Twilight Zone - do adjust your set for second half

“You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.”

Or possibly you are just on the way to watching the Arsenal. I first realised I was entering the zone when I bumped into Keith on Kings Cross Station. I hadn’t seen him since we had left Highbury Stadium, and it was the first time I had set out for the ground from Kings X, as against changing at Kings Cross, in which case I would have probably missed him.

As the train pulled out of Caledonian Road Station the driver announced the next stop would be Gillespie Road, Keith and I realised, at the very same moment, we were being hurtled into the twilight zone.

The announcement gave Keith cause for concern, the station was still called Gillespie Road in 1927 (Chapman persuaded the underground to change the name to Arsenal in 1932) when Cardiff beat us in the Cup Final he agonisingly recalled. Yes I agreed, the same year that the British Army expedition to cross the Andes by Frog came to a brutal end in the Peruvian jungle.

Feeling somewhat spooked by this omen I approached the two bags of sweets for a pound stall with some trepidation. However there was good news at the programme outlet the handbook was finally in print. I don’t ever remember the handbook being published so late. No doubt it was so the team photo could be included with the right players. People might moan at beer prices, but at £5 the handbook is a bargain full of information that stretches back to infinity, and weird facts like Jens Lehmann is a new signing.

A match of one half

The first half was dismal, no it was dire, and Arsenal were awful. A couple in front of me went for a break 20 minutes before half time. Bolton suffocated Arsenal, and the Gunners could do little about it, a disparate band of brothers. Sydney the cab driver was having a Nice time in the south of France and was becoming very pessimistic about the outcome.

What a different a goal makes – 100 club

It’s a cliché, but its true nonetheless, that goals change games, within a minute RvP scored his 99^th goal, not that I realised it at the time. It was a great goal, but largely an individual effort that he used to rouse the team and crowd. Arsenal zoomed into life and was not the same team we had seen in the first half, confidence coursing through their veins.

 Not long after, due to the intense pressure, Bolton went down to ten men and on 71 minutes RvP scored a lovely flick in from Theo’s excellent cross. RvP had joined the 100 club, this time I knew this was the case as it was announced,  to much cheering and congratulations. It’s quite an achievement, just think how many goals he would have if he played 38 games a season. You could say he has done it with one leg tied behind his back. Apparently he is 17^th in the goal scoring hall of fame.

We are staying up say we are staying up chanted the crowd with a large dollop of irony. Surely even Arsenal couldn’t fluff a two nil lead against 10 men, there is nothing like playing a bottom of the table team to lift morale.

On 89 minutes Song improved the Gunners goal difference to -5, and increased Bolton’s to – 8, another unwelcome record rid. I had winced as the crowd had yelled shoot at him, it always ends in tears, but not this time, as he bent the ball beyond the reach of the Bolton keeper. Team and crowd left the ground in a frenzy of mutual admiration. By the end of the game only one of Arsene’s 10 new signings were still on the pitch (Mertesacker), perhaps Wenger had his eye on Wednesday’s game in CL. Also Benayoun is injured, and is now joined by Walcott.

Pre Season over?

In terms of the season ahead it wasn’t the beginning of the end, or even the end of the beginning, but it might be the beginning of the beginning. It may be that pre season is now over.

Perhaps the Outer Limits is more appropriate for the situation the club finds itself:

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits.”

I bet Wenger wishes that was the case, but certainly the picture did change dramatically in the second half.