march 20th
09.21 – So, the post–mortems will begin as Arsenal suffer another early exit from Europe.
I didn’t see the game at all, but from what I was told it was two fairly basic errors that provided Valencia with their goals. Cygan dropped too deep into midfield and totally lost Carew for the first, while the picture below tells you all you need to know about Sylvain Wiltord giving the ball away in a stupid position.
Still, it’s not possible to blame one person for Arsenal’s failure this season. In the second group stage we didn’t win a single game at home. Our lack of quality cover for Keown and Campbell has cost us, but you have to look at the forwards as well, and the Roma game in particular is one that will stick in the throat. We created so many chances that night, but failed with all but one of them. As bad as the defending was last night, that was just as bad.
Arsene Wenger has said we didn’t deserve to lose night, although some people would beg to differ. He has also hit out at Valencia’s spoiling tactics, which to me smacks of somebody trying to deflect attention from the deficencies of their own team. How many time have we seen Kanu sent on to to hold the ball up and go to the corner flag? Why would Valencia do anything different? It’s just professional play, it may not be pretty but it’s effective.
Another disappointing factor on the night was the racist abuse directed at Arsenal’s black players. Perhaps they’re all colour blind in Valencia, but John Carew looks coloured to me, the stupid cunts. Patrick Vieira has accused UEFA of being ‘hypocrites on race‘, and he’s right. PSV were fined £13,000 earlier in the competiton for the racist abuse their fans directed at Arsenal players. £13,000. Seriously.
Until they do something that actually affects the offending club in some way – like making them play a game in an empty stadium – the problem will just continue. If they’re serious about stamping out racism, and not just intent on talking the talk every time it happens, they need to make an example of Valencia. If this was the first time this had happened in the Mestalla, then you might be prepared to just issue a warning, but it’s not. Arsenal previously, Liverpool and other sides with black players have been subjectred to monkey noises, taunts, and chants of a racist nature for seasons now at Valencia.
There should be strict guidelines on this – warnings are no good. Drop in the ocean fines are no good. If clubs lose revenue because their fans are fucking idiots, then they might do something about it. If the utltimate penalty for continued racist abuse is expulsion from the competition, then you can be sure the fans will stop, or the club will do everything they can to weed out culprits. Over to you UEFA, but no doubt you’ll fudge the issue again like the bunch of cunts you are.
So, back to Arsenal. More bad news is that Sol Campbell and Patrick Vieira have suffered setbacks with their injury problems. Vieira we can cope without – we’ve got Parlour, Edu and Gio who can all step up into midfield. Sol, we just can’t do without. If he’s not fit it will mean a game for Igors Stepanovs, and at this stage, I think I’d prefer him in the team than Pascal “Break a mirror, Friday the 13th, walk under a ladder, step on the cracks of the pavement, spill the salt, ran over a leprechaun” Cygan. All 8 games we have lost this season, Cygan has started. For a man so in tune with the statistics of his team and players, this can’t have escaped AW’s notice. He has tried to defend Cygan, but with the best will in the world, it’s plain to see the bloke is just not good enough.
Last night he said “It is too early to say if changes need to be made. We still have a lot to go for this season and we want to go as far as we can and assess things then.“
Assess this – we need at least one top class centre half in the summer. Bring in one of the youth players you were praising so highly during the week and see if you can get a few quid for Cygan and Stepanovs. Maybe we’ll get enough to buy the lads a Chinese take-away at the end of the season.
Right, it’s Everton on Sunday. Live on Sky. At that stage Man Utd could be top of the table by a point. The pressure’s on, the players are down after going out of Europe. Time for the real Arsenal to stand up and be counted. It’s all still to play for. The league is in our own hands. We’ve done it before, we can do it again. Come on you reeeeeeeeeeeeds.
