At the beginning of yesterday’s Arsecast (you can listen on yesterday’s blog) I tried to sum up what the summer meant. All the talk meant nothing, all the waffle, the spin, the bullshit from the managers and players is not so much secondary to why we love football as a distant cousin third-removed who eats with his fingers, always has lumious green bogies crusted around his nostrils and bangs his head against the wall when he’s upset about stuff.
It’s only when the lads are on the pitch and we’re in the height of a game that things really matter. It’s the football that gets your heart racing, makes you bite your nails, revert to stupid rituals and superstitions even though you know your lucky socks/beer/chair or whatever is nothing of the sort. It’s the goals, the missed chances, the last gasp tackles, the pieces of individual brilliance and, more than anything, the sight of your team truly clicking, a cohesive, dangerous unit, that provides us with moments of sheer joy that keeps us coming back.
Back-heels, nutmegs, towering headers, crunching tackles, one-twos, crossfield passes, amazing reflex saves, aggro, yellow cards, red cards, annoying refs, playing well and losing, playing like a pack of one-legged Carlton Palmers and nicking a win, miscued clearances, perfectly judged through-balls, 30 yard rockets, tap-ins, cock-ins, taunting, mocking, jeering, seering ecstasty, crushing agony, disbelief, drama, tedium, penalties, free kicks that never were, free kicks that were but aren’t (please refer to annoying refs), and so much more make up the game that keeps us coming back, week in, week out.
And it’s back. Today’s the day. And that’s just from a fans point of view. What are the players feeling today? What are they looking to do this season? This exclusive video from Nike has me even more excited.
Eduardo “I’m back”. FUCK YEAH. Yeah, you’re back. Yeah, you are.
“5 goals, 1 game”. Bring. It. On.
It’s the opening day of the season and whatever you think about the state of the squad if you can’t be excited and nervous and jittery and just full of love for football then there’s something wrong with you. The manager is talking about winning the title, the players want trophies, the fans want trophies, but maybe it’ll take a combination of all of us to make it happen.
Fans have a part to play. Sure, expectations are high but a crowd that is behind its team will have an impact. Imagine playing away from home and hearing home fans barrack their players, what a boost it would give you. I’m not suggesting people become cheerleaders or anything like it, but encouragement might just give the team the impetus it needs in a game, calling them useless cunts, it’s fair to say, probably will not. It’s a two-way street, no doubt, but it’s worth thinking about. It’s a new season, a clean slate, everybody starts afresh, players, manager, fans, everbody.
Going through fallow times really makes the good times more enjoyable. And while the last few seasons haven’t been as bad as people might say (there’s no doubt that a trophy this season would feel all the sweeter because of what has gone before it. I did love this from Dara O’Briain in today’s Guardian:
I did my time in the early 90s when it was John Jensen and Eddie McGoldrick, and we couldn’t buy a goal. And you want me to tear my hair out now, when I’ve got Fábregas and Arshavin in front of me; and Wilshere and Vela sitting in the wings?
I understand perfectly that fans are frustrated, we all want the team to win and be successful, but we’ve been a whole lot less successful in the past and a lot less interesting to watch (Chris Whyte at centre-forward anyone?). Up and downs, swings and roundabouts, peaks and troughs, whatever you want to call it.
Liverpool, the mighty, untouchable, Liverpool, the team that plagued my life when I was growing up, watching the Mugsmasher enjoy league wins that he didn’t really appreciate because he was still a little cunt going around getting run over by cars and crashing his BMX into things, have not won the league since 1990. Not that I give a fish’s tit about Liverpool but there it is. It’ll be 20 years in May. A lot of people have tipped them for the title, fair enough. Sky Sports don’t think we’re even going to be in the top four by the look of this image.
Grand, we’re done. Written off. Citeh’s millions, Chelsea’s millions, United’s pedigree and the media’s cock-sucking love-in with Benitez and Torres and we’re also-rans, out of the equation, yesterday’s news. Suits me. We’ll show them. Because we are the Arsenal.
There’s a whole pile of stuff on the official site from the manager’s press conference yesterday. Go read. The team news for today sees Diaby and Walcott miss out, they join Nasri, Rosicky, Djourou and Fabianski on the sidelines. If I had to guess at today’s line-up it’d be:
Almunia – Sagna – Gallas – Vermaelen – Clichy – Song – Denilson – Cesc – Arshavin – van Persie – Bendtner
On the bench: Mannone – Gibbs – Traore – Eboue – Ramsey – Eduardo – Vela
At 5.30 the 11 boys in red and white will kick off the new Premier League season. They’ll have to play well, Everton are a really good side, we know they’re difficult to beat, but I think we can do it. I will have a pint of beer in front of me, my iPhone for some in game Twitter, and my heart will be beating just that little bit faster because at the end of the day it’s the football that counts.
Not the talking, not the analysis, the ‘experts’, the arguments, the optimism v pessimism, none of that matters.
Only the football. And I love it.
COME. ON. YOU. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOONERS.
