Sat 11th September 2010; 15:00, Emirates Stadium
Sunderland’s Darren leaves Arsenal’s noses Bent
ByI suppose it was inevitable that after writing a bullish column on ACLF about the myth of Arsenal’s soft underbelly yesterday, we would get shafted at the Stadium of Light. The odds certainly didn’t look bad for us as the in-form team in the Premiership, but history would have told us that it would be brave to bet that we would have a walk in the park.
After all, it was this weekend one year ago that a trip to the blue side of Manchester brought untold grief as we succumbed to 3 goals. For some reason, shivers ran down my spine when we conceded that corner, and even before they took the corner, something told me we weren’t going to handle it well. I think the fact that I was lying on the floor trying to retrieve something whilst convincing myself that we could get a goal back if needed kind of distracted me a bit and gave me a false sense of hope. I don’t like Darren Bent at all, but you have to hand it to him for doing the simple things in life and slamming the ball into the back of the net. He made the difference in that game, yet he was so anonymous for pretty much 95 minutes.
My wife always tells me I handle an Arsenal defeat very badly. Maybe the emotional attachment does get to me a bit when we don’t win, or when we draw a game we should have won. Or maybe it’s the fact that she’s a Chelsea supporter and is exercising her bragging rights – I don’t know. I think it’s OK to be disappointed. Very disappointed actually, but certainly not angry.
We didn’t play well today but I’m not going to dissect the team’s performance – I’m sure there’s enough constructive criticism out there from moderate and sensible bloggers, as well as the doomers and gloomers who will crawl from under every rock to castigate the team. I don’t want to end up as deranged and spaced out as Miles Palmer. My sense is that there’s no point in suggesting that the international break and injuries affected us. We knew this was going to be the case and could have approached the game better. We simply didn’t play well enough and paid for it.
I always find that the best way to get over a loss, is to play the next game very quickly. Tuesday is not far off and Standard Liege is as good an opponent as any to vent our frustrations on.
But the truth is that we only have ourselves to blame. We didn’t take our chances well, and Sunderland took their chance well, and then parked the bus. If the object of the exercise was to get the 3 points, then they were the better team.
We dust ourselves off and welcome the Belgians in the week.
Side bar here. I recall the winter of 2005/2006, when we played Sheffield United away, and I was listening to the match commentary on the car radio. Alan Green was commentating and in every match that I listened to him commentate after that, we either lost or drew. I swore not to jinx myself by listening to the old chap. I guess that time has moved on but the jinx man from the BBC is now John Murray. We seem to lose every match he commentates on.
Maybe I should stop listening to matches while travelling in a car or on my small radio when out and about – I could be a danger to myself and others.
Cheers Darius. We are down but not out. The season is just one-thirds old. It is difficult, but we can recover. We simply cannot afford to lose any more of these games to lower level teams.I had my say at ACLF but I simply wanted to commiserate with you.
Shotta. I hear you – once the vent is over, the cold light of day will give us some perspective.
For what it’s worth, the defeat will keep a well lit fire up our arses and that’s not a bad thing at all.
Hi, first time posting here. Like your blog.
Just watched Arsene’s post match reaction
Reporter: Now, your team has to be completely focused for the next premier league game, against Chelsea?
Boss: Our team has to be completely focused for the next game against Standard Liege to qualify in the champions league and forget completely about Chelsea
The boss looked really disappointed and pissed off at the lack of urgency. I am sure the team will hear about it and go on a run again.
Funny to not the contrast between his reaction to this sort of loss last year (defensive) versus today.
Keeping the faith!
Darius, your statement: “I think it’s OK to be disappointed. Very disappointed actually, but certainly not angry.” – says it all. I refuse to listen to any negative comments. I don’t want to hear the comments of any ‘Championship Manager’ gamer who now feel that they are better managers than Wenger.
“It is not the direness of falling that scares me;
But the lethargy of remise.
Lo! When we fall, we simply must rise higher.”
LRV my friend.
The negativity will always jump out of the woodwork during tough times. This is the point at which the team needs to be lifted by the supporters and not shouted at from the stands and the blogs. That’s the easier thing to do.
When Wenger and Cesc tell us to keep our feet on the ground, they’re onto something. One day you’re heroes, the next your nothing. We’re still in a very good position in the leading pack.
I like Wenger’s sdimissal of Chelsea as the next priority…and rightly so – the next priority is Standard Liege.
As far as I can recall, in the recent seasons the leading team going into the new year hasn’t always come out on top.
I have stopped giving a damn about the loser supporters who, althoug are entitled to their opinions, are no better than a virus…they are always there we can’t permanently get rid of them. A majority of gunners know better than to constantly bash the team and its resources. They always point out the obvious flaws which we all know about and they think that gives them the right to call themselves smart and realists.
The reality is this:
We have a great shot at the title this year, we will qualify for the CL last 16 soon, FA Cup for us hasn’t even start, our kids look good in league cup, chelski will lose more and the people who disregard this fact are chelski fans, there are 26 more games to play in the league….people who call themselves realists should look at these facts and stop calling others dreamers.
I am no dreamer, I just never give up before the battle even really begins.
Darius,
Y’know I can actually relate to how your weekend descends on the back of a defeat like that.
But I do get frustrated. It really gets to me because we’ve been doing so many things right, yet we get the basics wrong. And though you might not believe me, I am a patient person by nature, but this is now he 5th year that I have seen the very same mistakes being made, and the same repetitive soundbites excusing them. Its not that we need to win that irks me so much. Its more than that. Its the fact that were not being true to our own talent. Its one thing to lose a match knowing that you’ve busted a gut and were unlucky, or at the receiving end of a bad referee, or just that the other team was better. But its quite another to see more talented players sit by and choke as if they’d done enough just to turn up! While there are always a few exceptions to the rule – our lads lack that application to consistently graft, to refuse to lie down, to bleed week in – week out. You can have all the talent in the world, but it ultimately counts for nothing unless the attitude is right.
[...] a growing frustration by many fans, and is aptly articulated in one of my previous articles (Sunderland’s Darren leaves Arsenal’s noses Bent) – by Joe,a fellow fan that I’ve had numerous discussions with about our [...]