Shit. Shitty shit. Not really much to say about yesterday. Arsenal didn’t play very well, and Birmingham looked good for their win. Considering we should probably have been down to 10 men and conceded a penalty in the first 5 minutes we had our fair share of luck and still managed to lose it the Arsenal way, with a bit of a cock-up at the end.
The only complaint I’d voice about Birmingham (aside from Bowyer being a diving cheating cunt) was the stupid, childish hand to Koscielny’s head. I’ve seen plenty of red card’s for less, especially in retaliation. But, somehow, when celebrating, it’s fine.
I’ve read a lot of Arsenal fans lambasting the keeper and Koscielny. Those two players have kept us in games, and have helped us progress in both the Carling Cup and Champions League. They’ve put in excellent performances in the league. What happened was a horrible mix up and not a sympton of Arsenals failure to buy big. What happened there could of (and has) happened to anybody. Rio Ferdinand once kicked the ball passed his own keeper in more or less the same situation, so “experience” would probably not really have made any difference. Shit happens. That it happens to Arsenal in a Cup Final is just the Arsenal way. Only Arsenal could really have managed it.
BBC immediately spoke of “the black hole” in Arsenals defence and immediately Alan Hansen compared Arsenal’s “leaky defence” to the “solid foundations” of the teams around them in the league. The fact remains, after conceding 27 goals we’ve conceded just 2 more than both Manchester City and Manchester United, the teams above and below us. The only other team to have conceded less are Chelsea (22 goals), and they’re 5th – surely proof that having the tightest defence in the league won’t actually win you the league, or any other competition.
I’m not suggesting we can’t improve, I’m just saying we hardly have a black fucking hole. Consider now that we have the 3rd best defensive record in the league and our first choice central defender is currently being upgraded in the factory and has been there since the start of the season “awaiting parts”.
Anyway, if you’re going to concede goals you need to score them, and that’s something we didn’t do enough of yesterday. Why we continued to play RVP when clearly injured is beyond me – he could hardly run and I think it hampered us. As great a player as he is, even he can’t magic goals out of thin air with a leg shattered in seven places. The fantastic goal he scored seemed to hurt his leg and from that moment on he was simply anonymous. Why we didn’t change him for Bendtner or Chamakh sooner I have no idea.
On a side note, Rosicky was also pretty anonymous yesterday. Surely this is shaping up to be the floppy haired little ‘goal machine’s last season? He’s been consistently awful. Why we kicked Edaurdo into touch after his failed to comeback from injury, and yet stand by Rosicky who has lost 6 yards of pace and three footballers of ability since his own injury, is beyond me.
On balance, I thought Birmingham were worthy winners – they had a stonewall penalty claim, hit the post and scored twice. That Chesney also had to make a save on Zigic in a one on one tells you all you need to know. We may have had more shots on target, but Birmingham looked the most dangerous.
I just hope now that Arsenal take the manner of defeat, an awful mistake of a goal and get all fired up, go out and prove the 17 people who text me last night wrong. I mean I can take good hearted ribbing from everybody and anybody, but when a fucking moron Liverpool fan gloats over you losing after just having been beaten by West Ham 3-1, you know there’s something wrong with the world.
