It's all over now - it was lost at home
Tough Toffee
By Boris Mellor
May 3 2008
I never subscribed to the dream that we could still win the league. Man U and Chelsea only had to win one out of two games and for us it was over. So Man U have put it beyond Arsenal, and Chelsea who do not play until Monday could put second place out of reach too.
Of course that doesn't mean that Arsenal should give up, the achievement of 80 points, or more, could be an important psychological boost for next season. Indeed next season starts now
However the Toffees need at least a point to be certain of being in the Euro vase next season. For them a point will do, so, perhaps, we shouldn't expect too much adventurous football from the Toffees. The Emirates has become a fortress, only one team has ever won there, the same West Ham that pathetically capitulated at Manchester; so much for Freddy's ambition.
But this brings us to the issue of where did Arsenal lose the championship. Arsene says it was at Manchester, yes it was close, and with a little more luck we might have drawn, but hardly won. Nice try Arsene, and I agree we have had bad luck, but it wasn't lost at Old Trafford, it was lost at home. The last four games at home delivered six points out of 12, and that is just not championship form. Ten points out of 12 at home would have meant the Match against Everton would have seen Arsenal contesting the championship right up to the wire.
Draws against Liverpool, Villa and Boro destroyed Arsenal's championship hopes. All talk since of winning the league has been bull shit. If Arsenal had won just two of those games then the results against Man Utd and the Chavs would not have mattered. United have not won one game away against the top three but they are still contenders. Last season Arsenal did the double against Man Utd but still finished fourth. Arsenal players are selling the fans short by not taking lesser clubs seriously; there are too many low key performances against clubs in the lower reaches.
To stress the point again Man U have not fully dominated against top clubs in the last few years, but they won 17 out of 19 home games, lost one, and only drawn one. However Arsenal, at home, have won 13 and lost none, but they have drawn five. If they had Man U's record, or slightly less, they would have won the league with no need to improve their away record one jot.
Lost at home
So although Arsenal are much improved since last season it was away from home that the bulk of that improvement occurred; at home the improvement was marginal. It was the failure to make any substantial advance at home that cost the club silverware. Ironically the improvement did not have to be that great. Three more wins and three less draws would have made a massive difference. The plus side of all this is that Wenger is right, his team is not that far short of achieving the championship.
It will be good to get the points tomorrow, but more important will be convincing performances from Walcott, Denilson and Bendtner, that will not be easy against Everton.
Atn the begining of this season it looked like our players had sorted out thier attitude against lowers form last season and we were wining against the lower well.
However in the 2nd of the season the attitude from last season came back and our players got complacent. They and to some extent Wenger did not take the lower teams seriously (especially at home) and that is what costs the title.
Our players need to get thier attitude sorted out by August if they want to win major trophies.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:05:03:20:17:36 by Optimistic Gunner.
I think the early season form got to them and they thought they were unbeatable but its a good lesson for them
now they know championships are not won in january or february and i would not expect us to draw as many games as we did this season
How many teams ahd scored frst at Emirates leaving us chasing those games?
What's amazing, especially in light of it only being today that were mathematically out of it, is how much of a cynical and pessimistic thought that was at the time. Looking back, we had plenty of games to rectify the situation and indeed came very close, but yet I just knew this team would collapse from that point on.
Being a supporter that is neither positive or negative- just realistic and says what he thinks- that says lot about how far this team has to go before they win trophies.
It also speaks volumes that we've started playing great again whe the pressure is off. We're not good under pressure, and that has to change.
Quote:Helb24
that says lot about how far this team has to go before they win trophies
Our current team doesn't have to go too far to win trophies as we already very close it.
We just need sort out our attitude, our shambolic defense and attack from the get go and take our chances.
Quote:Helb24
It also speaks volumes that we've started playing great again whe the pressure is off. We're not good under pressure, and that has to change.
Agreed.
As a captain of the team he shouldn't have been pessimistic/realistic like you, a fan were when the ref gave the penalty.
As a capatin he should've kept calm and optimistic of the up coming games and not act like a baby.
Face it people, Gallas's antics at the Brum game had a very negative effect on our team.
The result, plus Eduardo injury, would have produced enough damage by itself without Gallas reacting.
Anyway, Clichy made a mistake that was typical of this Arsenal side before Gallas had his strop. It's not as if Arsenal started making mistakes after it that were out of character. Our little collapse from that point on was very much in-keeping with previous years of mental fragility.
Quote:Helb24
Our little collapse from that point on was very much in-keeping with previous years of mental fragility.
I totally agree with that^.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:05:04:02:02:55 by Optimistic Gunner.
he did that against CITEH.
Not flamini first msitake ont hat back pass.
he did it agaisnt Chelski when he cleared the ball which hit a Chelski palyer and Drogba went on to equlaise.
Correct.
Gallas knew we bloew it at BRUM.
Hence his emotional breakdown.
Looking back on this season it seems almost unproffessional of us not to be in the title race considering the start we had. I remember after the Blackburn game we had a very distinct 12 game run in which were split into 3 sections. 2 very easy 4 game runs and in between the hardest of the season. If put it down on paper we didn't actually have to do alot to win this premiership givin the posistion we were in.
Brimingham, Villa, Wigan and Boro 10 -8pts minimum in the end we got 4
Chelsea, Bolton, Liverpool, Man U 7-5 pts again we only got 4.
You see if we did the absolute bare minimum from those sets of fixtures we would be playing Everton for a chance to be 1 point clear. And whats even crazier is that if I gave you all the option of the bare minimum for example;
BIRM - WIN
VILLA -DRAW
WIGAN -DRAW
middlesboro - WIN
Chelsea - Draw
Bolton - WIN
Liverpool - Draw
Man Utd - Lose
If I gave you those predictions prior to the Birmingham game and said "Would you take it" 80% of you whould have said No and the other 20% would have excused me of being a Spud!!
Hell even Martin Lawerence would have said those were a tad bit harsh
. Yet in theory that's all it would have taken for us to still be in the title race. Making sure we beat relegation foder and not losing to Man U. Just goes to show how close we were.Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:05:04:19:36:37 by pk_gunner.