Ok, so I’m going to start writing this post after having seen only the first half of the match. So far, I’m more than a bit disappointed. I don’t know what the fuck Diaby was thinking, but that was the right call from the ref. Straight red… just what we need when down 1-0 at the Reebok. We looked to be probing a bit, but there were no real chances created. I don’t know… even with 10 men, I can’t help but think that we can somehow get ourselves back into it. Or am I just fooling myself? Most of you have already seen the full match. I’m about to fire up the second half MP4 of the Setanta Ireland coverage I had to snatch off the net because I still can’t get Setanta here. Watching a match on a fucking laptop is the pits. There’s even a commercial here in the states for some travel agency specializing in going to England to see matches (slogan: “It’s hard to be a Yank...”) which shows some jackass, alone in a bar, watching a Man U match on a laptop and screaming “ROOONEY!!!” Folks… I am the Arsenal flavored version of that jackass. And I sit here watching them losing to Bolton. Kill me now. Right… second half. Un-pause…

Ok, I paused the game… we’re at 68′ and Robin van Persie just netted his PK after Alexandre Hleb was fouled. I was pretty happy when Gallas hit his goal a few minutes earlier, but when RVP’s ball went in to equalize, I punched the air so hard I nearly shit myself from the exertion. If you can imagine that. I’m going for another glass of wine and a handful of Chex Party Mix. This might be why I don’t live-blog these matches. And, we hit play…

Pause… 72′… still 2-2. I’ve gone and gotten my Arsenal scarf, despite it being a comfortable 68f in my home and that it clashes terribly with the Penn State jersey I’m wearing (my redcurrant is in the wash, thank you). Time to get religious, people. Un-fucking-pause…

Holy… fucking… MOLEY… Doth mine eyes deceive me? Did I just see my beloved Gunners, in the form I remember from earlier in the year… come back with only seconds to remain, and win at the Reebok, with only 10 men on the field?! You are god damned RIGHT I did! I am so fucking ecstatic right now I can’t even communicate. Garble, splurble, fook… pfffsht. Sure, it’s only a win over Bolton… but what a win over Bolton! And, just when we need one, and just what we need… to believe, yet again. That there is a very good reason why we held the top spot for so long this year… We are that good. GOD I love football! Roll on with the rest of the season!

In honor of Arsenal legend David “Rocky” Rocastle, who tragically passed away nearly 7 years ago, fellow Gooners Aron and Marc over at Rocky7.co.uk have put together a nice charity with all proceeds going to TreeHouse, one of Arsenal’s favorite charity organizations. You can get any of three unique t-shirts created by ArseShirts to make your contribution. I’ve got my eye on that red one. I think they’re only on sale until the end of this April, so act fast. It’s a great way to give to an excellent organization while honoring the memory of one of Arsenal’s greatest heroes.

Visit Rocky7.co.uk for details!

We’re going to focus on the positive here, ok? That header by Bacary Sagna was absolutely gorgeous. Even after watching the replay I couldn’t believe he threaded that needle. Lovely. It felt good to see a guy who’s worked so hard for the team this season make such a great goal.

Apart from that, major disappointment. I’m not giving up yet, but this result has made things dire indeed. We’ll need a complete reversal in our form and some serious slip ups by both Chelsea and Man U to get back to the top. Even if we managed to level with the Red Devils, they’ve got us beaten on GD by about three dozen goals and that self-absorbed Potugese twat won’t stop rippling the nylon. Damn his superior skills.

If we’re not to win this year, that’s fine. I just really hope we can get our form back for at least a few more matches this year, particularly the Champions League. It’s just disturbing to see the boys out there now. Having seen them play with such towering confidence earlier in the year, now they’re just floundering (by comparison). It’s like they’ve just run out of gas. I’m not going to question Arséne’s judgement on trades and such, which I assume most others are doing today. But we do seem stretched beyond our limits now, don’t we? It’s heartbreaking to see how much this years side put into this and now they could come away with nothing. But, that’s not in stone yet. There’s still hope. Cling to it.

PS – Sorry for the lack of EPL table updates on the right. No, I’m not ignoring the fact that we’re no longer in 1st, I’m just stupid busy lately with a new job and haven’t gotten to it.

PPS – John Terry is a soft twat.

I’ve waited quite a while to cool down before writing on this one. And I think now, it’s safe to say, that I still love my team. You won’t read anything here that you haven’t probably already read somewhere else. The weekend’s visit from Middlesbrough was incredibly frustrating. I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon and scream for the heads of the officials. Their performance was abysmal, yes… but so was ours. Boro has officially established itself as the new bugaboo side until we can set things aright next season. They played well, we played poorly… and we drew. Barely. We were lucky to only let them leave town with a point. And, of course… it had to be Aliadiere. He was a C-hair offsides, but not enough to get a whistle. I’m still not sure what to think about Manu’s disallowed goal. Supposedly, the ref believed that RvP was playing it off the Boro player to get the ball to Manu, but I don’t think that’s quite right. The touch by Boateng played the ball forward, so it wasn’t a rebound, which I believe is how the law reads. I could go either way on that one. Had we won it wouldn’t mean shit. Then Eboue was brought down in the box and we got no whistle. He had himself a pretty good match until he decided to get himself carded at full time for bitching out the official. Good times.

Our chances are still there, as bleak as they might seem. And, with lots of  tough matches left to play. We’ll need them all, and some dropped points from the new table leaders. I hate having to rely on others to fail in order to succeed, but it is a fun time when you get to watch Manchester United fail. I just have this sneaking suspicion that they won’t this year, despite nearly being completely thunderstruck by Derby this weekend.

Our old friend Steven Cohen asked this week if Arsenal fans would be satisfied at the end of the season if we didn’t win anything but we got to watch lots of beautiful football… or something to that effect. First, it’s too early to talk shit like that, honestly… but for me, yes… I would be satisfied with that. I love the silverware, I really do. But I would rather watch Arsenal play their beautiful game and win nothing, than be eternally damned to spend the rest of my life being a Chelsea fan who’s continually bored shitless. All the silverware in the world can’t make boring football watchable.

Nil-nil at the JJB. Nil-nil… at the J.J.B. Damn… nil-fucking-nil at the JJfuckingB. No matter how many times I say it to myself, I still can’t believe it. If this an indication of how we’re going to run out the rest of the season, we’ll be lucky to hold onto 2nd place. And I really do hope I’m wrong about that. I know we’re up against it with injuries and whatnot, but I can’t imagine Manchester United would have left the JJB goalless yesterday. They probably would have increased their GD by another 3 or 4 goals. I guess we’ll find out on May 11. They wind up their season at the JJB, while we’re in the Stadium of Light. We already know what colors will be on that cup, we just don’t know where they’ll be sending it. Or, will it already be in someone’s hands by then? I really hate speculating like this with nine matches left to be played, but yesterday’s performance doesn’t leave much else to talk about, does it? 90 minutes of scrubby, uninspiring play.

At one point it looked like there was no way we weren’t going to score. But it never happened. And then it looked as if we might even go away with nothing. The horror. Is it me… or does our passing look very clumsy lately? I know the JJB pitch is like playing in a fucking cow pasture and all… but it just seems like you see a lot of instances where players need to pull up short to retrieve a pass put behind them, rather than right into their line and pace. At the beginning of the year it seemed to be quite the opposite: fast, crisp passing. Nearly always on target. Have we lost that knack? I hope not. We’re going to need it.

Robin van Persie made his long awaited return… which lasted several minutes before he hit the pitch and required the attention of Gary Lewin. FFS, some Wigan player lightly brushed his left cheek and there he was on his ass with an ice pack on his right cheek. Then, and I can’t tell you how fucking sick of this I am at this point, Cesc Fabregas gives Emile Heskey a little shove outside the touchline after a little clash. A stupid move born out of frustration, no doubt, and Heskey’s response was minimal. Just a little chest bump on Cesc’s shoulder and some words. But Cesc has to go right for the fucking theatrics again, hand up to his cheek, the pained squinting… it’s disgusting, Cesc. Stop embarrassing yourself with these bullshit antics. Even Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t pull this much cheeky bullshit.

EDIT: I just wanted to add some color to this that I neglected to in my disappointment, but which a commenter to this post made me realize. I do have faith in this Arsenal squad. I really do. If the season were to end today and we had nothing to show for it, I would still praise this team up and down for the beautiful football they’ve blessed us with this year. I’m just taking this performance a bit hard is all. But, I know full well that if anyone can pull this out and make a run for it, it’s our Gunners. Not all days are sunny, no… not in football. The best sides take these days, put them aside and make the next one a bit brighter. Oh, and we do owe Gareth Southgate and his side, do we not? Bring on the Boro! Thanks, agentmorris