I’m in no fit state to comment on tonight’s events. At some point, I’ll probably update this post, once I’ve had a chance to absorb what’s transpired. But not now… not yet.

I still love my Arsenal… I just have to step away and breathe a bit.

UPDATE
Ok, stream of consciousness time… I’m afraid nothing else is going to be forthcoming, as I’m still feeling pretty gut-punched right now and don’t think I can manage a properly planned blog entry.

At this point, I’ve read all the other blogs that I usually do, or at least as much as I care to anyway. It made me feel a bit better to read some other stark, although pragmatic views on the match. Yet, I’m still feeling just a bit glum about the whole thing. To see a team with such promise, such talent, come away yet again… with nothing. It’s a lot to bare. And I think I feel the most for the players themselves. How hard they’ve worked, and for so long… all for naught. Sure, there’s some consolation in being paid handsomely for playing a game you love. But I don’t think that’s enough for many, if not all of them. The reason these men are at this level in their sport, the reason they play for one of the most prestigious clubs and in the most prestigious competitions in the world… is because they are at heart, true competitors. And when that’s your line of duty, losing cuts deep… right to the bone.

So, now what? Does our rebuilding period begin right away, and continue on through to the beginning of the next campaign? I hope so. I wouldn’t be surprised if Arsène Wenger already has those wheels in motion. I don’t imagine a man like him will take this easily, or without reaction. It will be interesting to see just what that reaction is. I, for one, still believe in him. It will take a lot more than four seasons without silverware to change that. Blind faith? Perhaps. But let’s not forget the most important thing that Arsène has delivered: beautiful football. Perhaps not at the levels we’ve seen in the past… perhaps not at the consistency we’ve seen in the past… but it’s still there. And that is what brings me back.

But in the meantime, I’m going to take a step back. The frenzy of the season is over for me for now. Apart from some momentous event in the world of Arsenal, this will probably be the last blog entry on this site until the 2009/2010 season nears. Perhaps I’ll bring it back with a new design, new approach… who knows? But for now, I’m going to take a step back and watch my team play out the remainder of their season, with pride. And then, from a distance, I’m going to watch with one eye as Arsène rebuilds our team from the tatters they’re surely in this morning. Until then…

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

Firstly, my apologies for not posting after both the Middlesborough & United matches that recently flew by. On the day of the Middlesborough match I was travelling to the UK and missed it, and for the 1st leg against United… well, let me just share some of the notes I wrote that night from my hotel room:

So… for my first trip to England ever… I’m subject to watching the match in a fucking 2 inch window on a shaky Iraqi stream from my hotel room like some common Yank. Why? Because the front desk hotel twat told me when I checked in that “Yes, we do get all those channels for those matches I was feverishly pointing to in the paper”. But do they? No they do not. And, the local pub didn’t have the match either, because they didn’t get Sky2. FFS.

It almost felt like I was in America (gasp)… but there I was, not 180 miles from Old Trafford, where my team hadgone to play. Was I there on the terraces with my Highbury strip on? No. I was in a hotel in Cambridge, watching stream.  But, the trip was actually quite lovely and I learned that the two things that Americans tend to say about England are in fact, not at all true: 1) the beer is warm and sucky and 2) the food is shite. The truth is, the beer casks that are pumped up from those long handle taps in many pubs are kept at cellar temperatures, which is cool… not warm. It tastes better that way and I didn’t have a single beer that I didn’t enjoy thoroughly. As for the food, again… I had not a single thing I didn’t fully love. The English know their pub grub, and they know it well. I’ll even go so far as to say that a man simply hasn’t lived until he’s had himself a nice pint of Abbot Ale with a Free Press Stack from The Free Press pub.

Ok, so… Middlesborough. Lessee… they were toothless and Cesc pulled a brace out of his bung and we took the points. The first leg against United at Old Trafford… we played like complete fuckabouts and were walked upon for our troubles. We’re quite lucky the score wasn’t worse. I’ve not given up on our Champions League hopes yet, but if we turn up like that for the second leg on Tuesday, they’ve already won. Plain & simple. The good news is, that when people expect us to turn up like that, we ususally don’t. Let’s hope that holds true on Tuesday. By the way… am I missing something? 4th place is all but a lock for us in the league now… is there something else we’re saving ourselves for this season? Because I was quite sure the Champions League was all that we had left. Apparently, Offsidebayor didn’t get the fucking memo. Not just him, the whole side just seemed fucking knackered.

Portsmouth…  they sucked, and we walked all over them with our reserves. Niklas Bendtner is now only 4 goals behind Adebayor for the season, with way less time on the pitch. And Carlos Vela opened his prem account with a nice little shot to right side. That’s about it. Sorry for the absolute short shrift on these last three matches, but I’ve been a busy, busy boy these past few weeks, getting my ass up to speed on a new job. Once I settle in, the blogging will flow again. All three of you who actually read this blog will no doubt be thrilled to learn such. Have a nice day.