John Terry is at the thick of it all again. Here’s my thoughts: Yes, the FA had a considerable case to strip him, but in doing so they have effectively gone against their own coach (don’t these people ever communicate with each other? It’s almost as though they pass messages to each other though the press.) and perhaps more cynically if they themselves deem Terry guilty of something, why didn’t they suspend him?? Replacement – Gerrard would be good but I’d say Joe Hart. Nonetheless, I hope England realizes they have bigger issues than the captain itself. I guess the only good thing out of this is that JT typically answers back in some awesome performances on the pitch. Captain, Leader, Legend.

Andres Villas Boas has a lot to prove and under him so far we have seen the worst and best of Chelsea. I think where he wants to head the team is the right place but sometimes what is reflected on the pitch is not quite the same as those well constructed words he relays. A little more bite to all that talk. The reason I bring him up is because of – that’s right you guessed it – the Special One. The press have been all over on Mourinho’s desire to come back to England. A return to Chelsea? The only inkling of a chance of ever seeing him return is if AVB somehow manages to get us kicked out of the current Champions League AND fail to qualify for the next Champions League. *shudders*

Manchester United. We are about 5 hours away and I am not quite sure what to expect from Chelsea. The hope is that they get spurred to perform and take the game to United like they did with City. Unlike the last few games were teams seemed to relatively succeed against us by ‘parking the bus’ in front of goal, United tend to attack a bit more, increasing the very likely hood of finding space upfront and with that the way to goals. Here’s to a cracker of a game!

KTBFFH!

Unlike Mario Balotelli, I’m now going to take the logical next step and extend the analogy to football and the Battle at Stamford bridge tomorrow. In many ways, it wouldn’t be too much off the mark. Chelsea has lately been a not-so-happy hunting ground for United, and I would have normally chalked off this game at the beginning of the season as ‘happy with a point’. But, given Chelsea’s current form, and that we have finally caught up with City on points, one would think there is a slight bit of added incentive for us to get a win. However, there are a few problems.

Torres…

Yes, you read that right. Torres may not have scored in a decade now, but the only two or three he has managed to, have come against us. I’m not being factually accurate here but it does feel like we are Torres’ happy hunting ground. Or prey, whichever. Add to the fact that there is no Vidic (ignoring the argument that he hasn’t been able to do much in the past) and I would be surprised if Torres isn’t looking forward to this game. If we play @rioferdy5 and Evans at the back, they are going to get skinned quicker than a chicken at KFC (do chickens get de-feathered though? #off-topic). I haven’t abused Jonny in a while, and I’m afraid that if he plays, he will give me plenty of reason to. Admittedly it’s more of a contest now than ever before, as Evans has improved and Torres has regressed, but that’s no reason to say…

From the days when it was a no-contest

Misfiring Front Two (Three?)

We haven’t really handed out a royal thrashing in a while, or even looked like we would. With Arsenal having gone and done the traditional ‘Beat Blackburn 7-1 at home’ routine, looks like the League’s allocation of big margin wins has been mostly used up. Not that I am suggesting in any way that this match would be one, considering how the other big fixtures like United-Arsenal, Chelsea-Arsenal, United-City have gone this season… oh.

As I write this with less than 6 hours to kickoff, signs are that Rooney and Nani will play. Which is generally good, but again, not to the extent of great! awesome! stupendous!! Rooney has been blowing hot and cold for a while, and the Arsenal game was probably Nani’s best in around 2 months. Look beyond those two and the goal-prospects dry up pretty quickly. Chicha is not exactly having Season 1: A Sequel and Ashley Young disappearing for so long that if you’d somehow missed the start of the season, you’d still look for him on the Villa team sheets. But we have Berba, you say. I agree, we do. And I’m so glad we do, but only for reasons of take-that-Arsenal-we-play-beautiful-football-too. If this game was the equivalent of the trick shot championships that pool players have, then by all means, pick 11 Berbas. Unfortunately, it’s not. He would simply not have the energy to last the game.

You score four, we score more

Gone are the days when United-Chelsea was a chess game, with the past few Chelsea managers facing off tactically with Sir Alex more than the players matching up wits and skills. Those tightly controlled, rigorously disciplined games almost always led to a sense of unfulfilled match-watching experience as one refereeing decision or one slip-up decided the game, and this applied irrespective of the result.

That pattern seems to be changing under AVB at Chelsea though. As a proponent of free-flowing football, and with the Spanish flair in Juan Mata, Chelsea are no longer the beast they used to be, but more of a light-footed gazelle – pretty and everything, but very vulnerable to attack. Sturridge is another player suffering from a case of mid-season-itis, but if him, Torres and Mata decide to have their best days together then, going back to the defensive question, I cannot think we will emerge with a clean sheet. However, strangely, that should be quite ok with United. Chelsea have been porous in defence this season, and Cahill or no Cahill, new habits die hard. Altogether leading to what I think will be a game of you score, we score. Which, as a football fan, I’m not complaining about at all.

Snow (Hey Oh!)

RHCP reference because I had to, but I do have a point. If you caught the City-Fulham game, apparently that’s the sort of pitch awaiting the players at Stamford Bridge. And the weather. Now professional footballers may be a more evolved breed of the species and play through rain, sleet and snow etc, but sheesh, I wouldn’t be bothered about running after a ball when I’m freezing my own ones off!

On that note, here’s to a fair and honourable battle!

I felt that recently we had quite good performances but did not get the results. Today we got the performance and the result, which is ideally what you want.

-        Arsene Wenger, post-match wibbling session

Arsenal’s January has been like the ice-skating learning curve from hell. A few steps in semi-confidence, building up speed as the ice-dust scattered under our feet, a running jump for the finishing pirouette and taking the mother of all falls, every time. Our immediate rivals have been far from Kristi Yamaguchi themselves, but whenever Chelsea looked back sheepishly after a tumble, they’d find Arsenal flat on their arse, spitting bloody teeth out while swearing outlandishly at the fine margins governing a finishing pirouette. As our astute manager has already opined, we got the entire routine right today, the first time this calendar year that we’ve done so, and can ergo bask in the unfamiliar warmness of three points.

Team News

And there was selective rotation on show, both in defence and midfield. Ramsey finally got a breather after being Arsenal’s energizer bunny for so much of the season, and the Coq got another chance to parade up and down the right side as Wenger decided to ease Sagna back in. Our front-line of Dutch destroyer flanked by two English fleet-foots remained unchanged, and started diddling Blackburn’s defence right from the off.

First Half

The first 30 minutes reminded me eerily of the Sunderland game earlier on this season. Arsenal started with rocket-boots on, a failed clearance falling to Coquelin, who niftily slipped in an onside Theo Walcott to square to a gleeful van Persie for a freebie within ninety seconds. It was exactly what we failed to do against Bolton, and any plans that Blackburn had of being compact or playing for a draw were knifed in the chest. As the half wore on, the visitors rarely saw the ball but were rarely made to chase shadows as well. Arsenal were content to keep it, but never really went for the jugular. A deflected Rosicky shot and a Koscielny scramble from a corner are the best chances I can remember before Blackburn scored their customary ‘away team at the Emirates’ goal.

It’s happened enough times to not be funny anymore. Teams come to the Grove, spend two minutes on the ball, and score from their first shot on target. Wolves, Sunderland, Stoke, Blackburn; the list is frustratingly endless. When Koscielny got booked for giving away a foul on the edge of the D and Pederson lined up the free-kick, I exchanged glances with the Arsenal fan sitting next to me and we mouthed ‘goal’ at the same time. I got a text from another gooner manic-depressive reading ‘This is going to be a goal’. And it duly went shot, swish, you get your wish. Not funny.

That is fortunately when proceedings ceased to remind me of the Sunderland game and Arsenal started easing off on the handbrake ever so slowly. The pace of the game picked up and picked up before we finished it off with a quick one-two jab to the Blackburn solar plexus. We re-took the lead when Song threaded a brilliant ball to Theo, who squared for van Persie to yawn and tap in again. Two became three, scorer became provider as van Persie played a precise slide-rule pass to Chamberlain who exhibited magnificent first, slick second and vital third touches in the space of a few seconds to break his Premier League duck.

If the goals didn’t asphyxiate Blackburn’s confidence, the sending off surely did. Givet went in two-footed on van Persie, who thankfully got out of the way in time. Marching orders were given nonetheless, and Givet apparently apologised to Wenger on his way to the tunnel. Nice gesture, but his head would have been on a stick outside the Emirates by now if he had injured RvP. I’m just saying.

Second Half

And the first twenty minutes or so was one big uninterrupted, sweet, sugary pirouette. There was no slacking off, pedestrian passing or back-flicks for the clickety-click of the cameras; just a long overdue professional dismantling of another football team. A half-cleared corner came out to Arteta who steered a shot of controlled ferocity into the right-hand corner. Three minutes later, Walcott thundered down his flank, cut in, drew the entire Blackburn defence towards him before feeding it into Chamberlain. The sprightly teenager was calmness personified once again, checking onto his right foot and sliding it between the defender’s legs for his second and our fifth.

The scoreline started escalating with the periodicity of petrol prices; Coquelin swivelled away from his marker and fed a cross into van Persie, who flicked it with a wave of his magic boot beyond Robinson’s portly frame. A hat-trick with barely an eyebrow raised, and double-digits started being discussed in the common room.

Wenger decided to put Kean out of his palpable misery by making substitutions that resulted in the game going all stutter-y. Henry and Sagna came on for Chamberlain and Koscielny, with Benayoun soon joining the fray as Song departed.

Nothing of consequence happened for twenty five minutes, before something did.

Nice way to end your last match at the Emirates. Au revoir, good sir.

A hugely important win before we herald in a hugely important week; Sunderland away, Milan away and an FA Cup game away in the space of seven days does not sound like pleasant viewing at all. If we end up on the wrong side of things, this win will look like very scant consolation indeed.

Just make sure you have that pirouette routine down, eh Arsenal? Cool.

Arsenal:

“Well ehhh Arsenal just bought a new star, I seenk he will be ze new Rosicky” – Arsene Wenger, thrift shopper par excellence after signing another baby.

Why Arsenal Why??

Arsenal, Oh Arsenal.  Things have gone from bad to worse for the Gunners. Thomas Eisfield was their only buy in this window (A very typical Arsenal kind, 19 year old. Injury prone but extremely talented). Back to back defeats and no reinforcements mean Arsenal faced a tough task against Bolton. As expected Arsenal hit the post, bullied the Trotters and ended 0-0. At this rate the Gunners have very minimal chances of going into Europe. Also, Tottenham are 12 points ahead and Jack Wilshere must be kicking himself for that act of twitter madness.  Arsenal face Blackburn this weekend and I wouldn’t be surprised if Blackburn do the double over Arsenal. Come on Mr.Wenger, Every one knows you can do better than this. Step up and race ahead to the top four or something. It’s not the same without you.

Chelsea:

“I’m not racist, I was just singing back in black with Anton the other night” – Random drunk JT quote

Chelsea have not blown any money this Jan window. I think the world is ending, seriously. Gary Cahill came in first. Then came Kevin De Bruyne a long term Chelsea target who signed his contract in mid air and flew back to Genk (he is expected to play the next season also at Genk). The Blues played Barcelona lite this week and had it not been for an own goal in the last minute Chelsea would have been another victim of Brendan Rodgers “Baby Barca”. To add insult to injury, JT has been stripped of England captaincy. Good in a way, I think Scott Parker or Wayne Rooney deserve it.  A weakened Chelsea face a super weakened Man United this week, looks like Chelsea will lose 3 points here.

Why JT WHY?

Manchester United:

“Ouch”- Every second Man United player after 35 minutes of a match.

United are in the worst injury crisis in a real long time. Centre backs playing Right wing, Right backs playing centre backs, United’s mix and match will put Yves Saint Lauren to shame. Despite that United looked convincing with lightning quick passing and movement against Stoke and ended 2-0 winners against Stoke. I feel we need a cover at left back, deep inside I feel Evra is getting too old for that job. In a major transfer coup United have bought Frederic Veseli from Manchester City. He is supposed to be one for the future and plays at Centre and Right back with potential ability to become a midfielder. Thus far all of United’s signings from City have been hits (Giggs and Welbeck are examples). So let’s hope this clicks too. United face Chelsea this week and in all possibility can take 3 points and keep the title charge on track.

Liverpool:

Liverpool beat Wolves 3-1 this week. What a stunning week they have had. A Manchester double followed by an Andy Carroll goal this week. Liverpool are on cloud nine and feel this is as good as winning a title. This was followed by a silent transfer window. Liverpool sure have surprised us. I feel this run won’t last after the next game when they face a red hot Tottenham at home. The Liverpool forwards and the defence are going to have a torrid time in facing the quick and intelligent Tottenham side. 2-1 to the Spurs maybe?

Other notable mentions from the game week:

• It was a silent transfer window for Manchester City too. #2012IsHereTheEndIsNear
• Ravel Morrison has signed for West Ham and this was how he was unveiled.

Welcome to Ravel Morrison West Ham.

• Everton V City was a superb game for two reasons. Firstly a random man came and handcuffed himself thinking the cops wouldn’t be having a spare key and gave us a face palm moment but the biggest shock was former Manchester United missile launcher sending City packing with a rocket goal.
  

  Once a red, always a red

• Djibril Cisse is in the house. He scored on debut for QPR

I'm back.

• Darren Bent has hit the 100 goals mark
• Everton have loaned Karate kid Steven Pienaar from Tottenham. One more wise move by Moyes

So that is a wrap of this edition of “The Week That Was (‘nt)”.  Follow BFZ on twitter @bigfourza

Arsenal

It was another dramatic week for the Gunners. A depleted Arsenal took on an even more depleted Manchester United. Enough has been written about the drama during and after the match. So lets give that a skip. I’m going to defend Arsene Wenger for that decision of his (deep inside I’m happy that we won the match partially because of that, but yeah…) When Arshavin came in the crowed booed , Arshavin didn’t look like he gave a rats arse and Van Persie cringed. If you look at the bigger picture no other manager would have started a raw 18 year old in such a big match. The Ox showed why he was worth the hype and played like it was the last match of his life , thumbs up for that. But if the Ox was shite that day and Arshavin came in no one would have cared right? So Gunners, I think its time to move on and support the gaffer. After all along with Sir Alex, he is the best manager in the league. So cut some slack and cheer your team regardless of ups or downs. You guys are here because of him. Arsenal take on Villa in the FA cup. With players returning and the fire burning, Arsenal should go all guns blazing and win this 2-0.

Spare le professour

Manchester United

United won at the Emirates. A good win. My worry though, is the huge injury list United seem to be piling up this season. Jones, Nani, Carrick and Wayne Rooney picked up knocks. Jones looks like he will be out for quite some time now and there have been no updates on the others. Surely if there are two more long term injuries take it from me, United are out of it. Liverpool away is the next fixture, this will be big. Boos, chants and rash tackles will be the highlight of this one and I hope we don’t lose a few more players. It would be interest see how United and Evra respond to the caustic reception they will be getting. Scoreline prediction? I think United will win it 1-0, nothing more.Or will there be?

Whos next?

Liverpool

The Scousers have more transformations than a friggin Pokemon. A shit performance against Bolton was followed up by a good win against City. Bellamy has been great as usual and Carroll has been shite as usual. The weekend fixture should be a vengeance match for them. They have planned to call it ‘The Luis Suarez Memorial cup’ and dedicate every tackle, every chant , every card and every send off to their Chipmunk faced striker. They will be hoping that their good performance in the cup continues but I feel when Bellamy doesn’t play, the don’t have a striker.

United for racism

Chelsea

Nil Nil against Nowich has done no good to the Blues.  They are another Jekyll and Hyde team. One week they are good and in another they are shit. This week they take on QPR in another volatile fixture. Reports say that some one had sent Anton Ferdinand a bullet in a parcel.Surely there will be another missed handshake, something which has become a John Terry regular. Chelsea might edge this 1-0 but I’m sure Barton will bite off Terrys head today. Oh, and Alex has been sold to PSG. He has been received like a king there. The whole town has planned to party for 3 days and the government has declared a holiday.

Battle Royal

Manchester City

Imaginary cards, betrayal and lots of money. No, this is not some fancy hindi movie script. This is the story of Manchester City. After a dramatic match against the Spurs, a match that they could have lost or drawn if Howard had let his Webb on Balotelli for a stamp on Parker, they took on Liverpool and lost due to a late stab by former City player Craig Bellamy. This week they are planning to play Foosball to compensate for the lack of cup action. In other news Carlos Tevez is planning to train with the reserves… YAWN.

PS: I hate being preachy in a post but I would like to make an exception here and request the world to kick out the cancer called RACISM

Show racism the red card.

Legend, proven goal scorer, leader on the pitch- these are some of the terms that describe the powerful Ivorian Drogba, aka the Top Dog of the Bridge. At 150 goals and still counting, not only has he been an amazing goalscorer for Chelsea, he has also been a tremendous athlete. Only a very few can match his feat at a short span of time.

Having said all that though, has the time come for Chelsea to sell the Drog? I would have to say, Yes.

Ancelotti was spot-on

The former Chelsea boss was critical and prudent about the assessment of Drogba.

“Take Torres and the crisis he has lived through there. I now know if you decide to invest strongly in him, you have to sell Drogba. Didier is like Filippo Inzaghi was at AC Milan. He simply devours any competition. It’s not that he’s evil – nor was Inzaghi – it’s just the way they are.”

To sum it up, Drogba ‘kills’ all his competitors at Chelsea for place in the starting lineup. 5 strikers previously have fallen victim to the drog, if you follow that argument – Schevshenko, Mutu, Crespo, Gudjohnsen and Anelka (played out wide to accomodate Drogba). We can only guess as to how much impact all these unlucky strikers could have made at Chelsea if they there had been no Drogba around.

Another one bites the dust

Ancelotti’s quote is spot on. You can’t play Torres as second fiddle to Drogba, or vice versa.

Time to be economically prudent

Drogba’s contract is expiring in 2012. Contract negotiations between the two parties are not going smooth and has broken down two weeks back. Drogba doesn’t want a one year extension that he’s being offered, but a two year one instead. With the January window about to conclude, it may be prudent and wise on Chelsea’s part side to cash in on Drogba, rather than let him leave for free eventually. His age isn’t helping either. Though an late bloomer, Drogs this season has been blowing hot and cold, with the only consistent thing about him being his inconsistency. At 33 years old, he probably has just has an year or two in his tank. This would the right opportunity for Chelsea to sell him and get more youngsters some match time, especially Lukaku.

Power base?

This legend has a power base at Chelsea, and can influenze any player in the squad, and beyond as well! There have been suggestions that the main culprit behind Luiz Felipe Scolari’s downfall was Drogba’s pressure. I fell that the time has come for AVB to flex his muscle and install his own philosophies at the club. I mean, isn’t that what he was brought in to do? Selling of Drogba would probably mean great manager power and autonomy, akin to teams like ManU and Arsenal

Fernando!

Save the 50 million invested in him! Well, 50 million pounds is not small money. Its time AVB starts installing confidence in Torres, otherwise the player would be a flop. Build a team around Torres and Chelsea will start winning. Drogba has been a hindrance to the way Chelsea play, because the team that is being played now was built around him! Its time to give the 27 year-old a chance, and he would shine.

Keep the blues flag high and flying !

Planting derrieres on fences

I realize that, owing to my arriving at the post-United shindig sinfully behind schedule, anything that I say here will be lumped into the ‘Already heard it’ category. But blogging duties dictate that I form some sort of opinion on this matter, so I shall patiently bear all ‘Ho, hum’ noises coming my way and have at it.

I didn’t like TheSubstitution™ when it came. On the face of it, replacing your best performer on the night and one of the few players who looked likely to win us the game, with an erstwhile consistent performer who now wears the look of a despondent gas giant, looked like a strange decision. Wenger said later that Chamberlain had felt his calf and was tiring, yet iron-clad eye-witness reports from the stadium deny having seen any physical letting up from the English teenager. This eccentric decision, coupled with Ferguson’s rebuttal substitution of bringing Park on a mere six minutes later, resulted in their winning goal with Arshavin left flailing like a failed Russian gymnast as Valencia glided past.

Too much kolaveri over one sub

Having said all this, casting an unbiased eye over the post-match pyrotechnics from Arsenal fans leaves one with a tinge of embarrassment and no small amount of frustration. A newcomer to football would have been forgiven if he thought Arshavin had come on, jiggled his way past Koscielny and Mertesacker, gone in between Szczesny’s legs and tapped the ball into the Arsenal net. Everyone agrees that he didn’t cover himself in glory for the goal, but what I find surprising is the air of obviousness that abounds when people talk about how Chamberlain would have tracked back. He wouldn’t have. He didn’t do much tracking back anyways, and would have been instructed to remain forward for the last twenty minutes of the match. One also must acknowledge Vermaelen going AWOL as Valencia marauded through, and Koscielny and Mertesacker being caught out of position. TheSubstitution™ decreased our chances of getting a winner, but it didn’t enhance the chances of their scoring as much as online bullies would have you believe. That goal was a product of collective ineptitude rather than a single Russian’s laxity.

Tim Stillman, sensible man that he is, speaks about sizable dollops of grey area in between the extremes of black and white; and he’s right. Going berserk over something like a substitution and calling for the manager’s head doesn’t reflect well on you, and the fan-base as a whole. You were probably one of the people doing this when Chamberlain was signed. At the same time, thinking that the manager is impervious to all criticism while threatening the fan-base to forever ‘Support, support, support!’ or risk being labeled a disgrace is equally ill-advised. Sometimes, it’s better to plant your behind firmly on the fence and consign incidents to being just incidents, with both valid reasons and unforeseen repercussions.

Don’t trust in Arsene if you don’t want to; but at least mistrust in him for the right reasons. Not over one sub gone wrong.

Trophies in future tenses

David versus Goliath…giant-killings…minnows….form book goes out of the window…magic of the Cup…bleh. As the cliché machine goes into overdrive with the imminence of the FA Cup fourth round, I wish Arsenal had seen more magic in the Cup over the past few years. We’ve been to one semi-final, beaten Liverpool at Anfield, fluked our way very satisfyingly past Hull, but the FA Cup memory that stands out clearest is Henry rising like a French phoenix to side-foot home against Leeds in the third round this year. Now, poignant moment as that was, Arsenal deserve to have more moments worthy of remembrance than a third round victory over Yorkshire giants of yesteryear.

Our lukewarm runs in this competition have been borne mostly out of our ‘don’t-give-a-fuck’ attitude. We invariably have bigger fish to fry when January arrives, only for every cod, trout and salmon to flick us an indifferent finger by April and slither away. The situation is hardly different this year, with the fourth place carrot occupying most of Arsene’s cranium-space. Rightfully so, I realize. However, a trophy would be an immeasurable fillip to this side; it will stop our fans sucking blood from each other’s necklines, it will sow seeds of optimism for the future and it will hopefully help keep this core of players together for a while.

Must keep this core together

Villa give me the willies. We’ve managed to beat them one solitary time at the Emirates, the remaining encounters being tests in patience and lessons in counter-attacking. They’ll be without N’Zogbia, but have enough nippy wingers regardless to keep our makeshift full-backs interested. We have a couple of players returning ourselves, the nascent stages of a mass-arrival of LANS candidates. I doubt it will be ‘like a cup final’ or ‘the biggest day of their lives’ for either team, but it would be nice to win a trophy.

Or get a few more memories at least.

To begin with, I must admit, even though I’m a die hard Red Devil, I was very impressed with Arsenal’s resilience and resurgence in the second half. They had nothing going for them after that dire first half performance; shambolic is the best adjective I can think of to describe them in the first half. The half was all about one team attacking and the other holding on for dear life (So much for vengeance). For a team that prides itself for their possession play, they seemed not too keen on holding onto the ball for very long. Even though they played 3 central midfielders in the game, it wasn’t until the middle of the 1st half that I realized Ramsey was even on the pitch while Song also seemed unusually out of sync with the game.

United on the other hand were simply superb, Giggs was priceless; before the game began I was critical of his selection ahead of Scholes but boy did he make me eat my words. He was everywhere in that first half, wrecking havoc with every through ball/pass he played. If I had to choose a Man of the Match based on the 1st half then it would go to Giggsy! The entire team were exceptional in the first half, and it was a miracle that Arsenal conceded just one goal in the period. What surprised me the most was that Giggs and Carrick so comfortably controlled the game from midfield.

The second half was an entirely different story though, at least for the first 15-20 minutes. Arsenal hit back and took the game to us. They were finally playing like a home team, especially one that was out for revenge after the humiliation they faced in the reverse fixture earlier. Van Persie’s equalizer was always just a matter of time in coming, and it came after exceptional counter attacking play, that saw two passes take the ball from Koscielny in Arsenal’s penalty area to Chamberlain on the wings, and within seconds Arsenal had equalized. This was the Arsenal that every one knew and feared too, but glimpses of this were too fleeting.

Chamberlain was  Arsenal’s star man for the game. No other Arsenal player really stood out that game except for this extremely talented 18 year old, who on his debut was giving Evra and Jones/Rafael a torrid time whenever he ran at them with the ball. Wenger made two excellent decisions that game, the first was to play Chamberlain ahead of Arshavin and the other was to replace Djourou at half time.

But all this became undone with what according to was the most asinine substitution ever. Taking off Chamberlain was daft and the entire Emirates stadium didn’t hold back in letting Arsene know what they thought about his decision. Even van Persie couldn’t resist mouthing a “No!” when he saw Chamberlain’s number come up. Once Chamberlain left the equation, there was only one result.

Van Persie's reaction on seeing Chamberlain substituted

Arsene’s defense of his substitution’s post game was silly, a mixture of several different excuses uttered in the span of a minute! They were ranging from “the player was tired” to “Arshavin is the captain of Russia” to “I’ve made 50,000 substitutions in my 30 years as a manager”. But the bare fact is: Wenger messed up; and unfortunately he did so at what was probably the most crucial point in the game.

Should Wenger stay or go is something I’m not going to comment on. What I do know is that United won the game and I think we deserved to do so over the entire 90 minutes. We played well for most part of the game, and even when on the back foot we defended well. With the first game of what is probably going to be the the most important stretch of games for us in this title race out of the way with 3 points in hand, we can look forward to the games against Stoke and Chelsea with that bit less pressure on us.

Which is of course incomparable to the amount of pressure Wenger is under with the fans turning on him so badly. For Arsenal fans, I have just this to say: Good luck when Arshavin plays!; and as a Mancunian I say, I hope he starts more often!

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.