april 26th
If you go back to last August on Arseblog I made some predictions about the coming season. Without wishing to blow my own trumpet (that pesky extra rib puts paid to that anyway), I’m kind of chuffed that my prediction that Arsenal would finish first in the league came true.
It’s quite obviously my predictive power that has made the boys so hard to beat this season. I also said this “Arsenal player of the season : Kolo Toure for becoming the world’s finest centre-half in one season.”
And that came true too. Apart from Thierry Henry (who retained his PFA Player of the Year title) and his magical scoring boots, Kolo has been quite the revelation and is without question the finest centre-half in the world. And not just because I say so, oh no.
I also said this, “1st manager to get the boot: Glenn Hoddle. He bought 3 strikers while seeming to forget his midfield and defence were worse at football than a group of blind, crippled, thalidomide, hunchback midgets. Adios Glenn .”
And by the christ that came true too. This week I predict I’m going to win the lottery, my wife’s book is going to sell thousands of copies when it’s released this week, and that Phil Collins will remain a talentless, bald cunt.
So now I’ve got all that prediction nonsense out of the way, let’s talk about the team. I can remember a stage earlier in the season when a lot of people thought we were chucking away points when we drew with the likes of Fulham and Leicester and some other cunts. I was of the opinion at that stage that these were the kind of games we’d lost in previous seasons, and it made me very positive about the season ahead. There seemed to be a more solid feel to the team, even if we did make life a bit difficult for ourselves sometimes.
34 games into the season we haven’t lost, we’re champions, we’ve seen the emergence of quality young players like Gael Clichy and Kolo Toure, and while the two cup exits were disappointing, I still maintain it was the opposition that made those knock-outs more painful than they actually were. Obviously you might look at this season’s Champions League as probably the best chance we’ve had of winning it so far, but the fact that the teams in it aren’t Europe’s elite doesn’t mean it would have been a walkover. Ask Real Madrid and Milan about how easy it is to beat Deportivo and Monaco. This is a young squad though, our time will come.
For me, the most important prize each season is winning the league. It’s beating the teams I hate and have hated for years. It’s about the banter with my mates who support Liverpool, United, Spurs and all the others. This season we’ve been privileged to see the best football I’ve ever seen an English club side play. We’ve got great players, a great manager, and even a board that’s got vision and didn’t hock the club’s future to raise money for signings when some fans were crying out for them. We’ve got the best player in the world, loads of great kids coming through, we’ve won the league, reached the semi final of the FA Cup, the semi final of the Carling Cup and the quarter finals of the Champions League with a squad of players that were being written off by the ‘experts’ at the start of the season.
They deserve our respect and admiration and support. I’m proud to be an Arsenal fan, and I’d like to say thanks to all the players and the manager for all the pleasure and enjoyment they’ve brought me this season.
Have an e-pint on me, boys. Cheers.
Click on the images to download the
champions wallpapers…..
