Arsenal
have had a dreadful season. At least that is how we felt at Christmas,
that's how we were feeling when we got knocked out of the League Cup by
Bradford and the FA Cup by Brighton. It's how we felt a few months ago
when we were 8 points adrift of Spurs, 10 adrift of Chelsea in third,
and we had to watch our former captain and star striker score goals for
fun each week for eventual Champions Manchester United. When we were
beaten at White Hart Lane in early April, most of us assumed that Thursday night football
was inevitable. Cries of 'Wenger out!' and 'sack the board' were heard
at the Emirates, and in private many supporters were questioning our
wage structure, our transfer policies, and suggesting that our manager
had, frankly, lost his touch.
Yet
here we are, with one game remaining in the league, unbeaten since that
Spurs defeat, and once again Champions League qualification is in our
hands. Not only that, but coming third is a real possibility (although
relies on an Everton away win at Stamford Bridge).
So
what changed? I don't think I can pinpoint a single game that reversed
our fortunes, and I can't even use the reason for last season's
qualification (Tottenham's absolute collapse following their trouncing
of Newcastle in February). Something certainly changed in our defence,
namely the gelling of Koscielny and Mertesacker, who remain an unbeaten
partnership. We've seen in recent weeks that anyone can score, and
rather than relying on one talismanic goal scorer, nine of our regular
players have got on the sheet. We've seen Theo Walcott return to form,
having spent the first half of the season failing to put in a decent
cross, and we've seen our midfield play as a team, with fantastic
performances from a rejuvenated Rosicky, Arteta and a frankly brilliant
Santi Cazorla. The cry now is 'why didn't we play like this all season?'
I'm
increasingly of the opinion that Arsenal simply play better when they
are the underdogs. This was demonstrated most clearly in our Champions
League second leg against Bayern Munich, and I think that game made our
players decide to just go out and play and see what happened, rather
than feeling pressured to win. Perhaps the defeat at Spurs took the
pressure off, as from then there really were no expectations of
Champions League qualification.
We've
still played terrible football on occasions - last week's defeat of QPR
being a prime example. But as a wise man once said - I forget if it was
Alex Ferguson or Brian Clough - the sign of a good team is to win
matches even when playing badly.
It's
9 years to the day since 'The Invincibles' lifted the title. We'll
never see a team like that again, and it's time that Arsenal fans
realised this. I think the players finally have. What we need to do to
finish fourth is to beat Newcastle on Sunday. We don't need to play like
Brazil, we don't need to be tricky and play a beautiful passing game,
and we don't need to score flashy goals. A plodding, solid, 1-0 will do.
Play well, play badly, I don't really care. As long as we win. And as
we showed against QPR, against Wigan last night, and against Fulham in
April, we can certainly do that.
Victoria Sharkey
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