First of all I want to offer up an apology to the entire Arsenal fan base. I am, regrettably, a terrible optimist, and when times are bad I tend to look on the bright side – a flaw for which you are all well within your rights to crucify me for. Having said that I have been unable to change my ways, wrong as I know they are, and it is for this reason that I felt compelled to write this argument. I just hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me for my sins.
But before we start this hideous ‘optimism’ thing I think we will all feel better if we go through the negative points again first. The more we repeat these the more they will sink in and the more we can forget about all those stupid positives which hinder our real progress towards mid-table mediocrity and another trophy-less campaign.
So:
1. Arsenal often have problems holding a lead
2. Diaby is an idiot
3. Barton is an idiot
4. Dowd is an idiot
5. Referees are idiots
6. Wenger made the wrong subs
7. Arsenal often have a scary and serious inability to hold a significant lead
Now let me just clarify one thing before I go on: I agree wholeheartedly with those points. I am not (as the title of this article may suggest) happy with the outcome of the game and neither am I sure the team will bounce back as quickly as we all hope. I am however convinced of a few positive things which seem to have either been relegated to status of footnote or to have not been brought up at all and it is my intention to at least highlight these views a bit more clearly in the hope that they become better engrained into the psyche of Arsenal fans across the world.
So with that in mind it is time to present an alternative outlook which I shall offer up in the form of several arguments which I feel are somewhat foolproof and difficult if not impossible to argue against (although there is a beautifully constructed comments section below for those who wish to try).
The ‘Friday night’ argument
I’m not sure if any Arsenal fans can even remember back that long ago now but if you could try and place yourself back on that happy day – back before 4-4 was a horrifically memorable score line – and just ask yourself one question. Given the games taking place this weekend (Newcastle v Arsenal and Manu U v Wolves in case you hadn’t checked the fixture schedule yet) if you were offered a draw for us and a loss for Man U right now would you take it?
The answer to that question, however much you want to fight against it, is quite obviously ‘yes’. Man U, unbeaten all season, against bottom of the league and us with a winnable but potentially tricky tie against a team we have lost to already. Really you would expect both teams to get three points from those fixtures so I think that any scenario in which we end up closer to Man U is a massive plus.
No-one would have expected it beforehand and however insignificant it may seem that we are now one point closer (insignificant?!) it has been, in my crazy eyes at least, a f*cking good weekend in terms of our challenge for the title. That’s right, a F*CKING GOOD WEEKEND! How many more times can we guarantee that Man U will drop points in the league? We can’t guarantee that at all. So we need to feast on whatever scraps we can and a point gained now come May could be the difference between 1st and 2nd place.
All of which brings me nicely onto my next argument.
The ‘but we could have been three points closer’ argument.
Everyone clearly feels that it was two points dropped and that we had a real chance to move even closer than we are now – three points rather than one point – but I’m afraid to say that however much you want that to be true it is far from definitely so.
What is the reason for this belief? It’s very simple really, and it basically comes down to the fact that we played at 3pm and Man U didn’t play until 5:30pm.
Let’s again go back in time. This time we’ll head back to another, even happier place than Friday night: half time. 4-0 up and cruising I now plan to change the course of history for good by imagining that in the second half Arsenal continued their demolition of Newcastle by grabbing two more goals of real quality. Van Persie completed his second hat-trick in three weeks and Rosicky came off the bench to score a 45 yard screamer and we ended the game on a massive high. Everything would be better right? Right?
Wrong. Bear in mind that by adding two more goals to our tally and winning the game we had to change the course of history. And by changing the course of history we will have to change the history of the Wolves v Man U game as well. Yes they might lose 2-1 again, or even 3-0, but then again they might win 2-1 themselves or even 5-0.
So with that in mind I have a second, similar question for you to answer. If you could go back in time and change history so that we won the Newcastle game would you do so knowing that the Wolves v Man U game might turn out different?
So you would be throwing away a definite one point gain and opening yourself up to not only a potential three point gain but also a potential no point gain. Take the car now or risk it all on the holiday?
It’s a difficult question but given the game itself – top v bottom don’t forget – I would take the one point gain every time. And any sensible Arsenal fan would do the same I’m sure. I do not expect Man U to drop many points between now the end of the season and we need every gain we can get.
The ‘all my other arguments rolled into one argument’ argument
At this risk of running out of time and space I thought I would condense my further, shorter arguments into a single section. They are probably not long enough to warrant a section of their own so I will just do them in bullet point form.
* Of the top four Man U and Chelsea both lost, we drew and only Man City won. The same Man City who we still have a game in hand over.
* Man U’s next four games are Man City, Wigan, Chelsea and Liverpool. Ours are Wolves, Stoke, Sunderland and West Brom. Whatever you may think about our team’s chances this is clearly a really good period for us. We have a genuine opportunity to make up some points over the next few weeks and you’ve got to say the likelihood of our doing so are fairly decent.
* Stupid Arsenal – who can’t hold a lead for sh*t and have serious issues – are currently top of the Premiership form table. The only team in the top five (and the whole top flight I might add) not to lose in the league this year – if anyone is hitting form at the right time, we are.
* Who do you think should feel worse? The team that blew a four goal lead but ended up a point closer to the top or the team that blew the chance to go seven points clear and ended up a point worse off? Man U will definitely be smarting after that loss – a much bigger missed opportunity for them than us – and going into such a difficult period that could really play on their mind. A draw next week in the derby and they will really begin to rue this weekend’s results.
And finally…
* Had us and Man U both won our games we would probably be sitting here much happier but we would ultimately be worse off than we are. W
eird but undeniably true and something worth remembering.
Ok, so I’m pretty much done and if anyone has anything to say in response I would love to hear your opinion. For now though I’m off to celebrate a great weekend for Arsenal’s title challenge by making myself a super indulgent mocha-choco-frappe-lattachino with heaps of whipped cream and fair trade chocolate sprinklets– triple yay!
Have a great week Arsenalistas and try to remember that things ain’t as bad as they seem. Our unbeaten season is still unbeaten, we’re one point closer to glory and there’s still a long way to go.
We ain’t out of it yet. If anything we’re right back in it.
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