He Who Dares Wins, There’s No Other Way
By DariusLast night, I hadn’t even finished pouring a glass of wine and settling down before I heard the excitement of Sky’s commentator Martin Tyler’s voice barely 2 milliseconds after the kick-off.
“Oh shit!”, was the first thought on my mind when I rushed into the living room to consider the inevitable. I wasn’t so much worried that Manchester United had scored, I was more worried that Rooney had scored.
My reason for this fear has nothing to do with the fear of Rooney. He’s a striker and it’s his job to score so I would suggest that he’s the most likely Man United player to score. My issue is with the sycophancy that follows any goal he scores from the media and the entire football establishment.
I was thinking to myself whether I can deal with the “Rooney is the best player in the world” back slapping that I find really suffocating.
But the thing is this – yesterday’s game showed that he who dares wins. Let’s face it, Man United were very pedestrian yesterday and they paid for it.
Arsenal can quickly learn a lot from last night’s game on two fronts. Firstly, the form of the day rules. Despite the universal predictions of a Manchester United hammering of the Bavarians, the form of the day is what counts.
You see, football pundits and book makers remind me of credit rating agencies who need to be taken out back, made to kneel down facing the wall, and given a good hiding.
These rating agencies provided assessments of financial institutions that were so far off the mark, they brought the world economy to its knees, yet few bothered to question the credibility of the nonsense they spewed.
I mean, how the hell did they not see the world-wide economic crash coming. It’s like NASA missing a comet heading for earth and yet they tell us all is well and they’re focussing on a trip to Mars instead.
I never believed that a Manchester United win was a full gone conclusion for the simple reason that Bayern Munich are not mugs. The English media seem to think they are, but the German team didn’t just walk out of the cotton fields into the quarter finals of the elite European club competition.
Secondly, Arsenal can learn that focussing on our strengths is more important than being fascinated by the spectacle of Barcelona.
In yesterday’s press conference, Stevie Stammers from the Sunday Mirror tried desperately to push Thomas Vermaelen to provide a response as to whether he or Arsenal would be intimidated by Leonel Messi.
Vermaelen’s answer was as cold and as witty as they come: “We have no time to be intimidated, we have a job to do”.
Arsenal can learn from Bayern’s spirit and sense of team work. The collective effort of the team rose head and shoulders above any individual brilliance that any one of the 22 players could have provided.
It’s a difficult game today, and Barcelona are coming to play for that away goal if not a win. The reassuring thing is that they are coming to play football, and who better to play total football with than Arsenal?
I don’t think Arsenal should fear Barcelona in any shape or form. We are good enough to win the two legged tie. I differentiate fear from respect and Barcelona have to be respected.
In the same token, Barcelona totally respect Arsenal and they will fight tooth and nail to stop us, and if all fails, they’ll try and score more goals than us.
I was heartened by Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s comments about the need for Arsenal and Barca to keep winning titles. There is a danger of critics pointing out the fact that beautiful football rarely wins.
The Swede avers that football will do better when Arsenal and Barca win titles and win them by playing beautiful football.
What last night taught us is that there’s no full gone conclusion about what will happen. What we can expect is that both teams will refuse to compromise the principles of total football and the responsibility they have to entertain football fans around the world.
Wenger confirms that Arsenal fans want the Gunners to do something special and the team are determined to deliver that something special.
I suspect that Barcelona fans are quite demanding of their team, and don’t expect them to miss an opportunity to give Arsenal a run for their money, in the same way that the Gunners are looking to do.
Simply put, he who dares wins.
Tue 13th September 2011; 19:45, Dortmund
Touche!
Here’s to a great game tonight.
Tonight is one of those night’s that the Emirates’ needs to build up a true sense of history….just look at the talent on display…two great classy clubs, two great managers ……every one of us there should play their part, forget the hospitality boxes …it’s our team….our club and we can make a difference in belief and vocal support….can’t wait.
Whilst agreeing with your sentiments, Darius, I feel we need to be a bit more “canny” than the home games against Chelsea & Utd.
I don’t want to put a dampener on things but from experience games like these rarely live up to expectations. 0-0 would not be a disaster for us so we cannot afford to be totally gunge ho & neither can they.
It should be a treat of quality football but that doesn’t necessarily mean lots of goals.
I really hope AW is not tempted to play a less than fully fit Cesc. That could be a huge mistake & I actually feel that Nasri is in the sharper form at the moment, so having him playing centrally could be to our advantage.
Lets hope that our boys can do us proud against great opponents & that the ref is up to it.
That might be the wise course Flint but can either manager hold their teams back in that atmosphere and with all the expectations upon them both?
Mind you, if we listen to the media then there is no expectation of us at all -except that we get beaten.
I don’t think so, not this time.