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IT’S NOT OVER YET!

By on March 29, 2010

We have to keep the faith. What else can we do? We now sit four points behind United and three behind Chelsea. But should we beat Wolves at the Emirates on Saturday and we get that United-Chelsea draw we’re all dreaming about we will be one point behind Chelsea and only two off the top. Even if Chelsea win, we would still be within a one-match striking distance of the top. It is not over yet.

I can’t bring myself to write much about the match as I still want to scream every time I think about it. And while it may be harsh to fully blame Almunia for the dropped points, I can’t help but wonder why it is that he can be fairly inactive for most of the match and then cock-up the one moment when we need him to just do what any mediocre keeper would be expected to do.

To be fair, it’s amazing that the team has gotten this far in the title race with a keeper like Almunia. A little over two years ago, after taking over from Lehmann, he looked like he might be progressing towards being a true number one keeper. Last year, his performance suffered with the rest of the side. However, the rest of the side broke out of the 2008/09 funk but Almunia never has. He has become even more prone to errors, and costly errors at that, the more he’s played. I don’t think there can be any doubt that Almunia is not a title-winning keeper. But, yesterday was not entirely his fault…

We had chances to put the match away at 1-nil, most notably Arshavin’s opportunity from less than 10 yards out. However, though Arshavin has returned from injury, his shot has not. I can think of 4 or 5 instances off the top of my head where he had clean shots on goal from inside the box and mishit them, and that’s in the last two weeks. To be fair to him, his substitution along with Nasri made a big difference to the match and we weren’t getting shots off or penetrating Brum’s center-backs until they came on. But those chances have to be taken at this time of the season.

The thing that annoys me is when we read these articles in midweek quoting Arshavin as saying stuff like, “Arsenal need more players to win the League.” No we don’t. We need our own players to be able to put a shot on goal and test the keeper from six yards. If Arsenal lose out on the title, it won’t be because we didn’t buy the “3 or 4 experienced players” Arshavin has talked about, it will be because the players we do have didn’t get the job done when they had the chance. If Arshavin had scored, the points would have been secured and we would have remained two points back.

As painful as it is, and I literally mean painful, we have to put this behind us and focus on the Champions League tie with Barcelona on Wednesday evening. Cesc will apparently be struggling to be fit after sustaining a knee injury and you have to wonder why Arsene didn’t just pull him off instead of letting him play for another 50+ minutes on a hurt knee. The ball is out of our court now. And though it looks bleak, in reality, any result besides a United victory next week, puts us right back within striking distance of the top. IT’S NOT OVER YET. And we need to KEEP THE FAITH!

13 Comments

  1. spit yo game

    March 29, 2010 at 6:05 am

    IT IS get it into your head and stop dreaming.

  2. mira

    March 29, 2010 at 6:18 am

    Sorry, can’t rate the chance al won’t do another f*** in our remaining games

  3. DPT

    March 29, 2010 at 7:03 am

    If Utd and Chelsea draw at the weekend – WE WILL WIN THE LEAGUE!!

    • ArsenalStation

      March 29, 2010 at 7:15 am

      Exactly my point of the article is that IF Chelsea and United draw or even Chelsea wins, then we still have a chance. If United wins, it could very well be over.

    • jonathan

      March 30, 2010 at 9:32 pm

      I agree, if they come to a draw, and we dont drop anymore points. It is ours for the taking.

  4. alvares babu

    March 29, 2010 at 8:16 am

    ARSHAVIN,must realise he is now an arsenal player and he must take responsibility if the team losses instead of talking about buying experienced players.As an experienced player he must fight hard for the team and cheer them up when they are down .I LIKE THE SPIRIT OF CESC,TV,SOL,EBOUE,SONG,ROSISKY,&DIABY

  5. looneygooner

    March 29, 2010 at 9:07 am

    as long Alumina is in goal and Wenger picks the wrong tactics we will always struggle, how can you start a game with a weaker side against a team that at home is pretty good, he had one eye on the game and he blew like he always does when it comes to close calls. Nasri with his second chance should have buried that chance Rooney and Dogbreath would have, but no we always over pass and that has cost us and having no proven goal scorer for most of the season, Wenger has to take that responsibility as well

    • ArsenalStation

      March 29, 2010 at 9:23 am

      I agree with you, looney. I don’t understand why he didn’t start Arshavin at least. The subs changed the match and it could’ve been 2-nil by the break if he had started with both of them, though I thought Rosicky was alright. I disagree that it was passing up shots that hurt us… we had 2 or 3 clear-cut chances to make the game 2-nil, failed to take them, and paid the price. How Arshavin all of a sudden can’t even put a shot on goal from 8 yards out is just beyond me? He’s just as responsible as Almunia.

  6. Microraptor

    March 29, 2010 at 5:06 pm

    Arshavin spends far too much time writing abstract nonsense on that trite little blog of his. He should pull his socks up FFS…

    Now is the time to stand up and be counted (even if you are only 5’4″)

  7. jonathan

    March 30, 2010 at 9:38 pm

    Well with Rooney rolling his ankle today in the match against Bayern Munich, really helps out for United’s chances of a loss or at least a draw. Oh and I just bought the Keep the Faith arsenal fc shirt from arsenalnyc.bigcartel.com site and I will be wearing it religiously until we win the title this season.

    • ArsenalStation

      March 30, 2010 at 9:46 pm

      Fantastic, jonathan!! Thanks for supporting the NYC-ASC… I have the I [gun] NYC shirt and it’s great too.

  8. BendyTheViking

    March 31, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    You are wrong about one thing, it was entirely almunia’s fault. It was a own goal. And sure you might even say the defending leading up to the goal was poor and sure we had chances but that was not a difficult shot to stop. He parried it right into the back of his own net. The blame for the loss can rest on no one else. I’ve been saying it for three years now. Arsenal will never win anything with Almunia in goal.

  9. peter

    April 1, 2010 at 7:46 am

    Arsene Wenger ,its high time you started putting some of the young players in the big starting line-up [ mixed them up ] so that they become stable like the rest to avoid minor injuries.

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