The Arsenal Offside (TAO): Darren, first off, thanks for joining us here.

Darren Fletcher (DF): No problem, I’m glad for the opportunity to clarify my comments.

TAO: Sure. Now, you said that you were only called for the foul which led to Chelsea’s winning goal because of comments Arsene Wenger made in the press two months ago.

DF: Correct. You say that like it’s an outlandish claim.

TAO: Well, I just think that most people would say blaming a loss on a manager who was not involved in the game because he made vague comments about how third-place Manchester United played “anti-football” and didn’t even mention you by name two months ago is taking the blame game to new and unforeseen levels, even for third-place Manchester United.

DF: Well, how would you explain it? What do you think, that we somehow just lost because, like, what, the other team was better than us? NOW who’s being ridiculous?

TAO: It just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. For one thing, if the referees were influenced by anything Arsene Wenger said, it seems like referees would crack down on clubs which play anti-football against Arsenal, which certainly hasn’t been the case. Secondly, if they wanted to crack down on malicious fouls, it seems unbelievable that they wouldn’t crack down on Chelsea. Finally, um…if they were after you because of your reputation, you probably would have been called for any of the half-dozen or so bookable offenses you committed before you got called for Ashley Cole.

DF: See, you’re just wrong. I also wanted to address that last bit you said, about me committing all those fouls. That just didn’t happen. I saw the replays, but I can tell you now that all of that was doctored to make it look like I was committing those easily-bookable fouls. They used CGI and trick photography in a deliberate attempt to make Chelsea look good and [ed: third-place] us look bad. It’s the same technology they used in “Jurassic Park” and “Lord of the Rings.”

TAO: Wait—let me understand this correctly. You’re claiming that the live video feed of the game was doctored by someone in a deliberate attempt to make Chelsea look better than third-place Manchester United? That’s quite a claim—who are “they?”

DF: (chuckles) Come on, Martin, you’re so naïve. It’s the Russian mafia, man! They’re in league with Roman Abramovich and the FA to form a Premiership shadow government that makes sure Chelsea wins the league.

TAO: Why would the FA want Chelsea to win?

DF: I have never told anyone this, but for the past several years, I have on multiple occasions been visited in dreams by a giant, grotesque creature who identifies himself only as “the dark troll.” As a young boy, my dream was to play for [ed: third-place] Manchester United, and one night the dark troll told me to gather up seven live kittens, a pound of cheese, and VHS copies of Rocky III and Rocky IV. I was to place those items in a basket under the bridge near my house that night, and if I did, the dark troll promised that all my dreams would come true. I followed his instructions exactly, and the next day, the basket was gone. That afternoon, I was contacted and offered scholarship terms from [ed: third-place] Manchester United. Ever since, I have done the bidding of the dark troll when asked and not questioned his powers of foresight. The dark troll recently informed me in a dream that FA Chairman Lord Triesman is also under his spell, and has been told in no uncertain terms that if Chelsea fails to win the league this year, Lady GaGa will assassinate Nelson Mandela. So obviously the FA has decided to ensure Chelsea’s triumph to preserve the life of the great South African leader. It’s as plain as day. Besides, something clearly is going on here–I suppose next you’re going to tell me that you think Terry actually headed that ball cleanly into the net?

TAO: You’re saying he didn’t?

DF: Absolutely not! Watch the video closely, broken down frame by frame, and you’ll see that when the ball came off his head, it was headed well wide of the post, but then it suddenly curved—in mid-air, mind you—back into the corner of the goal. It’s done using magnets. Here’s how it works: Russian Mafia/FA operatives plant super-strong uranium-infused negative-polarized magnets around the back of the net Chelsea is attacking, and put super-strong uranium-infused positive-polarized magnets in the goalposts of the goal [ed: third-place] Manchester United is attacking. Then the ball itself is lined externally with positive-polarized magnets, so the ball is magnetically pulled into the back of the net when Chelsea shoots, and is magnetically repelled away from the goal whenever a [ed: third-place] Manchester United player shoots.

TAO: But that doesn’t even make sense, since the teams switch goals at half-time.

DF: (Sighs deeply) I guess I have to spell out everything for you—the magnetic polarization is obviously computer activated and controlled, so Russian mafia operatives switch the polarization of the goal magnets from a satellite-connected Moscow supercomputer at half-time. How else would you explain the fact that we only got two shots on goal the entire match?

TAO: A crap midfield? A complete and utter lack of link-up play, forcing you to just hoof the ball upfield? Rooney being forced to constantly come back deep into his own half just to touch the ball? Poor wing play which didn’t force Chelsea’s diamond formation to stretch out wide at all? Failure to capitalize on your huge advantage in corner kicks? No impact subs? Tendency to…

DF: (Interrupting) Look, if you’re going to talk CRAZY like that, this interview is over. (hangs up phone)

Well, there you have it. We know from listening to Alex Ferguson over the years that third-place Manchester United have never ever been outplayed, they only occasionally lose or draw when the referee or some other outside factor conspires to cheat them out of the game. So the culprits this time, according to Darren Fletcher, are, respectively: Arsene Wenger, the Russian mafia, CGI, the FA, magnets, and the dark troll. Many thanks to Darren for sitting down with us and reminding us what dignified and gracious losers third-place Manchester United are.

And just because I’m a risk-averse attorney: This was, quite obviously, parody, and the interview was completely fabricated. It was a result of boredom at work and preemptive boredom with the international break.

Well…I don’t know. I apologize for the delay between the end of the game and this post, but if I had posted my thoughts immediately after the end of the match, the Catholic church would have had legitimate grounds for excommunicating me. So I tried to wait a few hours to cool off before writing anything.

First off, the officiating wasn’t great, but I’m not a big fan of blaming officiating for the outcome of matches. Rooney’s penalty honestly could have gone either way–Almunia made significant contact with Rooney’s legs without getting any of the ball, but on the other hand, Rooney appeared to chip the ball away before there was any contact, so he wouldn’t have been able to catch up to the ball anyway. It wasn’t as obvious a penalty, as, say, I don’t know, Arshavin getting his legs taken out from under him in the box with no contact whatsoever with the ball, but I don’t think it’s fair to say it was a bad call. Likewise, no matter how disappointing it was, the offsides call at the end of the game was correct–Gallas was certainly offside on the play.

The fact is that we were probably the better team on the day, but we lost. It happens, and we need to move on from it. But hopefully Wenger will stress to the team that despite losing, we went on the road to the defending Premiership champions and took the game to them–on a different day, the result could have been completely different. Here’s hoping this will be an event that the players and supporters alike can rally around for the rest of the season.

Andrei Arshavin opened his account on the season with a goal that was nothing short of spectacular. And it was karmic justice, too, since he had just a few minutes earlier been denied a clear and obvious penalty. We went into half-time leading 1-0, but we gave up the lead not long after half-time after Almunia came out and clumsily made contact with Rooney’s legs on a 50-50 ball.

Then, well…I’m not sure what to say. Diaby scored an own goal under no pressure whatsoever. Anyone who reads this site with any regularity know that I am not a Diaby fan, to put it mildly–I think he’s not a player of “Arsenal quality,” and his work rate is often suspect. His two biggest problems have always been: (1) poor decisions and (2) laziness. Number (1) once again reared its ugly head today–I have no idea how that happened, as all he needed to do was head the ball forward and clear, or at least head it to the side for a corner kick. But in his defense, I will say that number (2) was NOT a problem for Diaby today–especially after he gave up the goal, he was running around and playing hard. I’m really unhappy with this result, and Diaby seems like an okay guy, so I don’t want to run him into the ground after such a devastating result, and I DON’T want to say I told you so, but he makes this kind of mistake; he’s always made these kinds of mistakes, and I think he’ll continue to do so no matter how hard he works in the offseason.

And there it was. A 2-1 loss in a game where we should have come away with at least one point. Sigh. But that’s in the past. What’s coming up? The international break, obviously, will keep us out of action until weekend after next. Hopefully Wenger can keep the squad focused on the fact that we outplayed United at Old Trafford, and we’re still legitimate title contenders. The team has been impressive so far in dominating several opponents, but to be a champion you must have the ability to overcome adversity. This is the first adversity Arsenal has faced this season, so we’ll have a chance to see what the club is made of.

On to the ratings:

Almunia 7.5. Neither of the goals were really his fault, although he misjudged the ball on Rooney’s penalty. And every other time he was called into action, be it making a save on a shot or coming out strong on a set piece, he made exactly the right move. Name 6 other keepers in the world you’d rather have in goal. I’m still waiting.

Sagna 7. Another solid performance–did his job well down the left wing and used his skill and athleticism well in defense.

Clichy 7.5. Definitely rounding into form–good performance by Gael today, he’s certainly looking to reclaim his throne as one of the world’s top left-backs.

Vermaelen 8. He’s played 5 competitive matches for us, so I hate to go too hyperbolic too soon. But he looked absolutely comfortable dealing with one of the best attacks in the world, and at some point I do think we’re going to have to say that we have a world class center-back on our squad.

Gallas 8. Ever since being stripped/”relieved” of the captaincy, Gallas has been superb. He kept it up today with a strong performance.

Denilson 6.5. Pretty anonymous. It is, of course, tough against a team like United, but he’s got to find a way to involve himself in the action more .

Song 7. Picked up a yellow early, which may have made him sheepish, but if Arsenal are going to contend for trophies this season, we need stronger performances from him in the holding role.

Diaby 5. Generally not too bad, and I was encouraged by the way he bounced back from the own-goal. On the other hand, though, how good a game can you have had when you flat out gift one of the best squads in the world a goal? Inexcusable.

Eboue 7.5 I thought he continued his recent run of good form, although his finishing was crap.

van Persie 6. Wasn’t really making plays, and could have done better with the chances he was given. Has got to improve if we’re going to succeed this season.

Arshavin 8.5. Man of the match. Drew a penalty which wasn’t given, and then scored a spectacular goal. If he continues to play like this we have a chance at winning every competition we play in.

Ramsey 7. Didn’t shrink from the moment, which is remarkable considering his age and experience. But didn’t make anything happen, either.

Eduardo 5.5. Did all the media exposure get to him? Because he looked overwhelmed and devoid of inspiration today.

Bendtner 6.5. High energy, and was inches away from a brilliant cross in the box to Eduardo.

It’s easy to be negative at this point, and deep down, I’m pretty upset–I’m going to see “Hair” on Broadway tonight, and I’m hoping all that hippy “peace and love” message salves the wound a little bit. But since we won’t play for a couple of weeks, let’s try to be positive. The bottom line is this–we outplayed Manchester United at Old Trafford, and were a couple of mental mistakes away from beating the defending champions in their own stadium. We showed the class and skill to play with any team in the world, and if we continue to improve, we can beat absolutely beat anyone, anywhere, anytime. For a team that many pundits had predicted to finish 5th at the outset of the season, that isn’t bad. I predicted it at the outset that we would win the league, and I’m sticking by this–here’s hoping we can take confidence from the performance, if not the result, and build on this.

Last Season: 1st, 28-6-4 (90 points, +44 goal differential)

Recent Form: WLW

Home Form (last season): 16-2-1

Last Meeting: Manchester United 0-Arsenal 0 (5/16/09)

Well, here we are, one of the biggest fixtures of the season. If you want a little history lesson, you can see Arsenal’s top moments in this rivalry here. While Manchester United beat us quite badly over the two legs of the Champions League semifinal tie last season, it’s worth remembering that we beat them at the Emirates, and drew 0-0 with them at the Old Trafford, a game in which all agree we were by far the better side.

And let me say at the outset–yes, it’s really early in the season. And yes, United started really poorly last season and still won the title. But a result for us tomorrow would be great for us and really put the screws to them. A win would be pretty spectacular. I really don’t have too much in the way of analysis–you know United, you know their players, and you know how dangerous they are. I’ll just say that I think the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez, as well as the injuries to Rio Ferdinand, Owen Hargreaves, and Edwin van der Sar, make United much more vulnerable at the moment than they were at any point last season. Of course, we’ve got injury problems of our own. Cesc has been ruled out for the game with his hamstring problem. Theo, Rosicky, Nasri, Djourou, and Fabianski are also all still out. But here’s hoping we keep our momentum going with a good performance tomorrow, which will keep our confidence high going into the international break.

Almunia

Sagna-Gallas-Vermaelen-Clichy

Denilson-Song-Diaby

Bendtner-van Persie-Arshavin

That’s not the strongest midfield, but United’s midfield (Fletcher, Scholes, Giggs in the middle; Nani and Valencia wide) is their single biggest weakness, so I don’t think we’ll get overrrun there. It will be interesting to see if Wenger sticks with the 4-3-3 or goes back to a more conservative 4-4-2. If so, he’ll start Eboue, who played great against Celtic midweek, on the right, and drop Bendtner to the bench. This will also be the first time our defense, which has played so well so far, will have to deal with a world class group of attackers, and it will be interesting to see how they deal with that challenge.

Come on Arsenal.

Well, first things first. A very sincere congratulations to Manchester United on another league title. It’s hard to argue that they didn’t deserve it or that they weren’t the best team over the course of the year.

However, they definitely weren’t the best team yesterday. We were. Yes, I know United were definitely playing back and trying to prevent us from scoring, which they did. And we didn’t even win, so it’s hard to view this as too much of a positive. But facts are facts, and the fact is that we went into Old Trafford and got a draw, which is always a good result. And, coming off of several crushing defeats in the span of a couple of weeks and with nothing to play for, we came out and outplayed the domestic and European champions. That kind of fight-back shows a lot of character, and should give this young team the confidence that they can play with any team, anywhere.

Also, I think one of the quietest stories of this season is this team is actually starting to grow a little bit of a backbone, which is something we’ve lacked in past seasons. No one will confuse us for Stoke any time soon, but we’ve shown the ability to get a little chippy when we need to. And this was on display last night. You’ll recall that after the Champions League semifinal, Patrice Evra gave an interview where he called Arsenal “babies” and said that they were “taught a lesson” by Manchester United. He’s clearly a graduate of Sir Alex Ferguson’s School of Class and Charm.

But I was happy to see us show him what “babies” were capable of yesterday, as he basically got kicked all over the pitch. When he got the ball, more often than not he got taken out. And it wasn’t the “babies” rolling around on the ground and crying to the referees. The referee kept a pretty good lid on the situation and clearly came into the match keeping a close eye on Evra. Cesc and Nasri were both given yellow cards for hard fouls on Evra, and nothing more came of it.

I generally don’t go for the “hard man”/physical stuff. I hate teams like Stoke and think they’re bad for the game, and I hate the mentality, widely accepted in England, that there’s merit in someone with no talent or skill going out there and bullying their way to a victory or draw. But sometimes you’ve got to man up and get a little physical. When Joey Barton first came back and immediately jumped into a dirty foul against Nasri then had the gall to wink at him, Samir Nasri was absolutely right to immediately trip him and give him a face full of the Emirates beautiful, well-groomed pitch. And when some front-running d-bag can’t be graceful in victory and goes and shoots his mouth off to the press and calls an entire team “babies,” (”babies that beat Manchester United without any fit strikers earlier in the year…) I have no problem with us coming out and putting him on his ass a couple of times. Maybe next time he’ll keep his mouth shut.

But the element of chippiness and physicality is really something we’ve been missing, and it’s hopefully something that’s making its return to the club. Because as much as I love Arsenal for its trademark beautiful brand of football, the fact is that we’ve never won without having physicality in the team. Vieira was an absolute hoss in midfield, and when someone like Roy Keane decided to run his mouth off in the tunnel or play dirty on the pitch, he was there to get in Keano’s face. Hard to see Denilson or Diaby doing the same. And there were guys like Sol Campbell, Martin Keown, and Tony Adams on Wenger’s title-winning teams. So I, for one, am happy to see guys like Cesc and Samir stand up for themselves and their club, and I love it when Song is on his game terrorizing anyone on the opposition with the temerity to try to bring the ball into his midfield. Here’s hoping this continues into next year, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt for Wenger to go out and get a center back with some physicality as well.

The other big news was that Adebayor was left out of the squad, ostensibly with a groin problem. But it’s worth noting that it did come one day after giving an interview criticizing Arsenal fans for not being more supportive of him this year. Arseblog has a great analysis of this situation, but it really comes down to this–some people get it, and some people don’t. Cesc, with the way he acts towards the fans and his fellow players, both on the pitch and in media interviews, gets it. Whenever a story pops up about him going to Barcelona pops up, he immediately comes out and says it’s not true, that he’s happy at Arsenal and staying at Arsenal. Adebayor, on the other hand, spent months in the offseason trying to engineer a move to Milan or Barcelona, then when it fell through tried to blame it all on his agent, saying he himself never wanted to move or tried to work out a move. Well, you know what? Your agent works for you. If I had an agent who was saying things that were untrue or misrepresenting my intentions, I’d first tell him to knock it off; if that didn’t work, I’d fire my agent, it’s really that simple.

And then, of course, there was the incident where Adebayor kissed the badge on his shirt at a preseason match, and was rightly booed. In the middle of the most important stretch of games this club has had in some time, he came out and compared being courted by Milan to being courted by Beyonce, which I think shows volumes about his priorities and focus. And now he claims that the fans haven’t been supporting enough, and didn’t sing his song as much this year as last year? Well, you know what, Ade? Fans generally sing your song when you score goals, or at least look like you give a crap whether your team wins or loses. Last year you scored 29 goals. This year you scored 15. Do you want them to sing your song to glorify your half-hearted jogging around in a Champions League semifinal game against one of your biggest rivals?

The bottom line is this–I think Adebayor’s ego has gotten too big, and while you can certainly have an ego (it didn’t stop us from loving Henry), when you’re so completely self-centered that you have little regard for the club, its fans, or your teammates, it’s just not feasible for you to stay at Arsenal. We probably won’t get the fee we could have gotten for him last year, but you don’t think Manchester City would pony up £20-£25 million for him? And while it’s not Milan or Barcelona, Adebayor is clearly someone who cares a lot about money–if Manchester City were to give him £100-£120 thousand pounds a week, does anyone think he wouldn’t take that and a chance to pair up with Robinho? If we could get that, I say we jump at the chance–Adebayor’s a talented player who is world-class when he wants to be, but all too often, he can’t be bothered. I’d rather get a return on him and spend the money on a player who wants to play for Arsenal and help us win trophies.

But there’s plenty of time for all the silly summer transfer speculation in the months to come. Today let’s just enjoy the small measure of redemption we enjoyed by outplaying Manchester United on their own pitch yesterday. Here’s hoping we can build on this for next season.

I was a little unsure as to how to proceed with this preview, given that there’s very little concrete at stake for Arsenal in this match. But it’s Manchester United, and it’s pride, and so it still matters, and it always will. And then I saw what the boys over at the Manchester United section of The Offside did for the preview, which was brilliant, and so I’m inspired to respond.

Arsenal and Manchester United do, of course, have a storied rivalry, and Arsenal have certainly come out on top a fair share of the time.

To start with, of course, there were the unforgettable Roy Keane-Patrick Vieira pre-game tunnel bust-ups:

Instant Karma

2003. Ruud van Nistelrooy takes an egregious dive to get Vieira sent off, and has a penalty kick to win the game, but misses it badly, and the Arsenal players, particularly Martin Keown, let him have it. (This video also includes highlights of the 1990 brawl which resulted in the deduction of points from both sides):

3-0

The 1998-1999 Manchester United team is one of the strongest squads that that club, or any other, has fielded in recent memory. That club featured David Beckham, Roy Keane, both Nevilles, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Peter Schmeichel, and Dwight Yorke. It became the first club to win the treble of the FA Cup, the League, and the Champions League. And yet the team didn’t trouble Arsenal at Highbury at all–Tony Adams, Anelka, and Freddie Ljungberg all got on the sheet as Arsenal won 3-0. Unfortunately, United eked out a 1-1 draw in the second game between the two teams at Old Trafford, and that turned out to be the difference, as United finished one point ahead of the Gunners at the end of the season.

Vieira goes out on a high note

Patrick Vieira was an Arsenal legend, and what better way to leave a club than by stepping up to take the final penalty to give your club the FA Cup over your bitter rivals?

1998

The year Arsenal reestablished itself as an elite club under Wenger’s leadership, and it all started on March 14. Manchester United were 9 points clear of Arsenal, and Ferguson had said that the title was a “foregone conclusion.” Except it wasn’t. Marc Overmars 80th minute goal sealed a 1-0 Gunners win to cut United’s lead to 6 points. United folded like origami down the stretch, Arsenal went on a 10-match unbeaten run to capture its first title in 7 years.

The five-minute cup final

Arsenal were in control the entire match in the 1979 FA Cup final, until United mounted a dramatic comeback to equalize the score. It was headed for extra time with just a minute left…

Watch 1979 FA Cup Final in Sports  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Well, that’s an interesting little jaunt down history lane, to better times than these. Hopefully Arsenal can get our act together in the coming seasons so we can start getting some more big victories over United. Tomorrow wouldn’t qualify as a big win, but it would be a measure of salvation from the ass-kicking we got over two legs in the Champions League semis, and it would give us the league double over them this year.

Who knows what Wenger is doing with the lineup at this point. I imagine we’ll see something like our best team out there tomorrow, although it wouldn’t surprise if Wenger gave a couple of the younger players a run out. Also noteworthy is Arshavin making his debut against Manchester United–wouldn’t it be great to see the “Shhhhhhh” celebration given to the crowd at OT? Yes. Yes it would:

Almunia

Sagna-Toure-Djourou-Gibbs

Walcott-Fabregas-Song-Arshavin

Adebayor-van Persie

If you said to yourself, “Martin, why Djourou instead of Silvestre? Isn’t that just wishful thinking?” My answer to you is “yes.” Maybe if I keep putting Djourou in instead of Silvestre it will eventually happen. I also had no idea where Wenger is going to play Arshavin, so I put him on the left, even though apparently he’s been complaining to his agent about having to play on the left. I do think he’s better in the striker or supporting striker role. But he pretty much plays his own game, no matter where he’s supposed to be playing nominally, so it’s really just a question of who gets left out of the squad. It is entirely possible that Nasri could play and one of the group of Walcott, van Persie, or Adebayor could start on the bench. I’ve given up on trying to predict the diabolical machinations of a man who thinks Abou Diaby is good at football.

So here’s to a good result tomorrow. The squad’s confidence is extremely low at the moment, and a good result at Old Trafford, in addition to the usual satisfaction of beating United, would give the team a big confidence boost heading into the summer and next season.

Come on Arsenal.

First things first, you have to say the best team won this tie. Full credit to Manchester United for a superior performance–even the most diehard Gunner can’t say they don’t deserve their spot in the final.

But we certainly could have made it more difficult for them. This really was the worst-case scenario for Arsenal–what we really needed was to score an early goal, but instead we conceded an early goal when Kieran Gibbs slipped in the box and Park Ji-Sung finished an otherwise harmless cross. After that, you could just see the life leave the squad–their shoulders slumped, their pace slowed, and everything about them screamed defeat. At that point we had to score 3 goals in a little over 80 minutes, which was a tall order.

Not long after that, Cristiano Ronaldo showed his class by taking a brilliant free kick inside the near post. Almunia maybe should have stopped it–he initially took a step to his right before trying to recover, and ended up a few inches short of making the save. But given how many saves he made in the first leg to even give us a chance in the second leg, you certainly can’t blame him for the loss. But after this, we were looking at having to score 4 goals to advance, which wasn’t happening.

One of the more miserable parts of being a fan of any sport is the asking of the immortal question: “What if…?” In this case, you can’t help but ask yourself, “What if Gibbs didn’t slip?” Because in the first few minutes of the game, Arsenal came out looking like a world class team, controlling the ball, keeping it in United’s half, and seeming the better team on the day. At that point, I was very optimistic about our chances of grabbing an early goal and putting pressure on United, and I liked our chances of pulling off a victory and advancing.

But it wasn’t to be. Maybe if it hadn’t happened we would have kept dominating play and would have found an early goal, and who knows what would have happened from there. But Gibbs did slip, and after that we all but capitulated in the way we played–in fairness, United’s defense is among the best in the world, but even throwing everyone forward we couldn’t really manage to trouble them. They eventually grabbed a third goal on a picture perfect counterattack started on a sublime backheel by Ronaldo, followed by a good ball from Park to Rooney, another good ball from Rooney to Ronaldo, and a great finish.

We grabbed one back on a penalty given when Darren Fletcher came from behind Fabregas when Cesc made a nice run into the box. There may have been a question about the penalty, because Fletcher did in fact get the ball with his foot, but that kind of challenge is always going to be viewed skeptically by the refs, and the ref pointed to the spot, where van Persie netted the only consolation we’d get all night.

One other note. I don’t like Alex Ferguson, and I don’t like Manchester United. But he could clearly be seen telling his players to tone down their celebrations out of respect for Arsenal after the third goal. It was, beyond dispute, a class move by our longtime rival, and one that I personally appreciate.

The reason I appreciate it so much? Because this hurts. It really hurts. Watching that game was really, really painful. I guess I’m just a sucker, but I bought into this team–with our form and our talent, I thought this was our year to win a trophy, but for the fourth consecutive season, we go home empty-handed.

And just like that, it’s basically over. What looked so promising two weeks ago, when we were looking at a realistic shot at two trophies, has completely vanished. We’re locked into at least 4th, and need Chelsea to have a massive collapse to have any chance at 3rd, so our season is essentially over. It’s been a season of a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but mostly disappointing, I think.

There will be much more in the way of requiem and reflection in the coming days and weeks in terms of looking back at the season, what went right and wrong, what we need to do over the summer, etc. I’m still too disappointed (and tired, and a little drunk) to write about anything like that clearly at the moment.

So I’ll just sign off with this. Even though this was a crushing defeat, I still think we have a better collection of young talent than any team in the world. Even though we showed a lack of courage and composure the last couple of weeks, I still think this group of players, if we can keep them together, will win multiple trophies in the years to come. Even though he hasn’t won a trophy in years, I still think Arsene Wenger is definitely the man for the job.

And even though this season, like the last few, has left me crushed, I still love this club and believe in Arsenal. It’s a cliche, but you don’t appreciate sunshine unless you’ve experienced winter and rain. And you don’t appreciate winning unless you’ve experienced crushing defeat. So remember this, and remember what this feels like. In three or four years, when you’re on your fourth pint, watching Fabregas lift a trophy, and basking in the glow of an Arsenal victory, remember the bad times, and the doubters, and it will make it all that much sweeter.

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Fabregas, Toure, Nasri, Van Persie, Walcott, Song, Djourou, Adebayor, Gibbs.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Evra, Ferdinand, Ronaldo, Anderson, Rooney, Park, Vidic, Carrick, O’Shea, Fletcher

As usual, all comments before, during, and after the game below. Come on Arsenal.

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Okay, let’s get the usual caveats out of the way–Wenger is a great manager, and has done a good job with this team, and I’m certainly not claiming otherwise or that he should lose his job or anything dramatic like that. But, having said that, he got badly outmanaged last night–his lineup selection was absolutely woeful, and even though it was quickly apparent to everyone that what we had going on was not going to be anywhere near good enough to threaten United at all, he stubbornly refused to make any tactical or personnel changes.

When Wenger started making noise last week about keeping Cesc and Nasri in the roles they had played against Middlesbrough, I assumed, and said in this space, that this was merely a smokescreen to create some confusion for Fergie about what we were going to be doing. Because I’m so rarely right about anything, please allow me to quote what I wrote earlier this week:

For me, though, the main bad news may be that the team looked a little too good yesterday. Let me explain. Fabregas played forward yesterday, behind Bendtner. Since he played well and popped up and scored two goals, Wenger is apparently thinking about sticking with him in this position for Wednesday’s game. With the usual caveats about Wenger knowing way more than I’ll ever know, I’ll just say that I really think Cesc functions much better in a deep-lying playmaker role than playing behind the striker, and would have a lot of problems finding space to make plays if he’s called upon to go too far forward and deal with Giggs, Carrick, and/or Scholes.

Yesterday was also interesting because Wenger played Arshavin on the left and moved Nasri back to a holding/supporting center midfield role. He’s also gone on record as considering keeping Nasri there on Wednesday. Not that I don’t think Nasri could function in that role, but I think he’s shown himself to be an effective left winger all year and is best suited to stay there for the time being. He played well against Boro, but dealing with Ronaldo and Rooney would be an altogether different proposition.

Look out, Miss Clio, there’s a new sheriff in town! In all seriousness, I guess what’s really worrying about the whole thing is I think it was pretty clear to anyone following Arsenal that this was the case, and that just because something worked against a soon-to-be-Championship side didn’t mean it would have any effectiveness at all against the best team in Europe. And yet, apparently Wenger thought differently. Neither Cesc nor Nasri played particularly well yesterday, but I don’t think they can really be blamed–both are consummate pros and gave game efforts, but they were asked to do things that they are not well-suited to do against a world-class team.

Worse, however, was the decision to play Diaby on the left. Diaby is tall, not particularly fast, right-footed, and not good with the ball at his feet. So pretty much the exact opposite of what you are looking for in a left winger, which is someone who is quick, good with the ball, and effective at both putting balls into the box from the sideline and cutting it back into the middle. If only we had such a player, maybe last night would have been different. Oh wait, we did have exactly that kind of player, and he terrorized United for a brace earlier in the year, but for some reason was deployed as a holding midfielder last night.

I guess my problem isn’t with the players Wenger chose to play, although I still cannot fathom what he sees in Diaby, or with his decision to deploy a single striker. But does anyone doubt that the players on the field last night could have been moved around into a much more effective configuration? Had Diaby moved from the left to the supporting striker role, bumped Cesc back into the true midfield role (and into his partnership with Song, which has been great the last month or so), which would have moved Nasri out to the left, wouldn’t this have worked much better? So two questions linger–(1) why didn’t Wenger use this configuration at the outset? But (2), at the very least, why didn’t he change things up once he saw it clearly wasn’t working? I just don’t get it.

I’m sorry to bitch and moan so much. But I’m frustrated. We haven’t won a trophy in years, and this is the biggest match the club has played in in several years. I really think this team has the quality to beat United, which would be a famous victory for the club, but I feel the players were hamstrung last night by Wenger’s miscalculations.

In terms of the players themselves, Almunia was outstanding, and is the only reason we still have a chance of moving on. Song continues to impress–he’s an absolute pit bull out there. He was chasing the ball around midfield all night, and when he got the ball, he made the short, safe passes you want from someone in that role. And, although it may not show up on the stat sheets, I thought Kieran Gibbs very quietly had a very good night–every time Ronaldo got the ball on the right wing, Gibbs was in perfect position, and Ronaldo’s only opportunities came when he moved into the middle. And he did this despite being repeatedly hung out to dry by Diaby’s lazy/non-existent tracking back. For a 19 year-old to step onto one of the biggest stages in the world and play very well against the reigning world player of the year–what can you say? I love Clichy, and I would be kind of pissed because I just bought a Clichy jersey a couple of months ago, but he better watch his back, because at the moment I think Gibbs is playing better than what we saw out of Clichy for most of the year.

Cesc and Nasri, I discussed above–they worked hard, but couldn’t quite get it done. Walcott was invisible all night. He’s been our most consistent attacker the past month, and really needed to do better, although to be fair he wasn’t given that many opportunities. As Arseblog pointed out, given that Evra is fast and O’Shea is slow, it may have made sense to move Walcott to the left just to see if he could get past O’Shea a couple of times. Adebayor was also pretty invisible–for a guy who talked about how hungry he was and how much he wanted this, he sure looked pretty indifferent to me. The rest of the defense was also fairly poor–Sagna was pretty erratic, Toure was generally solid but made a few mistakes, and Silvestre was . . . well, Silvestre, although, to be fair, I’d say he was slightly less crappy last night than he had been the past couple of weeks.

BUT.

Here’s the thing. We’re not out of this. Not by a long shot. It’s easy to focus on the bad play, but losing 1-0 away to one of the best teams in the world is not the end of the world. We’ve beaten them once at the Emirates this year, and we did so without Adebayor or van Persie. I’m telling you, this United team’s reputation is bigger than its substance–they’re not as good as last year’s version, and we CAN beat them. I believe this with all my heart, and you should, too. This Arsenal squad has shown us this year they’ve got guts and they can come out swinging when their backs are up against the wall.

The lack of an away goal hurts us, to be sure. If United score, we’ve got to score 3 to move on. But 3 goals at home isn’t an impossible task for us–this United team got trucked for 4 at Old Trafford by Liverpool, who I don’t think has as much firepower as we do on our day, not long ago. Furthermore, there’s this–we haven’t conceded a goal at home all year in the Champions League. Look it up. So don’t be so sure we’re going to have to score 3. But really, would 3-1 be out of the question? 2-0? 1-0, which would force extra time, and potentially penalty kicks? I don’t think so.

Almunia says this isn’t over. Kolo has said we must do better. Wenger has promised that “you will see a different Arsenal next week.” And you know what? I believe him. I think this team’s going to come out and make us proud next week.

So this is where we are. Bloodied, but still standing. Down but not out. If you needed any more motivation, United are already scheduling a victory parade to show off the trophy they haven’t won. United fans were predicting a 3-0 scoreline for this one. When the draw was originally announced, some papers said United had a “bye” to the final.

I know it’s hard to swallow given the bad performance we all saw with our own eyes yesterday, but I still believe in this team. Let’s get behind our guys, and let’s go out on Tuesday and cancel their fucking parade, and make them sit at home in May and watch us lift the trophy in Rome.