You know you’ve had a bad day when Darren Fletcher scores against you. You know it’s really bad when he does it again. A Sunday morning *boilk* to you all.
Awful to watch from where I was. It must have been a hundred times worse for the 9,000 Arsenal fans who shelled out good money for tickets and travel to get to Old Trafford yesterday. Yes, we were missing some players, yes, we have AC Milan on Wednesday, but the very least they deserved was for the guys out the pitch to try. Some of them didn’t even attempt to look interested, never mind actually play football. I was going to post a message on the Arses after about five minutes saying ‘Eboue doesn’t fancy this at all’, but thought I’d give him more time. I was right though.
It was a mistake by Hoyte which let Rooney score the opener but William Gallas won’t be too proud of himself for the next two. He let Fletcher get ahead of him to make it 2-0 and misjudged a header to let Nani in for the third (although Traore should have been covering). I know this is a game that has to be put in perspective but you’re either a leader all the time or not at all. You can’t pick and choose when to be the captain. Not impressive. 3-0 at half-time.
I’m pretty sure the least that was demanded of the players was that they go out and try and restore some pride in the second half. Eboue put paid to that happening. He is a coward of a footballer, he didn’t fancy it today and decided to take the easy way out. His challenge on Evra was a surefire red card and I say this most sincerely – I hope he never plays for us again. I hope Arsene looks at him, realises he’s an idiot as well as a bottler and fucks him out of the club. It’s not just this incident but a litany of events this season and last. He’s an embarrassment. Squad joker he might be but if that’s all he’s good for give the cunt a minstrel outfit and let’s save ourselves £20,000 a week or whatever the fuck he’s being paid. Goodplaya concurs.
Fletcher got the fourth goal when he jumped unchallenged from Flamini at the back post. Jens made a couple of decent saves in the second half too. Our attacking threat consisted of an Eduardo header and terrible dive from Adebayor who should be better than that. Full time and United deservedly went through. We got what we came for today and that was nothing at all.
Now, as much as defeat hurts – and here it’s more the manner of the defeat than the result itself – we can’t lose sight of the fact this is the FA Cup. I think the priority of the manager and the players is on the league and the Champions League. I’m not trying to make excuses, there’s no excuse for just not trying like some of the players yesterday, but there’s not much point dwelling on it either. It was horrible but we have to put it behind us and move on. There’s a league to be won, there’s a big game against AC Milan coming up in four days time, so there’s no time for moping or anything like it. I don’t think this is going to give anyone a huge psychological boost, nor do I think it’s going to crush us mentally.
However, I do hope the players realise that no matter how far down the list of priorities the FA Cup was the fans and Arsenal Football Club deserves better than what they produced at Old Trafford.
Afterwards Arsene Wenger said the players were ‘disappointed’ and that they had been up for the game. Had he not been a football manager a career in politics would surely have been his. He also labelled the Old Trafford pitch a ‘disgrace’ and while that may be true both teams had to play on it. He also played down reports linking him to Barcelona.
Demento says William Gallas should have been given a red card for a kick at Nani. While we can all agree Nani was an irritant yesterday we should hope that no further action is taken on this. Not clever by Gallas at all.
Another tycoon, Vietnamese Doan Nguyen Duc (heh, duck), is apparently interested in buying 20% of Arsenal. Perhaps he could buy 20% what the fat cunt owns.
Right, that’s as much as I’ve got. Let’s not go too overboard this morning. Those critical of the squad depth should remember we’re still top of the league and five points clear of United. These players have gotten us this far. Yesterday was horrible but tomorrow is another day. Today is another day, in fact, as today is yesterday’s tomorrow.
Why did I say I’d play 5-a-side today? Jesus. Till tomorrow (which is the day after tomorrow’s yesterday).
