After the retreat of the Gooner Nation from the fiasco that was our performance against Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Wednesday night we need to focus all our attention on tomorrow tea-time’s game at the Boleyn Ground against the ‘Appy ‘Ammers.
If we play as we did on Wednesday night it could be a painful experience for us. Reading the comments made by skipper Cesc Fàbregas about the Tractor Boys’ “rugby” tactics worried me. He should be looking at his own sub-par performance first. We really can’t expect our opponents to do anything other than employ the tactics they think will have the best chance of success against us.
We need to have a serious word with ourselves. I don’t want any Arsenal team to accept defeat well. Losing with grace is however a part of sport. We need to throw the brickbats at ourselves, not blame the opposition for having the temerity to employ winning tactics. I don’t enjoy watching route one Blitzkrieg aerial bombardment football. I don’t enjoy seeing the opposition park the bus in front of their goal. You can hardly blame opponents for doing all that they can within the laws of the game to win however.
All that said, weeping and gnashing of teeth isn’t going to get us anywhere. We need cool heads and stout hearts at the moment. Some Gooners are divas. They seem at their happiest spitting the dummy and launching all of their toys out of the pram. I can’t think of a better way of helping ensure that this season ends without silverware. I’m as honked off at some of our performances this season as any Gooner. Let’s have a sense of perspective however. It’s not as if we’re in danger of relegation. We will soon drop down the League and go out of the cup competitions and Europe if we don’t steady the ship a bit lively. As supporters we can do our bit by cheering the team on rather than coating them off.
If the players don’t respond to verbal encouragement that’s another issue. I have no problem with players not giving the very best they have to give being told that that’s not acceptable in no uncertain terms at the end of the game. That’s the very minimum we can expect in return for the rip-off admission prices we pay and the extravagant salaries the players receive. I prefer to be kissed when I’m being screwed. It is galling to be completely ignored by the players at the end of the game. The least they could do is acknowledge the effort, time and money expended by the fans.
The issue of the players acknowledging supporters has been repeatedly raised with the manager and club officials. That it should have to be raised in the first place is in itself is depressing. The players should be self-aware and thoughtful enough to not have to be told to thank those who directly responsible for the lavish rewards they receive. Let’s be honest, for most players the less contact they have with fans the happier they are. The first reaction to any invitation to anything is, “how much?” Too many players regard fans as an inconvenience at best, mug punters at worst. They’re cocooned in a world of de luxe bling and first class treatment where they never near the word, “No.”
We don’t ask for a lot in return, just a few moments of acknowledgement and some basic respect. We also want to see the players applying their gifts to the maximum in return for their salaries and other perks. That’s not too much to ask is it? Football at its best can be a fabulous experience. The colour, the game, the unhinged passion. The game has a sordid, cynical side however in which too many of its practitioners know the price of everything and the value of nothing. The game, especially at the elite level is in danger of losing its soul.
I don’t demand success every season. I do expect the players, coaching staff, administrators and board to strain every sinew in making the club and the team better and better on and off the field. We appear complacent and becalmed as a club at the moment. I don’t want us to go a mad spending spree splashing the cash like a drunken sailor on shore leave. I do want us to accept that we have real deficiencies both tactically and in terms of temperament and attitude at the moment. If we can’t accept that then we’ll stay where we are, tantalisingly short of the final steps to success.
After two very disappointing performances in the domestic cups we need to go out tomorrow tea-time determined to re-assert ourselves.
Keep the faith!
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