It’s been an interesting few days going walk-about, and meeting new folks while working in what I’d describe as a “pulling-your-teeth-out-without-a-local-anaesthetic” type of economy. You know the kind of economy that demands that you bend over, grab your ankles and doesn’t offer you the courtesy of using lubrication while shafting you in the most uncomfortable fashion.

“We’re heading to the dog house”, Joshua reminds all of us round the table discussing how best to stop our client from having to fold its tents and go to the wall.

To which I remind folks that whatever needs to be done should be done by Monday night so I can make my way back home. I have a very important European engagement on Tuesday night with an organization in Germany that specializes in the kind of artistic expression I normally indulge in at the home of football.

“Since when was football an art”, comes the retort from Steve across the table.

See, you have to forgive Steve. Not only does he have the personality of a puff adder, he resents that I call Wengerball and what Arsenal does as art. Personally, I think he’s a closet United fan, but he pretends he doesn’t give a hooting funt about football.

“Europe is fucked anyway. How long will they pretend the frigging elephant in the room is a hippo”, Joshua eloquently brings some order to the table.

And it makes you think. Greece is way past staring at the abyss, and they’re at the point where the abyss is smiling right back at them before it swallows the whole country into a very dark place. Ireland and Portugal like most other fairly mediocre economies were propelled by the smoke and mirrors of a European political plot hatched in Maastricht to create the United States of Europe. A plot which has back fired spectacularly with the impending collapse of whichever is the lesser of two evils, the Eurozone and its single currency, or the European Union in its current form.

The amazing thing is this though. The football establishment still thinks that everything is normal and that what is happening around them will not affect their existence. You only have to listen to the illiterate punditocracy jizzing and sycophanting about the amount of money being spent by a cabal of filthy rich individuals, or in the case of Manchester City, another country’s sovereign wealth fund.

When talking about Everton, a club that pretty much has to ask Barclays Bank for permission to pay the bills – the solution offered is that they should go to the middle east and look for a sugar daddy because that’s the only way to survive.

This kind of “chocolate tea pot” reasoning is what has contributed to a culture of recklessness when it comes to football finance. The expectation is that the only way of working through the challenges of the game is by spending money you don’t even have to buy your way out of it. We’re constantly told that “it’s the way the world is now”. Accept it or take the highway. If you don’t have money, you can’t compete.

The hacks get bemused when Arséne Wenger suggests that football is pretty much going to hit a cash crisis in the very near future. You can almost see their rolling eyes scream out “Wenger should just stick to managing Arsenal and buying the big name, big money players he needs to compete with City and United”.

Mind you, Wenger is a guy who has a masters degree in economics, and it wouldn’t be farfetched to suggest that he actually has a clue about what he says regarding the economy. As they famously say, the tide is coming, and only after it has left will we see those who’ve been swimming naked.

It’s not even about the Financial Fair Play rules. Clubs will find loopholes around that. They won’t be able to cheat the economy though. I hear people say that clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid or even the debt riddled Man United will never be allowed to fail. There’s an Asian tycoon or Arab billionaire waiting in the wings to save them.

The thing is this though, it really doesn’t matter how luxurious and state of the art your yacht is. It could be the world’s most expensive and the world’s most fanciful boat. If you don’t have a lake or an ocean to prounce around in, then it’s pretty useless.

If the economies of Spain and Italy collapse – and it’s not beyond the realm of possibility – the super clubs in these countries will come tumbling down like a house of cards built on a foundation of smoke and mirrors. Ireland, Portugal and Greece are the proverbial warning signs and even though they represent a small percentage of the European economy, they’re the biggest red flags in town.

Italy alone represents 23% of the European economy and it’s pretty much unsavable by the patch up “rescue” packages being pushed around by Germany and France.

And people ask me why I love Arsenal so much. The answer – Arsenal is an oasis of sanity in an orgy of excess.

We get another opportunity to enjoy a new European adventure for the 14th consecutive season. We get to play a great team like Borussia Dortmund in an electric atmosphere.

And this is the thing to remember. Because of the foundations that Arsenal has built, we will continue to enjoy being at the high table of football for a very long time to come. While others figure out how to get out of their financial quagmire – well, they’ll probably try find a sugar daddy – we’ll be straddling the European landscape with our brand of scintillating and exciting football.

What more can you ask for?

Let’s face it – on any other day, the title of this article would be on a docket at the local Magistrate’s court down Seven Sisters Road.

The arraignment session in Court 14 will be filled by lawyers of Jermaine Defoe, Tottenham Hotspur, the FA, UEFA and the various media companies who have a reputation to defend.

“Motion for separation, your honour”, the £700 an hour bespectacled lawyer for Sky Sports would demand. “This perverse charge has nothing to do with us and my client resents being kettled into the position of defending our reputation with this group of uncouth defendants”.

“But he’s British and that’s why it’s no crime”, you can here another lawyer shouting from 4 deep.

The prosecutor, acting on behalf of the interest of the fair minded football loving public and for the interest of the integrity of the game tries again to stipulate the charges amidst the jeers and commotion in the gallery caused by the press corps.

“Your honour, all the defendants are accused of a systematic, calculated and deliberate attempt to show bias, prejudice, xenophobia, favouritism and breath-taking hypocrisy. They have brought the game into disrepute by continuing to mask the cheating that is blatant in the game, and by continuing to turn a blind eye when that cheating is perpetrated by an Englishman”.

“But your honour, my client challenges the jurisdiction of this court on the grounds that Southwark Crown court is already dealing with my client’s business” interjects one goateed and shaven headed lawyer from within the group as the gallery erupts in cheer.

“order, order, order”, the magistrate bellows as he hammers the plank by his side to try and recapture the sanity of his court room. “Who on earth are you representing?” he asks the goateed lawyer with a firm but bewildered look.

“The Tottenham manager your honour”, the reply follows.

“Can someone tell this idiot this court doesn’t deal with tax matters”, the magistrate demands as he looks for the court clerk as if to remind her to make sure those in front of the bench understand why they’re actually in court.

“So let me clarify this”, the magistrate continues while facing the prosecutor. “So who among these defendants actually benefited from the hand job against the Young Boys?”

“Your honour”, the prosecutor responds. “We submit to you that The Tottenham no. 18 Mr. Defoe was the primary culprit who used his hand to shaft the Young Boys, and the co-accused media defendants are all collectively responsible for colluding in that crime by refusing to be fair at the reporting of such heinous acts against association football”.

“Are the people able to meet the burden of proof?”, the magistrate enquires.

“We have comprehensive footage of the crime your honour”, the prosecutor replies with a tint of a smile, “both from the broadcasters as well as the official Tottenham match DVD which is already on sale at the club shop and website. Your honour, we also have precedence to illustrate the systematic and breath-taking bias shown by the English media in favour of English players, especially the divers like Mr. Rooney and Mr. Gerrard who are referred to as being ‘very clever’ instead of the cheats they are. The people will also be submitting crucial evidence against the media in the cases of Mr. Thierry Henry and Mr. Eduardo Da Silva who the media treated like the anti-Christ after similar offenses”.

“But Talk Sport is the no. 1 commercial radio station in the country”, a voice shouts from behind the throng of lawyers. “Surely, we have the right to create controversy in the interest of the English game when the player is not an Englishman? Enough with the bloody foreigners we say. They have caused the English national team to become a laughing stock around the world”.

“Order, Order” the magistrate shouts amidst the cheers and clapping from the gallery. “Bailiff, throw that ginger haired man and his Talk Shite out of my court room”, the magistrate demands in fury.

“But your honour”, the legal aid lawyer acting on behalf of the BBC demands. “We have done nothing wrong and our commentator even challenged the fairness of the situation and pointed out that if the Young Boys had had the helping hand, there would be absolute fury across the country for an English team being denied a chance at European football at the hands of a foreign team and a foreign referee”.

“Save your nonsense for the jury”, the magistrate barks back at the BBC lawyer. “Clerk, set the date for trial. NEXT!”

“Docket number EFJ21468 – the crown vs ….”, we hear as the camera fades out.

I forget what this post was about….LOL! Yeah! Cheating and the blatant disregard of this supposed crime against association football.

Where is the outrage, or didn’t we just see Jermaine ‘Defrauding’ the Young Boys with a blatant hand job.

I wonder what would happen if it was Thierry Henry or Eduardo on the end of that shot. Or if it was Arsenal playing Celtic for a place in the group stages of the Champions League.

Thanks to Barcelona, The Arsenal is now left with only one task to contend with; Chasing down the league leaders. For a squad that has been injury prone in the extreme through the season, this after a fashion, is a blessing in disguise.

Concentrating our threadbare resources exclusively on the title race betters the odds of our success. Given that Manchester United, sans Wayne Rooney, seem relatively toothless is encouragement aplenty.

Chelsea’s lead, to wit, isn’t invulnerable either. If we stick diligently to the chase, winning every game here on in, the title, with a bit of luck, could still be ours.

The way this Arsenal side have stuck to the job, I will not put it past them to pull the feat off. Yes, the odds are stiff, and the margin for error is nil; but if we keep up the grit and the graft that has characterised our game of late, anything is possible.

That’s incentive enough, I should imagine, for the side to wish to tellingly make their mark.

Elimination to Barcelona, to briefly digress, was painful. But, given the form they displayed over the two legs, odds are that virtually any team in the draw would have succumbed to Barca. Given our injury roster, and the fact that “doing a Gentile” on Messi isn’t remotely in our DNA, the outcome wasn’t really a shock.

I’m not, let me make it clear, taking comfort in excuses. I continue to hold that this Arsenal team, relative to its peers, needs to be better staffed and coached, particularly in defence, to fully realize its potential.

Investigating the rash of injuries that have become routine with this team is an urgent necessity too. Unless we sort these out, I fear, progress beyond where we now stand will prove elusive.

Next at hand, Tottenham. They’re coming off losses to Sunderland and Portsmouth, and are in a stiff contest with Manchester City to secure 4th place. The pressure, therefore, is entirely on them. Recent history to boot, suggests that pressure and Tottenham aren’t great bedfellows either.

All found, therefore, I’d favour us to collect three points if we can bring our recent endeavour levels to the game. A win will put us a point clear of United and level with Chelsea, as healthy a set of incentives as there ever were.

So here’s to three points. We’ll have team news and other relevant updates for you come Wednesday morning.

On the business side of football, recent developments merit a fresh look at the issue of debt in the game, for the consequences of the global slump are beginning to be felt in Football too.

First to Spain:

In all, Gay calculates Spanish football’s debt to be €3.5bn. The Spanish federation still owe the players’ union €6.8m and, according to the former president of the union, Gerardo Movilla, an estimated €100m is still owed to footballers in unpaid wages.

The state loses out too; Atlético Madrid owe the tax man €15m; 50% of their transfer income is embargoed.

Next, Manchester United:

Manchester United’s financial advisers expect the club to miss out on at least £24m in cumulative match-day revenues over the next two years. That constitutes a decline of more than 11% ….

JP Morgan’s analysis of the club’s financial position, set out in a research document released last Friday, shows United’s 2009 match-day income of £109m to be a high-water mark. Even in its supposed “upside scenario”, in which the club progresses to the Champions League quarter-final or beyond in both years, it anticipates a drop to £98m this season and to £96m next.

The recovery from that base will be weak; to £101m the following year. Indeed, United’s own budgets predict an even bigger two-year fall of £29m, with much of the collapse attributed to the difficulties in selling executive boxes.

The document states: “Most of the impact from the economic slowdown was felt in the executive hospitality business, which we would argue is a highly discretionary expense.

Do note too, that their elimination to Bayern in the Champions League will put a further dent in their earnings and cash flow.

And, typical to Leveraged buyouts comes this summation:

Whereas they (Read: The Glazers) have taken near unfathomable millions out of their club – £344m in interest, £120m in fees and other costs, £22.9m for themselves in “management fees” and personal loans –…

Finally, in the light of the recent “rumours” regarding Martin O’Neill’s dissatisfaction, a look at Aston Villa

But you suspect, underneath it all, that Lerner has been expecting a bit more bang for his buck. And that buck has been considerable. Since paying £62 million for the club four years ago, he has invested another £179m.

Some £95m of that is in equity, with £84m in loans. He also underwrote record losses last season of £43.7m.

Consider Villa’s “progress” on the field over the same period, and draw your own conclusions.

My own view is this: Spain is but act one in suffering the consequences of this recession on a debt fuelled business model. The world, and indeed the UK especially, is still in the grip of a deflationary spiral – pretensions like Quantitative Easing being only that and little more.

JP Morgan’s analysis above, in essence, is pertinent to most Premier League clubs at least in the short term. I think things are going to get worse, much worse, before getting better both in the broader economy and in football, and clubs that are already under strain are going to be under the cosh over the next year or two.

UEFA’s debt rules come into force in 2012; but the markets, in my view, will have sorted the situation out, painfully, by then.

Randy Lerner, in a recent interview, put forward the best description of a sustainable business model:

We want to build the club on our attendances. We don’t want to pay all our TV money straight out in transfer fees and wages. We have to invest in developing Villa Park, allowing us to generate our own revenue streams.

Perfectly put, if I may, and it brought to mind a certain North London club; one, I must add, that isn’t competing for fourth place.

Here’s to three points in the Derby. My meaner friends look at it as two for the price of one: Further our own title chase while putting a dent in a rival’s lesser aspirations. But that’s just them……..

There’s absolutely no way out of the need to acknowledge and bow down to Leo Messi for what you can only describe as genius and magic.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pele) and Diego Armando Maradona must be wondering if their legacy as the 2 best players of the last century is going to be surpassed by this 22 year old magician.

While the world ponders that thought, I must say it was a privilege last night to watch a play station footballer come to life. I have no complaints whatsoever about Arsenal’s defeat to Barcelona, for doing so will diminish the rightful acknowledgment of the diminutive magician.

I so look forward to the World Cup for this boy’s magic deserves recognition with the Coupe du Monde

As for Arsenal, we shall discuss where to go from tomorrow. The Champions League was not to be for this year, and the boys need to hold their heads up high for they have served the faithful well this far.

For now, here’s an ode to my beloved Arsenal.

If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t.

If you like to win, but you think you can’t,
It is almost certain you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a team’s will,
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.

Football’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins,
Is the man who thinks he can!

I shall never forsake my beloved Arsenal!

Stone Cold Arsenal is looking for new writers. If you have the passion and fire for Arsenal, and you feel you want to share your thoughts, your passion and your emotions with the thousands who read this blog daily, visit our Write For Us page to find out more.

That’s right, you can’t go forth and multiply without the necessary cojones in the same way that you can’t go and wrestle the right to play in the Champions League semi-final without the balls to stand up and be counted.

I think it’s an attribute that someone called ’testicular fortitude’ when describing the audacity of the last minute goal against Wolves over the weekend.

It’s going to be a strange night tonight, a cup final if you will. It’s a night where form goes right out of the window and audacity and courage takes over.

In truth, Barcelona will be cursing themselves for not killing off Arsenal when they had the chance.

Years ago, I was introduced to a fairly unsavoury character who made Tony Soprano look like a pussycat. My associates and I were organizing an event in South East London, and had to shop around for ’security’ because we had a tight budget.

It wasn’t the sort of event that you’d go down the market and haggle for a £8 an hour bouncer to satisfy the minimum requirements of your entertainment licence. This was one of them events that you actually needed the security and had to stretch your budget.

So in interviewing the new prospect, he decided to share some anecdotes about some of the ’challenges’ his boys had to deal with. I suppose he wanted to impress me so as to nail down the lucrative contract.

What sticks to my mind was his assertion that in his type of business, if you have a chance to deck the opposition an finish them, the worst thing you can do is let them get up and come back at you.

For the sake of expediency, I’m sure you’ll excuse me for not going into detail.

His take on the issue resonates with the current situation Barca and Arsenal are in. It’s fine pontificating about the galactic football that Barcelona unleashed in the first 45 minutes of last Wednesday’s opening tie, but the object of the exercise was to win.

The fact of the matter is that Barca succumbed to what Arsenal has been accused of for years on end – Pretty football with no end result.

It was clear that Barca were the more worried team in the last quarter of the match, and for that reason, I believe Arsenal have a psychological advantage.

It’s not going to be an easy game by any means, but Arsenal were past their stage fright by the time Fabregas buried the equalizing penalty. Arsenal had the momentum and Barcelona knew it and it rattled them.

Everyone outside the Emirates has taken the view that there’s no chance in hell for Arsenal to come out of the Camp Nou with a victory. I tend to feel being written off especially in Europe does work to Arsenal’s advantage if you think of previous results against both Inter and AC Milan at the Sansiro, Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, and the Old Lady in Turin.

Both teams are affected by the walking wounded with Arsenal missing 5 preferred first choice players. I doubt if those on the pitch will be taking the view that they are not worthy and that has to be a good sign.

The expectation is that the boys have been forced to watch the DVD of Wednesday’s game so many times that they’ve had to live and breathe it enough to know what is tactically needed for the game.

We have the personnel to address the changes needed and my sense is that the victory has to be driven by our mental strength. Arsenal gave Barca too much respect when they rolled into town, we have to redeem ourselves and yank that confidence away from them.

The boys have nothing to lose. Go out there and play your game.

Show that you all have the balls to fit the mental fortitude and character that you’ve shown us this season.

For tonight’s game, we will be sharing our thoughts and emotions on twitter. Follow us on twitter and join in the conversation during half time and after the game.

Stone Cold Arsenal is looking for new writers. If you have the passion and fire for Arsenal, and you feel you want to share your thoughts, your passion and your emotions with the thousands who read this blog daily, visit our Write For Us page to find out more.

Enjoy the game wherever you are.

Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola promised the purest form of artistic entertainment to the footballing world, and the teams didn’t disappoint on Wednesday night.

I’ll be honest, the onslaught that Barcelona unleashed on Arsenal in the first half of that game was both beautiful to watch and extremely painful to watch as an Arsenal fan.

Nevertheless, most people will acknowledge that it’s probably one of the best displays of football brilliance that they’ve ever witnessed. However hair-raising the first 25 minutes were for Arsenal, we were treated to probably the most ecstatic match we will witness in our generation.

The match was undoubtedly elevated to epic status following the way which Arsenal dug deep, showed character, and tenaciously went about the business of coming back from the dead.

Right in that entertaining mixture of total football and total fight backs is a profound lesson that the English footballing establishment can learn.

There was everything you could ever desire from two teams – exquisite technique, sublime football, commitment and a ’never say die’ spirit, pace, suspense, heart-break, character, determination – you name it, it was there.

There was one thing that was evidently missing. It was conspicuous in its absence and is a lesson for those who insist that playing an insalubrious and uncouth brand of football that’s designed to kick and maim the opponent is an acceptable substitute for what is nebulously referred to as grit, steel and grafting ability.

How many times have we heard that the uniqueness of the English Premier league is the hard type of football that is said to be for ’men’. We are told that it’s a contact sport, and so Arsenal – who have been vocal in detesting the unreasonable physicality we are subjected to, should get with the program or stop playing a game that is clearly for men who are “well ‘ard”.

You see, I differentiate between contact sport on the one hand, and martial arts and violence on the other. For too long, kicking and bruising opponents has been accepted in the EPL as a strategy for those who are not able to cope with players who are technically superior to themselves.

Euphemisms like “you need to get in their faces”, “you have to get up their noses”, or “you need to get close to them and let them know you’re there” are bandied around like they’re going out of fashion.

In truth, those who spew these stereotypical euphemisms are just promoting thuggery and violence in the name of association football.

Arsenal were outclassed and outplayed in the first half an hour of Wednesday’s game, yet the team didn’t resort to the kind of mindless violence that we so often see in the EPL in response to such footballing master classes.

The Gunners dug deep, absorbed the pressure, and mounted a fight back. We fought and tackled hard when we could, and we moved the ball and pressed Barca back in their own half when we had the ball.

Nobody can say that Arsenal or Barcelona were not shy about committing to tackles and encouraging the healthy dose of physicality within the ’contact sport’ without descending into thuggery.

Can we now stop this nonsense of insisting that the only way you can play against a technically superior team is to kick them off the park? The law of averages suggest that players will get injured.

Arsenal and Barcelona have shown what teams can aspire to in terms of the quality of attacks and how to play against that attack. Arsenal were starved off the ball and this is not something the Gunners are used to – but they found a way of fighting back without resorting to violence and kicking the hell out of the opponent.

Arsenal focussed on playing football instead of being anti-football as we’ve seen so often in the EPL.

The bigger lesson I think is for the English FA who would have seen what they need to aspire to in order to improve the fortunes of the English game.

Enough with this ’kick, push and move’ brand of football augmented by an obsession with physicality. It’s a brand of football promoted at all ranks of the English game and is frankly speaking not entertaining in the slightest.

The English game can learn a lot from the epic encounter at the Emirates last Wednesday, not least that there’s another way to play football – and it doesn’t involve maiming opponents.

And enough of this ’grit and steel nonsense being used as a substitute to compensate for the inability to play football.

Speaking of anti-football, you might have missed our mini-series on Anti-football, Anti-Arsenalism and the misguided self preservation of English football.

Don’t forget to subscribe to Stone Cold Arsenal to receive regular updates of our content.

If there’s two things this Arsenal team are guilty of, it’s the fact that this season, they don’t know how to lie down and die; and secondly, they have perfected the art of inducing heart attacks amongst the supporters.

I don’t think there’s a script at London Colney that encourages the team to do anything the easy way, and it has to be said, it ain’t good for the heart. I wouldn’t have it any other way though – it’s beautiful.

Last night was one of the most entertaining matches I’ve ever watched. Don’t get me wrong, as an Arsenal fan, it was bloody uncomfortable at least in the first half, but Barcelona came to play, and play they did.

The Catalans produced a master class in possession football that totally starved the Arsenal, a situation that I honestly don’t remember us ever being in.

I guess we were all feeling the same way other teams feel when we run riot all over the Premiership with our possession football. Nothing wrong with occasionally getting a dose of your own medicine.

Once Arsenal had jolted themselves out of the self inflicted stage fright, I was reminded about why I love this team so much. This season, we’ve risen from the dead more times than Lazarus or any phoenix, and the fighting spirit, courage, tenacity and character of the team makes me so proud.

Even so, the match last night was filled with irony from every corner.

The irony that Almunia is the only reason Arsenal are still in with a chance to upset the apple cart, yet a few days ago, he was the Anti-Christ if you believed what you read on the internet.

The irony that Barcelona were guilty of everything Arsenal have been accused of for years – playing pretty and majestic football yet failing to kill off teams that are screaming to be executed and buried. How many times have we been told that the only statistic that counts is the one on the scoreboard?

The irony that despite being kept under unimaginable pressure, Arsenal knuckled down, fought like mad and took their chances. How many times have we been hit hard by teams who are ruthlessly efficient despite our dominance in possession?

The irony that Arsenal’s ’scapegoats du jour’ – Denilson, Walcott and Bendtner – played out of their skins and were the players who totally changed the game for Arsenal. How many times have these characters been bashed beyond recognition and charged with the crime of being unfit to wear the Arsenal shirt?

The irony that despite risking Fabregas, the Arsenal captain has already done enough to leave his mark by opening the door for his team-mates to finish a job at the Camp Nou. How many inspirational leaders on the pitch give you an equalizer, and takes out two key players (Pique and Puyol) from the next tie?

I can just picture Cesc cursing “If I ain’t playing next week then these 2 bastards ain’t playing either”. Getting two players suspended and burying a penalty for good measure is a job well done for the captain.

The irony that Leonel Messi (was he really playing last night?) was sacrificed when they went down to 10 men to give him a breather after spending most of the game in Denilson’s pocket.

The irony that Barcelona are shit scared of Theo Walcott (who totally made Maxwell his bitch), yet they refused to give Arsenal the ball and bullied us all over the park in the first half.

In truth, we started the game really badly and froze, but the spirited return and strong finish will do our confidence the world of good. It was evident that the key to Barca’s game is working harder without the ball than they do with the ball.

They showed they can’t sustain that tempo for the whole game, and Arsenal’s propensity to be anal with fitness and our ’never say die’ spirit became their worst nightmare.

The match wouldn’t be the match without the roller coaster reactions all over the web and all over news columns and air waves. Reading some of the comments on the Arsenal boards during the game, I must say that I thought I was in a psychiatric ward with schizophrenics running the show.

There is the mother of all ironies there when you see Arsenal fans spew so much garbage and show their total lack of belief in this Arsenal team, and their total lack of fighting spirit as Arsenal fans.

How is it that Arsenal supporters expect their team to fight to the death (and believe me – this team has fought admirably to the death all season), yet at the small experience of adversity, these same so called fans whimper away and hide behind the sofa.

Get a frigging spine I say to all those who still have the audacity to question the resolve and determination of this team. Yes, you may question tactics and individual or collective team performances, but it’s unacceptable to question this teams resolve.

If you want to understand what type of fans I’m talking about, check out our definitive anatomy of an Arsenal doom and gloom merchant.

Also, if you think Arsenal fans were pissed off, try checking out how Barca fans feel for throwing the game away.

And of course, the equation wouldn’t be complete without the hypocrisy of the media. I found it painful to listen to the ITV commentary, even when we had the comeback on and were giving Barca grief in the last half an hour.

I switched over to Radio 5 live only to find Alan Green reading out Arsenal’s obituary.

If Manchester United had fought back the way we did and clawed back an impossible 2 nil deficit – they would be waxing lyrical about Man United. Nobody remembered that United were totally bitch-slapped by Bayern Munich for 88 minutes in May 1999 before they smuggled the European cup from the Camp Nou to the horror of the Bavarians.

If Liverpool had fought back the way we did and got the 2 goals back, the media will be waxing lyrical about the invincibility of Gerrard and Torez. Nobody remembered that Liverpool were totally bitch-slapped by AC Milan in Istanbul in May 2005 before they too smuggled the European cup from under the jaws of the Italians.

When is it that this Arsenal team will get the respect its due – instead of the snide and contemptuous remarks about Arsenal getting away with murder?

The media didn’t give us a chance in hell to even make it to the 4th place champions league spot, let alone challenge for both the EPL and Champions League titles. What hypocrisy the show for applying selective amnesia to the mental strength of the teams they favour, yet the evidence is all there that Arsenal have time and time shown that despite adversity, they have formidable mental strength.

They point out that we can’t do it in 5 days time because – wait for this, we have key players out with injury.

So what’s new? Arsenal is still here and we refuse to go away.

Last 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”.

Simply put, he who dares wins.

As the Catalans roll into town, the news wires, tabloid columns and air waves are filled with all manner of hyperbole and little to do with football.

It’s all about the romance of Cesc Fabregas playing against his boyhood team before he allegedly joins them; about the return of Thierry Henry to Arsenal; and pretty much about Barcelona steam rolling Arsenal (that’s what they say anyway if you believe them).

I’ve rarely commented on the fiction and tabloid diarrhoea that seems to occupy journalists from both countries who seem obsessed with forcing Fabregas to move to Barcelona. If the Arsenal captain farted, they’d find a story to go with it – like how the young Catalan can’t cope with Arsenal’s diet and therefore will be leaving for Barca in the summer.

Even so, we’re going to steer clear of the suffocating shit stirring that will occupy us until kick-off tomorrow night at 7.45 pm.

There’s a reason why the matches between Arsenal and Barcelona are generating interest all over the world. It’s undoubtedly the long overdue meeting between two of the best free flowing and exciting teams in world football.

They are teams that thrive on an attacking and scintillating brand of football. While some might point that this attacking mentality tends to throw defensive discipline away in the case of both teams, football purists would argue ”so what! It’s bloody exciting”

I think that regardless of the results of the two-legged tie, if you can’t enjoy the spectacle of two exhilarating teams coming at each other without inhibition, then you shouldn’t be watching football at all.

But why is it that Arsenal and Barcelona can command so much respect around the world for their brand of scintillating football?

Granted, Barcelona may have been at it for a bit longer as Arsenal pretty much went back to the drawing board following the dismantling of the ’Invincibles’. However, the ethos and philosophy of both clubs is admirable.

In a lot of ways, one of the most intriguing things about the last generation of Arsenal players is that they were never as successful in Europe as this current crop of players. Even the ’Invincibles’ really struggled to reach the heights that this current Arsenal team has reached in Europe, despite the accolades they collected domestically; and despite the superstars they had in the team.

I think in there, lies the answer to the evolution of the current Arsenal side. I suspect it’s a factor many people still obsessed with a certain brand of football that combines power with technique fail to see time and time again.

This current Arsenal team is normally and unfairly compared to the ’Invincibles’ and this is wrong in a lot of respects. For one, the ’Invincibles’ were at the peak of their careers and this is not the case with the core of the current Arsenal side.

Secondly, Wenger has slowly moved away from the archetypal team of the last decade, and slowly focussed on a core of mobile, pacy and technically gifted players.

The football establishment , stuck in their time warp of Neolithic ideas of what football should be like, have been quick at beating this Arsenal side with a very big stick. The team has been accused of being light-weight, not being strong enough and not showing the brute force seen elsewhere in the football league, etc.

Not enough credit is given to this Arsenal side for the distance they have travelled and the evolution they have shown in the game. Even more annoying, are the misguided truths and inconvenient lies that suggest that this brand of Wengerball is ineffective and doesn’t work.

I read a fascinating article yesterday on Untold Arsenal that blows one of the myths about Arsenal not being ’clinical’ in front of goal. This is a myth peddled day in, day out until it has become fact among the pundits and hacks – yet the plain truth is that Arsenal are the most lethal and clinical team in the EPL and in Europe.

Don’t believe me? Read Jerome Harwood’s article about this on Untold Arsenal.

By evolving the team, Wenger has made it more effective in Europe, while still keeping it very competitive domestically. In a lot of ways, the only other team that compares to this is Barcelona.

Structurally and in terms of the technical capability of the team, Barcelona and Arsenal are very similar. The two clubs operate with players of the same mould physically and technically, and aspire to the same virtues of total football.

Arsenal’s misfortune is that they play in a league that is peppered with teams that prefer to use an unsavoury brand of brute force disguised as commitment and grit. They play more with teams that thrive on physicality with a ’kick and chase’ mentality.

Over the last few years, the Gunners have learnt how to take care of themselves on the pitch and they continue to balance the physicality needed with the vision of playing scintillating football.

In truth, the media, pundits and hacks still harp on about Arsenal being ‘weak and lightweight’ – yet there is no evidence of this. Mind you, I differentiate physicality from the cowardice of kicking Arsenal players off the park, carrying out cynical rotational fouling, and literally breaking legs of Arsenal players in late challenges. There’s a difference between being physical in a contact sport and being violent.

Despite these similarities that put Arsenal and Barca head and shoulders over many teams in the world when it comes to playing total football, the two clubs couldn’t be so far apart.

When it comes to club management and administration, Arsenal are light years ahead of the Catalans. In recent times, football finance and football debts have been a key area of concern, and for the foreseeable future, there’s no getting away from the fact that you need to balance football with proper financial stability to survive for the future.

Just as an example, last year, Barcelona’s debt stood at €350m and they made a profit of €8.8m, despite winning 6 trophies. Arsenal on the other hand made half year profits this financial year of over £35m, and managed to reduce the mortgage on Emirates stadium by a staggering £100m.

Arsenal’s strategy is clearly to drive down the mortgage repayments over the next 2 or 3 years, while still remaining very competitive. This despite all manner of doubters including a handful of Arsenal fans who’d rather see Arsenal spend that money on so called ’big name’ players.

The fact of the matter is that Arsenal at the moment are at the cusp of something great, and will in 2 or 3 years, be debt free of the stadium mortgage. Not only will we have a squad capable of challenging domestically and in Europe, the club will also have an obscene amount of ’organic’ money to use to develop the squad and move the club into total domination of the game in years to come.

Not even Barcelona will be able to match that, and it’s hard to see any club in the world that will be generating tens of millions of pounds every year.

While we wait for the rest of the football world to catch up with Arsenal’s vision and financial stability and superiority off the pitch, we can marvel at Arsenal’s technical superiority on the pitch against a team that is also technically superior.

Like I said, regardless of the results against Barcelona, if you can’t enjoy the game, then you need to stop following football.

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• He Who Dares Wins, There’s No Other Way

We at Stone Cold Arsenal had opined earlier that Arsenal’s fortunes over this home stretch would quite simply be determined more by our ability to outscore opponents rather than by our ability to contain them.

We failed to do so at Birmingham City and the chase for the title therefore has just become the more arduous. It was an insipid game. With most of our strike force and creative heart still not in prime form, and a makeshift defence rendered necessary by circumstances, such an outcome was always on the cards.

While Birmingham, to put things in perspective, have taken points off virtually all the top teams at St. Andrews this season, three points were certainly not an impossibility and debates about the late introduction of Arshavin and Nasri will rage for some time to come.

Waste of time I say. We’re better off looking ahead and trying to win every game that lies ahead. So too criticisms of Almunia and the sloppy defending that cost us two points. Futile to fret about these things so late in the season.

We’ll do well to reconcile ourselves to the fact that this season is going to be a test of this team’s character, eventual outcomes be what they may. They’ve acquitted themselves honourably so far; their response to Birmingham will be a fresh marker.

Next on the agenda is Barcelona. I’m quite happy we drew them as opposed to one of the lesser teams as the pressure of expectations are non-existent. We have nothing to lose, and I can’t think of a more liberating feeling than that.

Can we, and will we go out there and give the games our all is the question. To me the outcome is far from decided, formidable as the task is. How we acquit ourselves here is going to speak volumes about our potential and character.

Reputations and teams can be made or undone in games like these, and I regard this tie against Barcelona as a great opportunity for this side to make a decisive breakthrough in their development. Win it, or make it a darned close affair, and they’ll go a long way towards fulfilling their rich potential.

Fabregas is not certain to start, and strong influence as he is, I’m not particularly worried. Between Nasri and Arshavin we should be able to hold our own in the creative department. Should it be Vermaelen-Sol at the back, or Vermaelen-Song?

I confess to favouring the latter option. Campbell’s talent and experience I’m afraid don’t compensate for his physical limitations in games such as these, and between Diaby and Denilson, Song shouldn’t be much missed in midfield. Needs must is my view.

I’d like to indulge a memory prompted by this draw: The quarter finals of the Champions’ League in 2004.

Deportivo La Coruna were drawn to play defending Champions AC Milan, and lost the first leg 1-4 at the San Siro. Against the formidable odds, they then thrashed them 4-0, in a display of relentlessly attacking football at the Riazor , eliminating Milan in the process.

Not that I want Arsenal to take such a tortuous route, but I certainly expect them to emulate Deportivo’s spirit and endeavour.

Here are the highlights of those two games:

An instance, I hope you dear readers will agree, of what makes football the “Beautiful Game”.

As an aside, I’d like to know if readers would like a column featuring two Spanish clubs, espousing starkly different philosophies, that for awhile around the start of the millennium punched well above their weight both in Spain and in Europe.

The afore mentioned Deportivo coached by Javier “Jabo” Irureta, and Hector Cuper’s Valencia who reached two successive Champions’ League finals. At the time, I found them a fascinating study in contrasts, and I’d like to know if you, our readers, will be interested in knowing more about them.

To conclude, I’d like to draw your attention to two articles highlighting the appalling indebtedness at the heart of club football in England and in Spain:

http://tinyurl.com/yhlf2fk

Seventy per cent of Barclays Premier League clubs have had their credit ratings “suspended”, an investigation by The Times can reveal.

Reports seen by this newspaper and generated by Riskdisk, a credit checking agency, reveal that 14 of the top-flight sides have been blacklisted, essentially meaning that companies trading with them are advised to withdraw credit terms.

http://tinyurl.com/yexef69

According to José María Gay, Spain’s leading expert on football finance and an adviser to Uefa: “La Liga is dying”.

In all, Gay calculates Spanish football’s debt to be €3.5bn. The Spanish federation still owe the players’ union €6.8m and, according to the former president of the union, Gerardo Movilla, an estimated €100m is still owed to footballers in unpaid wages.

The state loses out, too: Atlético owe the tax man €15m; 50% of their transfer income is embargoed.

Look back over the clubs who have competed in the Champions League recently and the situation is alarming: Valencia’s debt is more than €600m.

Like Real Madrid (who sold their training ground for €447m to the council in 2001, wiping out their €278m debt), a property deal was supposed to be their salvation. However, the market crashed at just the wrong time. Now Valencia have two stadiums – one they cannot sell and another they cannot afford to finish building.

According to the third largest shareholder at Atlético Madrid, their debt is above €300m. Villarreal have just failed to pay their players for the first time because the ceramics industry from which their owner, Fernando Roig, makes his money has been hit hard by the crisis. Deportivo La Coruña are more than €120m in debt. Mallorca are desperately seeking a buyer and preparing for administration.

Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad have been relegated and, with no parachute payment to break the fall, went into administration. Real Sociedad’s president at the time was a certain Astiazarán, now the league’s president.

I urge you, our readers, to take the time to read through both those articles in full as these are issues that should concern all serious football fans.

I must say that I, as an Arsenal fan, ‘am delighted to only have to deal with on-field worries and frustrations.

Well then, here’s to acquitting ourselves as champions, the outcome be what it may, against Barcelona.

Speaking of the state of football finance, ownership and the sheer madness of the precarious positions football clubs find themselves in, don’t forget to join in our intriguing debate of why Arsenal is an oasis of fiscal sanity in an orgy of excess.

Also, if there’s any specific topic or aspect of football that you’d like to read in-depth, just contact us and we’ll educate ourselves on it before presenting our two pennies worth in another popular mini series, like the ones you’ll find in our ’Article Series’.