Tuesday, May 27, 2008

My Arsenal Season Wrap-Up

Arsenal's season in a nutshell (imo):

TBH this season really get me supporting Arsenal again. I thought Arsenal was hopeless, I still supported Arsenal even though they didn't win any silverware, but I always wonder: When?

After the first few matches I picked up my local newspaper and you should have seen my reaction on my face when I looked at the table. We were top of the pile, something we have not done for a long time and I believed, where we belonged. You just had to read how the local newspaper put it, they always mention about the beautiful football we played, about Cesc Fabregas's every touch on the ball "golden", and also Flamini and Hleb's brilliance. But what make it the most satisfying was this: We did it without Henry.

I had always thought that selling Henry was the biggest mistake Arsene Wenger was gonna make, but I was wrong. I went to see how Arsenal played and they were just brilliant. One of the most memorable was our first North London derby with Tottenham. That was perhaps our greatest result this season. We were shining. Man Utd was getting some bad luck (at that time), Liverpool was really disappointing, and Chelsea was too busy with the politics in the board room that they faltered. As the season was getting to a close day by day, I just wanted the season to end early.

But alas, we got really bad luck at the end of the season. Eduardo's horror injury, Gallas trying to become the Incredible Hulk, Adebayor with his new haircut (omen), and van Persie's injury proneness. We just couldn't cope with them, and up till now I wonder, how close we were to winning the league. We had a good 6 point lead, and now, we lost the league because of Man Utd having the 4 point lead above us.

Now to look at the positives. We did something no other English club has ever done, beat AC Milan at the San Siro. That performance consisted of all the good things about us this season: The Fab-Fla-Hleb partnership, Walcott's shining future, Adebayor's role at the club, and the season-long consistency of Sagna. And against LFC, Walcott's amazing run was just a joy to behold. Fla-money may be gone, but now who cares? We want players that are committed to football, not money. And for Hleb, if he wants to go then let him be. Don't forget, we got Walcott and possibly Nasri :) We got rid of the sickening 4th placing, and we put up a fight every other club was fearful of. No more 6 point lead to win the premiership, we made it a tough 2 point for United. No more struggle for Champions League football, and best of all, we defined what the legendary Pele proclaimed football was: The Beautiful Game.

Overall: 8.5/10
You just have to be an Arsenal supporter to understand why I gave it 8.5.

2 comments:

JackCarter said...

Here you are: ...

"But alas, we got really bad luck at the end of the season. Eduardo's horror injury (February actually), Gallas trying to become the Incredible Hulk, Adebayor with his new haircut (omen .... For What)), and van Persie's injury proneness (Why no mention of Rosicky?) We just couldn't cope with them, and up till now I wonder, how close we were to winning the league. We had a good 6 point lead, and now, ironically, we lost the league because of Man Utd having the 6 point lead (FFS ... IT WAS 4 POINTS) above us.

Part-time Gooner = Glory Hunter with zero idea about the team."

Darren said...

Yo mate.
To me February is like going to be the end of the season, because I always get the impression that whoever stays on top during New Year will normally go on to win the league, and for the Rosicky one I cannot possibly name all. If you wanted me to name all there would be tons, like Denilson and Djourou. They were our backups. And for the 6 points one, my bad...