Nine years is a long time. Regardless of how you look at it. In 2005 I was in my first year of secondary school, this year I've graduated from University. In that time period I've watched the club I love come agonisingly close to winning another trophy, pretty much every trophy under the sun. The Champions League final in 2006 which sadly I don't think I'll ever get over. Countless title challenges, League Cup finals. But yesterday all of that became utterly irrelevant.
I stood watching the game tick by having gone two down within ten minutes, seen Santi Cazorla pull one back through a sensational free kick and then Koscielny pivot and fire between the keepers legs. I had the horrible feeling we'd go to penalties and once again hope would be dashed in the cruelest possible way in football. We spurred chance after chance and everyone was fearing the worst. Then, as if written, the man who has changed his career and the clubs fortune so many times this season popped up in the right place at the right time.
Some neat link up play saw Giroud side on to the goal being hassled by a defender before backheeling it to Ramsey who, right on cue, poked it home sending Wembley, the Emirates and thousands of pubs, bars and supporters clubs around the world into absolute pandemonium. It was a moment I doubt many people who were fortunate enough to experience with other fans will ever forget. The moment was almost coupled with one of pure agony when Fabianki came tearing out of his goal and was easily rounded by Aluko, whose shot seemed to travel forever and I thought was destined to bumble into the bottom corner but bobbled harmlessly wide.
From there we held the ball well and did our job and the outpouring of emotion on the final whistle was something to behold. At the Emirates where I was, there were scenes of joy from the young to had never seen Arsenal win a trophy to the old who had seen many. The girl behind me was in floods of tears, people piled onto the pitch and for myself personally a moment I'd waited for from the day I was 12 years old was one of pure ecstasy.
Watching the team lift the trophy one by one was brilliant but nothing compared to the deafening cheer Arsene Wenger got as he himself lifted old cup. The man who had brought every single player in that team to the club and who has been at the butt of criticism from fans within our ranks and of course those from other clubs, deserved every moment of happiness. As did the players who earned it. It was a day for everyone connected to the club to revel in and enjoy.
There will be time for reflection this season in due course but for now this is the time for the players, the staff, the manager and most of all every single fan like myself to enjoy and celebrate. For the 250,000 (yes that is a quarter of a million) strong that took to the streets of London today for the parade, soak it up and remember every moment. I tried to find one photo to sum the day up nicely but couldn't so here are three. Till my next post, enjoy being FA Cup Winners 2014!
Here we are, the biggest game of our season and it just happens to be the last one. There will be plenty of time to dissect the league and CL season in due course but or now our focus should be totally and utterly on the FA Cup Final on Saturday.
This game is monumental on scale. I am not remotely exaggerating when I say this is far more than the make or break of this season. This is the make or break of this squad. If we lose on Saturday it will cripple the team mentally. If we lose I can't see us winning anything for the next 5 years at least. The team need to learn how to win, they need to know that feeling and have that desire to be there again without bottling it. That's part of the reason Liverpool fell at the last hurdle in the league. None of them were winners, they bottled it and so did the manager. Let's hope that come the end of the match on Saturday our team will know what it's like to win.
Team news is pretty limited at the moment being a Thursday but the early news suggests that Vermaelen and the Ox are doubts for the weekend and will face late fitness tests. Elsewhere the rest of the team are fit bar Walcott of course. Even Diaby is fit. This means that Wenger can pick his most experienced team and the team that he thinks is best. We have no excuses with injuries anymore, we have to go out and do what we've been doing most of the season.
It's so important in games like this to play the opposition not the occasion. If the occasion gets the better of a team then it only usually ends badly. I think the game will start fairly cagey with neither team wanting to end up trailing early on. Once the nerves settle, we need to get into our rhythm and get our game going. As I've said many times this season, if we play our game we'll have too much for them, but with Arsenal things are never that cut and dried. We like to make life difficult for ourselves.
Well my next post will either be one of joy or one of despair. Let's hope its the former. Till then COYG!
Well, the time is almost here when the Premier League draws to a close. It's been a very mixed season for us and I'll talk about that in a later blog, but for today it's a combination for me of feeling disappointed as the season ends but also rather happy that we won't be put through the nerve shredding rigor of scrapping for fourth with Spurs. We'll finish fourth win, draw or lose today and I think that'll reflect on the squad.
I understand that game time is important ahead of the final next weekend but it seems utterly stupid to risk the like of Ozil, Ramsey, Cazorla etc. in a meaningless game. Therefore I think we'll see players like Jenkinson, Diaby, Rosicky, Sanogo maybe Kallstrom play. I also think purely for fitness we'll see Gibbs and Wilshere play. It'll be an interesting team and I'm sure should it go wrong we won't look back with too many regrets. That said we can't allow the players to be on their holidays already, next week is the biggest game we'll have played for years and they need to be prepared for it.
On the other side of that make no mistake the players will have half an eye on Wembley next week too and I don't think they'll be playing to their full potential today if they can help it. In many ways I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't win today. But our fans have traveled up there and hopefully they'll all be rewarded for doing so. A win today would take us to 79 points which would be our highest tally for 6 years.
So this is essentially a meaningless game for us playing just to finish on a high ahead of next weekend. Finally I'd like to just say that whilst everybody gets wrapped up in the Hillsborough saga, we should never forget that 29 years ago today 56 people went to Valley Parade and never came home in the Bradford City fire.
Until next week enjoy the final day, for once!
Well with everything wrapped up League wise for Arsenal yesterdays game turned into a rather null affair and the scoreline reflected that. With Man City victorious at Everton, Champions League football was secured by us for the 17th consecutive season which is really some achievement.
As for the match it was a bit hit and miss, despite being as high as we can be this season (baring a 20 odd goal swing next weekend), Wenger played a full strength side and I think this is partly due to the fact it was out last home game of the season. After an initial Podolski half chance, Giroud netted his 22nd of the season with a fine header and really that was about it. We had a couple more chances, they had a couple but that's how it finished.
It was sad to watch Bacary Sagna lead the lap of honour knowing full well we'll never see him in an Arsenal kit at home again. He's been a tremendous servant and I wish we'd done everything in our power to give him what he wanted but such is football. I'll refrain from saying I wish him all the best before seeing who he signs for. Whatever the case is it'll be some effort to replace him and I hope we've got some ideas already.
Similarly, Vermaelen got a 10 minute cameo and I'm pretty sure his time at the club is up which again is a shame but when it comes to team selection Koscielny and Mertesacker would be my first choice every day of the week. If he leaves I will completely understand it, he wants to play and at his age he needs to be playing week in, week out. Kallstrom got a cameo again with Wenger confirming he'll also be leaving, back off to Moscow at the end of the season.
We have our final league game next week against Norwich and if all goes wrong for them, they'll be relegated by that time and that suits us nicely where we can rest a few legs before the Cup final in two weekends time. That now has to be our focus and we need our best and liveliest players fully fit. A defeat in the final would be disastrous in every way, not only would it be yet another season, it would crush the players mentally and that would seriously concern me for the next campaign. Well until next weekend enjoy your week!
