We have to shake it out of the system — time to get focused — let’s move with purpose, we could do a virtual trust exercise, maybe enter a prompt into a digital AI music maker for ‘MAKE IT ALL BETTER FOR ME’, or just throw on some Sabrina Carpenter and get with the plan.
I’ve read some pretty pathetic things over the last 24 hours, I’ve got to say.
‘Things will never be the same if he doesn’t bring a trophy home.’
Laughable, we all cheered Sokratis and Mustafi. Got into debates about a Coquelin / Xhaka double pivot. Begged Theo Walcott to sign da ting. No fan base is better equipped to deal with hardship than this one. Don’t pretend your tastes are too refined for a nailbiter while we sit top of the league in a Champions League quarter that we’re 0-1 up in. We all knew each other in the banter years, we were all poor together, scuffling around in the bins, looking for a little hit of joy… remember the black bin bag protest? Even at our most embarrassing football wise, we didn’t have the guts to put on a militant show. Do you remember the protest march that had to be relabelled a walk of solidarity or whatever it was? We were eating out of literal slop buckets and fans fought over the naming conventions of protests just in case someone thought we were showing any sort of disdain for a manager who refused tactics.
My point? The dramatics can wait until the summer. Right now, we are top of the Premier League. We could go into the semi finals of the Champions League. We are in a better position than we were in March in the two competitions we covet the most. It’s all in our hands. And people are lining up to publicly give up?
I’m not here to tell you how to behave online, but damn, if you’re going to act like a whopper, hold back this week, it’s so boring and unedifying to watch. Manifest the inevitable on your own, don’t make a spectacle, or ruin the experience of the fans who just don’t learn their lessons year after year… because the most valuable emotion I’m going to lean into this week is forgiveness.
I’ve seen the failure. I’ve been hurt by this team before. But something tells me, that this time, the flowers mean something, the bounce back is going to be stunning, and we’re going to swan off into the sunset with a beautiful trophy that is large and grand. It’s our time, surely?
I mean, at some point, can’t some good luck just happen to us? Can’t we just breeze through this quarter final without it going to extra time? Can’t Man City just have the biggest stinker you’ve ever seen in your life and Arsenal squeeze it with a disgusting goal?
Or, here’s an idea… can’t the players and manager just meet the moment, no gimmicks, and smack up a Man City side I don’t really rate?
That would be nice.
The biggest cheer of the week for me is going to come when I hopefully see a squad packed full of players who can make it for the second biggest game of the week. If players are available for Sporting, you’ll be hard-pressed to convince me you’ll see them playing much of a role against City this Sunday. We do have some non-negotiable needs… namely, we have to see Martin Odegaard in that starting 11. If he’s not available, the game against City will be a problem for us. We also need Hincapie and Timber mixing it, because the full back choice of White and Myles would not serve us well, and I think Calafiori presents a big risk for us as well.
I’m also begging the football gods to give us Bukayo Saka because I can’t stand to watch another 90 of Madueke flattering to deceive, then dozing off to sleep defensively. Our star man has not been much of a star, if we can have him show up for the final 10, that’d be very grand.
This week is pivotal to the Arsenal project. It’s what all the hard work has been about. There has to be a change in attitude from the players and we have to see a bounce on the pitch. The pattern of Arteta sides crumbling in April has to be arrested. We cannot see another limp outing like the one we saw against Bournemouth. The ultimate hope is that’s the final slap in the face of the season and we see an almighty turnaround from there. If we don’t, we can talk about what that means for this iteration of the project. If we do, we’ll not talk about what we saw at the weekend ever again, because it won’t be relevant.
The Premier League is the hardest competition in the world, if you thought we’d breeze it, ask why the most expensively assembled and well-paid team in the world is still behind us on points. Because it’s never been more difficult. It was always going to be a grind. The run was never going to be perfect. The footballing gods were always going to test us. So let’s see what the week throws at us, let’s see what the capacity of the coach is to dial things back, let’s see what the boys who have been extraordinarily consistent at grinding this season have on offer for us.
I’m a believer… because it’s the only choice I have. x
P.S. This is the podcast we recorded on Sunday if you’re in the mood for masochism.
Yeah that injury news has already crushed my green shoots of positivity 😂
It's squeeky bum time...I hope we can do it this week.
Vamos! Vamos!! Vamos!!!