I’ve been reading Arseblogger tell us that Almunia’s condition is like a virus spreading through the defense, to paraphrase. Until yesterday, I thought the sentiment was a bit hard on the keeper. Now I know that ye olde Arseblogger has been speaking wisdom all this time. I shant doubt you again.

Jens Lehmann got the boot for far less atrocities than we’ve seen Almunia commit lately. I hate to say it, but I think it may be time to apply that same boot. There are others to place blame for Sunday’s loss, but be certain of one thing: the tide turned in United favor after that own goal. Many games have turning points that you can put a laser spot on and say “This… this is when things went to shit.” And Manuel’s sensual love slap attempt at turning that ball over the bar was ours on the day.

But, who can replace him? Mannone is gone. Wojohowicz isn’t ready, and Szzczeznenyzxplyx is far too inexperienced. But, it’s clear that Almunia is not the keeper he once was. I really do hope he can turn things around. Hell, if Gallas can come back from the sixth circle of hell that he descended to, why not Almunia? But, pardon me if I don’t hold my breath.

Now that I’ve got that off my chest… I’m not one of those who has given up hope. I hope I never am. We came back from an eleven point deficit to catch up to Chelsea, so why not five? It all starts this weekend at Stamford Bridge. And I’ll be cheering my Gunners on like it’s the most important match in the world. And it is. Each one will be, for the rest of the season.

Come on you ARSENAL!

On Thursday, I said:

Bad JuJu, DuDu. Bad JuJu…

Bad JuJu? Well, we got it alright… and fucking how. We’re lousy with it now. And, I’m not entirely convinced the loss will rid us of it. Forget the dropped points. We need to correct the hoodoo that Eduardo’s dive put on us. How? I haven’t the first clue.

What could have been an emphatic statement to the league that we have, in fact, arrived… instead, turned into a bizarre spectacle. One like I’ve never seen before. It was bizarre on so many fronts, I’m just not sure where to begin. Let’s start with the positive.

Yin
We were the better team. Even the staunchest of Manc will have to admit that until we unraveled ourselves, we were taking it to United, and playing them off their own park. They seemed to have the better of possession for a while, but we were the ones doing the pressurizing. The strike by Andrey Arshavin was absolutely thunderous. The keeper got a few fingers on it, but he’s lucky to still have them. That ball wasn’t going anywhere but into the back of the net. Very impressive. And, despite starting with Niklas Bendtner on the bench and Cesc Fabregas at home, I think we looked to be the better side. I’ll take that as a sign of big things to come this season. We can mourn the loss of three points we should have won, but I’d rather see the positive. The quality divide between us and last seasons champions hasn’t been reduced… it’s been eliminated. They’re going to need those three points more than we will come May.

Yang
Then the shit hit the fan, and tiny bits went flying everywhere, sparing no one. First things first: Mike Dean has absolutely no business being an official in any capacity whatsoever. He is inadequate for the task. His judgment is impaired to the point that it must be speculated whether or not he’s either 1) involved in match fixing 2) favoring his own team or 3) both. Which would you choose, Mike? Right.

The diving hasn’t subsided in the wake of DuDuGate. Not even a little. Eboue hit the turf at one point, and we all saw what that cheating prick Rooney did to get their first goal. Amazing, how the bad juju works, is it not? Rooney dives in the exact same place as Eduardo, gets the same exact result. He hits the PK to swing momentum in their favor. Will there be a witch hunt for Rooney and subsequent penalty? Of course not. That sort of thing doesn’t happen to fine Englishmen.  Almunia did make contact, don’t get me wrong… but it’s clear in the replay that Rooney was on the way down before at contact was made. Here’s a nice write up on it over at God is a Gooner: click. Pink Cards for Eboue and Rooney.

Arsène Wenger is an amazing man. How he was able to keep his cool and stand there unfazed, amongst the legions of Manc twats shouting obscenities at him… I’ll never know. He just stood there, and let it all just roll off him in waves. It’s if he just knows… He’s more then they are, or ever will be. He’s better than that. Arsène knows.

So… another adventure to Old Trafford is in the books. I’m a bit mixed on how I feel about it. I’m pleased with how we played, and excited for the future since we look so much better. The result… well, I think we brought it down on ourselves. It was retribution for Eduardo’s dive. I just hope we’ve evened the score on that front. We’ve got to face Manchester City in two weeks. Having this black cloud still above us would not be good. We’ll see… of course, that black cloud may also take its vengeance upon us during the International break… which would really not be good.

Are you up for this? Are you not absolutely and entirely up for this? Oh, I am. If you’re not, you have no blood in you. You should probably get yourself some medical attention quickly. Good luck with that.

Viewership for this match could go well over a billion people tomorrow. A billion. Well, two of them will be my 6 year old son and I.  We will be screaming at the TV screen in our home way over here in the U.S. You’ll hear us, if you listen closely. It will sound like a cry, distant and enraged, on a soft breeze… saying:

Rooney, you soft bleeding twat!

And in turn… Who are ya! Who are ya! I can’t wait to hear the Arsenal faithful in full voice up in Old Trafford tomorrow. I might have to watch Football Factory again before kickoff. Too many F & C Bombs in that one for the boy, though.

Downside
We’ve got to go without Cesc Fabregas, our midfield magician. It looks as though Aaron Ramsey will stay home too. I supppose physically they will both be there at the match. How could they not? But, no strip for them. Which, sucks.

Upside
We’re on a tear, and United have some injuries of their own, plus a dodgy start to explain. The momentum we take with us is the best we’ve had in years. Just how we line up without Cesc will be interesting, though. Will this be the first 4-4-2 we see this season? Possibly, but I think Arsène will go with something like this:

Almunia
Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Clichy
Eboue – Song – Diaby
Bendtner – van Persie – Arshavin

I like it. That’s no weak team there, is it? I’d be happy to see that line-up trot out. And, if Eboue finds net tomorrow, I’ll jump out the fucking window, laughing maniacally. I hope he does, too (our TV’s on the first floor). But I’m seriously hoping we see some action from RvP and Andrey. Robin is due. You can just feel he’s set to pop. A nice hat trick from him tomorrow would be a splendid way to open his 2009-10 account, no?

I’m still calling this one 4-3 to the Arsenal. I know that sounds insane, but so did 4-4 at Anfield last season, yeah? Not that I called that show. But, stranger things have happened. This is either going to be an all out shooting gallery, or a tight, low-scoring affair. I’ll have the former please.

Come on you Gunners! Come on you Arsenal!

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.