As Theo Walcott’s mis-kick dribbled wide of the goal and television pictures scanned to the Arsenal bench to reveal Arsene Wenger’s looks of utter hopelessness and frustration I thought our Premier League dream was over.
I thought for all our scrapping, for all of our determination to fight back and snatch points with several goals as late as a Karl Henry tackle, it would all come down to nothing.
It’s not as though I didn’t think this might happen: that we actually might not win the league. With Manchester United and Chelsea leading us all the way and our injury crisis the envy of no team in the land it’s not like we were ever going to be favourites.
But for it to end here at home against Wolves? I really didn’t see that coming and it made the feeling all the worse.
As I sat in the living room at home in Australia at 2am in the morning I looked across to my right at my brother Patrick, sitting in a stressed silence, his brow frozen in a furrow. I looked across to my friend Darragh, his hands on his head squeaking noises of frustration with the situation we had got ourselves in.
And I noted the way I was feeling. Utterly defeated, wondering what the heck I was doing up at this ridiculous hour watching football the day before Easter, when kiddies all around the country were wrapped up in their beds ready to eat themselves sick in the morning.
But my thoughts were interrupted as Rosicky picked up the ball in midfield. He passed it to Walcott who decided against going at his man as he had done so many times already, instead shifting it back to Bacary Sagna who hit a first-time cross into the middle. And then…
GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The three of us jumped out of our seats, yelling at the top of our lungs, form some sort of man-triangle of love that would have made our mothers proud. When people say that the feelings felt watching football are better than sex, these are the sorts of moments they are talking about. But then…
*ding dong*
With the game still running and Wolves on a late, post-goal attack I did the dutiful thing and raced downstairs to answer the door. Behind it stood our next-door neighbour – a hilariously worrisome fellow with whom we do not have the best relationship – and the look of expression on his face was not the sort of a person delighted to have been woken at 2am in the morning.
“What’s going on?” he asked, “Is everything alright? It’s two in the morning! You woke up my sister and she thought someone had hurt themselves!”
“I’m sorry!” I replied, “We were just celebrating our team. I’m so, so sorry!”
But as I slammed the door and raced upstairs to see the referee blow the final and watch Emmanuel Eboue race onto the pitch to lift up the hero of the day and carry him around the pitch like the World Cup, I didn’t feel sorry at all.
I might have felt ecstatic, relieved and utterly, utterly exhausted, but I sure as hell didn’t feel sorry.
Football, what a game.
Thoughts?
Have your say on Arsenal’s terrific win over Wolves by leaving a comment.
All Arsenal supporters must necessarily be given a crash course in cardiology..this is the 30 billionth time our team has caused my heart attacks this season….
But I wonder though..would it have not been better if we started like Manciteh started the other day…and then rest some key players…instead of makin people run for 95 minutes…our ability to finish well surely is overshadowed by our inability to start well…
At the Camp Nou we will have to start well…if we concede in the first ten I dont think we will get the desired result….
Thoughts? Man this was not out best performance. But
this has been so far my favourite game. Not because of the gravity of the game. It was not a big game. It was not against a bitter rival indearingly known as the scum, from across London, there are two of them. It was not a game against Wayne Rooney and bandwagoneers. It was a game where Arsenal came and showed determination resemblent of a champion team. I really liked the way we played beautiful football to punish the likes of Tottenham, or defeat Everton 6-1. WHile great, they were not what champions are made of. Saturday’s game is what Champions are made of. Man i don’t regret anything from that Saturday night. No matter how shit my day was, it ended great. I love Arsenal!!!!
Arsenal are the team that just wont give up and we wont go away – no matter how many goals teams score – you still only get three points provided you dont concede as many as we score.
Hahah Andy. Sorry for being cheeky, but I definitely only have one ‘head’. 🙂
Great game though. You forgot to mention your now infamous quote that you uttered as you celebrated the goal.
What did he say darragh? I and as many as 100 gooners in Indonesia looked really pathetic moments before the goal with all the broken hearts and moans of agony when Theo slipped. It was 11pm in a diner surrounded by a housing complex. We sure woke some folks up when we cried for glory when Bendtner headed that one in…boy, how it ended really great!
God blez tha Gunnaz. I was scared n disappointed coz i did nt kno hw 2 face my man.u frnds dat i made jest of b4 d game n also, i’l hate 2 lose d trophy against Wolves. I hope people nw get 2 c d impact b52 has in Arsenal. HIS positioning is superb. God blez tha Gunnaz.
One of your best posts Andrew!
Brilliant post and sums up the ecstasy (and the gloom sometimes) that comes from supporting our great club. role on tuesday: barca 1 arse 2 – now that would be ecstasy!!
Wonderful telling of a wonderful moment.
Hmmm…man triangle…hmmm…*walks off quietly*….do di do di do …..
Nice post and a great win. Cheers ya’ll and lookind forward to the big one tomorrow
Arsenal will be without Alex song tomorrow. below is the 18 man list for Barca tie
Manuel Almunia
Lukasz Fabianski
Nicklas Bendtner
Eduardo
Abou Diaby
Samir Nasri
Denilson
Fran Merida
Theo Walcott
Craig Eastmond
Tomas Rosicky
Armand Traore
Emmanuel Eboue
Gael Clichy
Bacary Sagna
Thomas Vermaelen
Sol Campbell
Mikael Silvestre
no song for nou camp return
Bad News.. Alex Song is out ! What else can possibly go wrong???
the last glimmer of hope is being taken away from us everyday…
Denilson.. PLEASE HAVE THE GAME OF YOUR LIFE, JUST THIS ONCE>>>
Basically For us to have any sort of chance Diaby, Nassri, Walcott,Rosiscy and Bendtner need to have their game of of their life all at the same time.. its basically the same amout of chances I have for winning the lottery tonight.. May God be with us… Arsenal, Keep up the fight..
this what our pre game speech should be..
great story
I was really depressed on Saturday, lifted me up a little bit 😉
if you like to watch an icon resumation of the Barca match:
http://www.iphpbb.com/board/ftopic-64945089nx108723-16-60.html
Get the cupcakes out of the treatment room
Thanks for all the great comments. These are the sort of posts I will hope to do a lot more of because I will be living in Europe for the whole of next season.
Great to see so many people could relate!
And as for the line… I’m not sure it’s fit for a family-friendly forum.
Oh, and I hope everybody had a really great Easter with family and friends.
Andy when you are in Europe come to Belfast and we’ll take you to the Bot, the home of Arsenal matches. We just about wrecked the place when Nicky Bender scored! There was quite a few celebration related injuries the following morning, but they were worth it. A while back you posted a mention for my friends stag on your blog so if you make it to Belfast you will be made very welcome mate.
No RvP, Fab, Song, Rosy, Arsh etc etc etc. Time to recall the headlines on the back pages on May 26th, 1989 before the game against Liverpool at Anfield; “Arsenal, you haven’t got a prayer!” etc. We all know what happened. Come on you Gooners! Eboue hat trick, anyone?
@ Ian – That sounds like possibly the best idea ever! I will be making my way to Europe on the 10th of June as part of the Football Nomad project and once the World Cup is completed, looking to see games all over Europe next season. Stay in touch with Football Nomad and we’ll work something out.
@ RipRoaringRed – I’d take an Eboue hat-trick, for sure.
For almost 20 minutes i had not sipped my drink, all around me were the fans of the Blues who were throwing words that the Gooners horse was now out of their way and all of a sudden B52 BBBooooooffffff.
The moment was too great that i still feel i may experience the same at Nou Camp
If Barca watches the tape of the Wolves game they will be inspired by our inability to have the game gifted to us and not put it away (until the 94th). However, one thing they will know for sure and they can watch the tape of the Emirates game last week too, Arsenal doesn’t give up!! We will be there until the end. We will ride the challenges and see out the storm, and then we will counter. There certainly is an expectation in Barca and around Europe that Barca only has to turn up to win. And as you can imagine, Sol wants this more that anything in his career. He was almost our match winner on that shocking night against Barca and now he’s back. Somehow we must stay strong even if we go 1 down. We must stay strong. GO THE BOYS!!!!!!!!
My team would be .May be you can provide your best with the available players.
——————————Bendtner————————-
Eduardo ———————————————-Eboue
—————————–Rosicky——————————-
———–Nasri—————————Diaby————-
Clichy———-Vermalen——–Sol————–Sagna
—————————-Alumnia—————————-
This will work and the defenders have to sit deep as they don’t have cover.But on offensive front we have Rosicky in middle to put his back on the goal to release either Nasri or Diaby and provide the creative spark.Both of them should easily link up with Eduardo and Eboue to spur the attack and a block from the barca defense will end up for Rosicky ,Nasri or Diaby to fire home the goal.
Nasri can fill in the role of Rosicky place.But Denilson cannot fill Nasri place.
Nasri and Rosicky provide the creative spark and control the game play.Also it is important for Rosicky to play central and stand centrally to balance attack and defence and move the ball to Nasri when pressurised.
This drains the trio Rosicky ,Nasri and Diaby easily which is a known disadvantage.But their determination and skill should keep them up for the entire 90 minutes.
I have relied on the link play between Diaby-Eboue,Eduardo-Bendtner,Clichy-Nasri-Rosicky-Diaby-Sagna
walcott an impact striker when Eduardo or Eboue not doing well or drains.
In attack how it will be
Note : “|” symbol indicates the direction forward
—–|————————-Bendtner——————-|——
Eduardo —|——————————–|———–Eboue
—|——-Nasri————-|————Diaby——–|—-
Clichy——————-Rosicky——————–Sagna
| |
———–Verma —————————Sol———–
————————————————————–
—————————-Alumnia—————————
In defense
Note : “!” symbol indicates the direction backward
—————————————————————–
——————————-Bendtner———————-
Eduardo ———————————————Eboue
! !
———–Nasri———–Rosicky———Diaby——–
! ! !
Clichy———-Vermalen——–Sol————–Sagna
! ! ! !
—————————-Alumnia—————————-
Subs: Denilson(Rosicky if needed.In this case Nasri moved to Rosicky position),Silvestre(Sol if needed),Walcott(Eboue),Merida(to cover midfiled) and Traore(To cover Clichy)
GREAT post x
I still bliv that on a good day any team can beat any team,by that i mean Stoke can beat Barcelona if they are up 4 it lol.call it faith,this is Arsenal,how much more can we do??Come on you Gunners!!!
Denilson cant possibly hope to contain messi,as we seen against man u, he cant track back. We badly needed song for this job so now i cant see us getting a result.