A quick phone conversation with Gooner In Exile 2 during midweek predicted today's result, and as much as we were both obviously wanting the three points, we agreed that this team didn't have enough in them to get them. It's all about bollocks, you see. And when the going gets tough, I just don't think this team has enough, if last Sunday's result didn't show you that, you're losing it. It pains me to say it, but today's game is exactly the sort of game that Man Utd would have won. Sorry, but it is.
So, two fucking dodgy decisions have threatened to de-rail our push for the Premier League. A push by Bramble on Arshavin should have been a penalty, and Arshavin's goal should have stood because he was onside. Fact. End of. How convenient. But...really?
Here's an idea, and I'm really just throwing it out there - why not start games as we finish them? Let's not bleat about the decisions, they didn't go our way, that's football - it shouldn't be, but it just is. But where the fuck were we for the first hour? We need to be more urgent from the off and not just urgent in the last twenty.
Diaby, who, hands up, I was championing in my last post, and Denilson were plain awful (Ramsey, anyone?). Doing nothing and offering even less. Big game Bendtner again, when it mattered most, just didn't get going. It's all right being a flat track bully against lower league opposition, but he needs to stand up and match his ego with performances against bigger teams when the pressure's on. And the pressure is on, most definitely, chum.
It's ok with me for a lot of people on twitter staying positive, saying it's a point gained, and the ref and the assistant ref costing us the game, but deep down I know they're all as angry as me, just putting on a brave face - it's two points dropped. It's not negativity to slag off the performance, it's honesty. We were woeful for the first hour, and the longer the game goes on if dodgy decisions are made, it makes it harder to take, of course it does. If, however, you start a game as we normally finish one, we'd have probably been a couple of goals up and the decisions would have meant nothing. Sometimes at the end of a game you have to look at yourselves and wonder if you could have done anything different to win the game, and if not then look at the referee. I believe we could have done a lot more both tactically and with sheer effort, and blaming the ref just doesn't cut it with me.
Without Fabregas, we look lost. Yes, he's our best player and certainly our most influential, but are you telling me that Nasri, player of the season so far, isn't able to fill his boots. What's going to happen when the inevitable happens and Cesc pisses off to northern Spain? With Theo out we miss his pace and a different threat down the right, and with Van Persie missing we miss a regular (when fit) goalscorer. Saucy Jack, again, was the shining light, and if a nineteen year old is up for it every game, it beggars belief that the majority of the rest cannot follow suit.
However, amid all this, it's not the end of the world. But when a chance is thrown up again to close the gap on the leaders we have to take it. We blew it against Newcastle big time and we did it again today. The sad fact is that this team does not cope with pressure, and as the minutes and the games tick on, the pressure will only get more intense.
Over to you, Liverpool. Here's a picture of an impala shagging a zebra.
The Next Day....
Well I have to say I'm still pissed off. A party last night didn't lift the gloom of yesterday, and I still stand by pretty much everything I said. This team needs to take chances when they're offered and yesterday was one of those, they're not going to happen every week. In the cold light of day, the decisions by the referee and his assistant were an integral part of the result but they're not the whole picture.
So apologies for my angry, rambling, negative tone, but I've invested far too much time-wise, emotionally and financially in this great football club and I think if something needs to be said then I'll fucking say it. Whether you like it or not.
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