Ducky’s Note: Die-hard Manc Prashanth speaks fan-to-fan to the Arsenal fans. We repeat, this is a post by a Manc. So, you know, #justsaying *runs and ducks behind door. Pun may or may not have been intended*.
No, I don’t want to tell you that its okay to lose, or its okay to boo your manager when he makes a substitution (gamble) trying to win the game. To me, you’re just an Arsenal fan. But moving on from you, I really think this was one of the closest games since the one in which Rafael scored at Emirates and you winning it 2-1.
I say an even game, but it takes a lot of pain and humility to say such a thing when your team dominate the game so bloody well till the end of one half, and resume the game pretending to play like your opponents, by not bothering to attack their weakness, and by shooting blanks, and by exposing your own weakness. A lot has been said about this game just as much as every other big game that will be played. The form, the morale, the injuries, the streak, the fitness, the refereeing, the legends who are making stopgap comebacks saving the days, and in all fairness, the whole game lived up to the expectation.
I am sure there will not be a single happy Arsenal fan after this who will remember this game after few years. I personally think about the FA Cup Final against you which we lost, often. For obvious different reasons of course. Because, its the sort of game when we should have won in 90 minutes, because we played you out of the park, kicked your asses, and just about did everything else but scoring. Going through the first 44 minutes was just like that.
It didn’t matter then whether or not we won 8-2 few months ago, or whether or not Arsene and Fergie has mellowed down recently and whether or not Henry could score a winner and celebrate in his typical fashion. None of this came to my mind. I was afraid and shitting bricks because its Arsenal! And when you don’t convert your chances, you’ll regret it against any one let alone a team you’ve grown to appreciate and hate and acknowledge.
But here comes the contradiction. Arsenal have the affect on its rivals too. As a Manc, it has become quite hard to not feel sorry for Arsenal over the years. Firstly, why did this happen? Did they give a shit when Glazers took over and are making a mockery of us? Did they feel sorry when our injured squad of 14 fit players lost to AC Milan over two legs back in 07? Did they give a shit when Ronaldo left? No. I think I shouldn’t think Ronaldo leaving is an unjust thing to happen to us. But then, that is the question. Agreed that I may have some good friends who support Arsenal FC. But why would it make me feel sad when Walcott looked like he’d be absolutely anywhere else on the pitch than actually test Patrice Evra or when that make shift team which still has quality players against a make shift team of ours, which still had quality players. Fact of life is, we’ve all been going through the season and we’ve all gotten problems, big ones too.
But the real question is Why? And to answer this, I only had to continue watching the game pretending that the first cross from Giggsy from the left wing resulted in 1-0 to United, that the game could just end without further headlines; ” End it here! Wish them for their Barca trip and be done with Arse!”. But it can’t end like this. You know, it never ends like this against Arsenal. Ever!
While Arsenal did move on from 8-2, to greener pastures by staying (How-the-mighty-have-fallen) in UCL and still in the title race, a lot has to be said about Van Persie. He has scored 23 goals so far and January isn’t even over. He is known to not finish a full season without injuries, but that number is still high as it is. I think he’s going to score 40 goals for them, in a season when those 40 goals won’t mean anything other than what Arsenal might get if they signed any Tom, Dick and Henry. That is the point of Arsenal! When Ronaldo came to scoring 40 goals for us that season, we won the fucking champions league and the league title! Imagine if he had to score those many outrageous goals week in week, times when he’d come on from the bench and score the winner against Wigan from a corner in the sixth second after coming on, if he had to do all this to just keep us in the race? Miserable yes? yes! Thats how pathetic I’d be feeling if I was an arsenal fan. And for this simple reason alone, I feel sorry for them. Everything about them can be a tired old cliche, but they still turn up and try.
And so they did, in the second half. No haplessness in any form, every pass connecting, every run made, made with confidence. I thought Wenger did brilliant to turn out their team like that in the second half and I dont think any one will credit him for that except maybe Sir Alex in his personal hand shake. The United team which resembled Patrice Evra’s famous “Men vs Boys” looked like boys when Arsenal started to push and counter.
Time went on and RvP had a golden chance to equalize but missed! Incredible. Two minutes later, Ox does three step overs very confidently, with a lot of finesse, and puts Ramsey on to shoot again. I scratch my head and wonder if its going to be a bloody long game. And not even five minutes had to pass, as Arsenal eventually converted. It just had to happen. Incredible movement, clever passing, and clever finishing. Back to images floating with headlines shifting between”points dropped or losing to a “great comeback” to something like, red devils strike “lucky”.
We didn’t have to resort to luck to score though. Thankfully, our squad still consists of phenomenal potential. Welbeck! Every once in a while, I keep saying this like an old retard. I say this because I know what it is to say it. To see Thierry Henry go and do what he did all his career against top teams and most importantly against us wasn’t easy to just grow out of. Till date, I haven’t come to peace with myself about this bald ba****rd. Hate him? Acknowledge his greatness?
For every kind of striker that we’ve had since I started watching football, Welbeck reminds me the most of him and the feeling of watching a young shy player turning into a seasoned professional footballer with world class abilities with tons of energy and that extra fucking spring in every jump is probably one of the purest simpleton reasons any one needs to appreciate football. Last year, I felt just about the same watching Hernandez. But Hernandez was bought, Welbeck was developed! Win!
Hardly a classic, still a terrific game. You shat your pants in the first half, while I shat mine in the second. We won today but it could have been anything. Seeing that we won, I wholeheartedly agree with the result. Years may go by, when any body could win the league, management may even change on either side. But no matter how everything ends, playing against Arsenal is quite magical usually. It makes you forget your existence based on how much you are willing to suffer watching your teams tear each other.
And for that, I thank myself for being too smart in high school and not deciding to choose Basketball or worse Studies!
P.S:
Valencia’s latest form is highly appreciated, muchas gracias. keep em coming.
Ox is quite a talent. He’ll end up being just like Walcott if you’re going to keep looking at mundane things like decision making. Do you know how retarded you all sound when you say its just that he doesn’t have? Decision making is an overrated attribute. When you have talent, you don’t have to decide.