when the media almost to a man swung wildly between dirty, dirty Arsenal and the team with the soft centre. It’s obviously too much to ask the brain-dead, lazy copy and paste brigade to actually make up their own minds and stick to it. For a start it assumes some cerebral function and secondly it depends on who posted first and therefore sets the tone for the rest. And am I the only one who wishes ex-footballers still retired and bought a pub rather than be asked tricky questions like ‘what did you think of the match’?
Anyways, I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade, but would it have been different if a fully fit Tevez had played the whole match? Thankfully we don’t have to care, because he wasn’t and Adebarndoor had one of his regular days, having shot his bolt the week before. It was however kinda nice to be the beneficiaries of an injury loss for a change.
And another thing. How come Mancini wasn’t vilified for moaning like Arsène regularly is when he claimed the red wasn’t justified? Yes I know he has to try to soften the defeat for his side, etc, etc, but it’s hard to see how the ref could have done anything else according to the law. Whether the law is an Ass or not is another question entirely. Oh and someone tell Cesc that waving an imaginary card is not big and not nice.
Enough ranting, positives were Fabianski who is now according to some close to the greatest goalie we have ever had. Woah there Pilgrim, he was good, very good at times. If we are still saying that when he holds a trophy aloft then fine, until then, one game at a time huh? Hardly needs saying, but Na na na na na na Nasri, what a star. I was worried he’d take a back seat when Cesc got back. He hasn’t, in fact he’s kicked on. Give him the contract extension right now, that’ll tie him down for the immediate future. Yeah right. But he obviously enjoys playing for the club, and that’ll keep him here as much as a contract.
Breaking news, we actually do have strength in depth in the squad when the chocolate legs and other soft appendages get sorted. To be able to bring on Rosicky, Big Game Bendtner and Theo as subs ain’t too shoddy. Soon as we get a couple of centre-backs fit again, that’s going to be a strong squad. I have wondered about Nic, he has swerved between the sublime and the ridiculous in his Arsenal career. The talk that he has rarely been injury free until now and that he’s now as sharp as a very sharp thing, seems to be born out by his little cameo. Great run, great finish. More please. Regularly. Without the games where a white stick appears to be necessary in between.
So now we are second, we’ve put to death one of our demons, at least for the moment. And we have the Barcodes in the Careless Cup. I don’t mind being hypocritical, it’s required of a fan to be myopic in the extreme. That’s what fans do. I hope we win the Careless Cup, it will then be a Great Victory. I hope we win more than that, but at least it will stop the ‘haven’t won any trophy for x years’ so often used to pad out comment. For the moment things are good in the Goonerverse, hopefully they will get so much better. You know I think I may just be catching Arsène’s unreasonable confidence. There was something about the team on Sunday that hasn’t been there before. I think that something was stature. You can see at least some of this team becoming as massive as players we currently look back to in the Invincibles. They are a hard act to follow, but maybe we have the got the compass finally sorted. So long as the Baggies remains a one-off.
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