I have been away for the better part of a month. I that period, I hit a 12 year old boy with my car on my way to work, at a curve and while avoiding a head-on-collision with an on-coming truck. Don’t worry, the little boy is fine, he was discharged from hospital last week Tuesday. He didn’t break any bones (miracle!) just some cuts and bruises. There is a God somewhere I swear!
Also during that time, the real football went on break, giving way to international games and just to show you how much I care for internal football compared to Arsenal FC, I had this to say about internal football:!
The real football returned with Arsenal once again.
We travelled with our cannon to shoot some canaries. I know, I know, it’s an over-kill to hunt a canary with a cannon. Much to my frustration/bemusement/anger/hopelessness, we failed to fire our cannon even once! It turns out we forgot the gun powder back home.
We had to improvise by throwing pebbles at the canaries from under the Carrow Road tree, while they chirped, danced from branch to branch and defecated on our collective heads.
We could not start our moves from the back. Every time Don Mannone played a short pass to his defenders, Norwich closed us down, forcing the ball back to the keeper and he would hoof it up-field. You would think a team with our technical ability would pass their way from the back regardless of the opposition pressure. This tactic proved very effective for Norwich on the day; expect more and more teams to do the same for the rest of the season.
Arsenal not only lacked confidence but they lacked ideas. I thought that the Norwich goal would wake us up and bring down the wrath of the Arsenal cannon upon the Canaries. Instead we remained under the tree, throwing pebbles at the Canaries as they chirped and shitted on our foreheads again and again and again….
Arsene Wenger looked like a man bereft of ideas. The entire team lacked a spark. Nobody could rise above the collective mediocrity that I was seeing. I wished a certain Abou Diaby had been fit for this game. Irritating and frustrating he may be on occasion, but he is a maverick, capable of doing something absolutely strange/ridiculous/outrageous/fantastic/magical/you name it.
Questions really have to be asked why Arsenal keep being this toothless time and time again when it matters. I endured the Mancies United game earlier that afternoon with my brother-in-law (yep! He is a Manc-ie!). I noted how they looked sharp and full of energy. Manchester Shitty too had a tough game but they kept at it, eventually winning with 10 men and coming from a goal behind.
Arsenal on the other hand looked tired, did not trouble the Norwich goal or keeper the entire afternoon. Yes, let us give credit to Norwich for defending very well, but let us look at ourselves and admit we were poo on the day. I will not bother to dissect individual poo, suffice to say everybody was poo. The tactics were poo. In fact there were no tactics. We were just playing and hoping to somehow score.
Onto matters more positive, Tonight we face Schalke in the Champions League. This is an opportunity to “put things right”. I hope for the sake of the team that we win tonight. Failure to win will knock our confidence even further down. We cannot be feeling sorry for ourselves; we need to get right back up and continue fighting.
The latest injury news is not too bad, we should be able to cope without the Ox; we have Serge Gnabry. Bacary Sagna, Emmanuel Frimpong and Jack Wilshere played 90 minutes each in the under-21s on Monday, meaning they should all be playing in the first team very soon. I am really looking forward to having especially Sagna and Wilshere back playing, but surprisingly, or rather strangely, the 1 player I really want back is Abou Diaby.
I know Jack is a special player and Bacary Sagna is the best right-back in the league, but for me, the player we really need is a fit Abou Diaby. I just have this funny feeling he is the key to our success. I can’t quite put it into words, but it’s just a gut feeling I have. There is something about Diaby that will bring success to this team- if he can be fit long enough.
So, let’s keep going, don’t let disappointment keep you from supporting The Arsenal. Remember that we never do things the easy way, and the season still has a long way to go so perhaps it’s a good thing that we are faltering now because there is plenty of time to rectify these weaknesses.
Enjoy the Schalke game wherever you are.
COYG!!
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