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2004: Enjoy The Moment, or Champions League Failure?

Sigun

Well-Known Member
Phil said:
The Champions League will take a great deal of winning. Real Madrid has put together some of the worlds greatest players, and fell short. They have poured £180m into the effort in the last five years, but know that it is no divine right.

You need class, style, aggression, an excellent team spirit, individual brilliance, and good fortune. We fell short this year for three reasons. We don't put teams away when we are so far on top, we tried to win three trophies - and misjudged team selection/strength in depth, and luck.

Put Teams to the Sword
We have improved this season. We now hang on to 2-1 wins, whereas last year we would have conceded last minute equalizers. Last season we drew 15 games, so we have improved, but the feeling remains that during the bewitching 25 minute spells, when we are playing on a plain, several eons ahead of any other team in Europe, we should get a greater reward. I don’t mean extra points for style, I mean more than the 1 – 2 goals that we normally get. The pattern, several times this season is for a blinding spell, a two goal lead, a second half concession of passion, space and a goal, a nervy last 20 minutes, a rash of defensive substitutions, and a last-ditch win. Lots of relief, but not much credit for what was 20 minutes of orgasmic football. We need “clear blue water” between us and the Boltons, Leicesters, etc. We got it on Friday, against Leeds, because Thierry is currently the greatest Football talent on our planet, and because Michael Duberry is a fourth class defender, who was having a “Weston”. This is a 3% improvement, and can be achieved by collective attitude.

Team Selection/Strength in Depth.
So, we started the FA Cup Semi Final with Jeremie. A brave decision: the lad is very talented. He had not started a First Team match for two months, though, and the message to Manure was clear: it lifted them. It was not an incorrect decision, it was brave, and if he had run down some of the Manure possession, harried and hassled, like he did at Anfield, when picked in a similar, surprising way, it might have worked. The true indication, though, is lack of strength. We had Wiltord about to come back and Kanu on the bench. If these 2 players were fit, they should have started rather than Jeremie.
We started this season by relying on the Team that won an FA Cup, and came second in the league. We bought a new Goalkeeper, and latterly bought Reyes, but ostensibly, last Summer was a wage-reduction exercise: we sent five players out on Long-Term Loans, and another three on short-term loans. Remember last Summer? When we were all concerned about finances, stadium, and player resources? Look at the Forum back then, and we were mightily concerned. We would have settled for “Just” a League Title then! Look at the Forum last May. We were over run by Mancs, celebrating “Just” a title win with Gay Abandon. It was their best League performance since their first Premiership win of ’93. Why? Because they, chased a hopeless cause, and, against overwhelming odds, beat the best team in the country. Satisfying.
Against this background, we moved background players out to Fulham, Everton and Beveren etc. We reduced the wage bill, made the Reyes purchase possible, and invested in Ashburton. Wenger has handled his resources brilliantly for ten months. For two matches, in one week, when it was winner take all, we didn’t quite have enough left in the tank to beat our two closest rivals, in “Double-or-Quits”, Cup football.

(Some Muppets inevitably came on here at that stage and wanted him Sacked!).


In 1999, Manure left out Scholes, Giggs and Yorke, from the first FA Cup Semi-Final, and earned a replay. Fergie had slightly more strength in depth, but he also had good fortune in spades.


LUCK

We bounced Chelsea for significant portions of the CL QF. We had our chances. It was not to be. We needed to kill them off after Reyes Goal, but ceded territory, and possession. Momentum is an important factor. We lost ours in the run up to Villa Park. In 1999, Manure got a stroke of luck (or 3). Down to 10 men, they conceded a penalty to the mastery of the Razor dribble. Killer Bergkamp missed. Extra-Time, we pummelled them. Put them back on the ropes and kept them there. What happened next was totally out of character. The world always sees a furry chested, limp Welshman, twirling his shirt, after roasting the best defence in Europe on his own. I see the impossible: The best Midfielder in Europe, striding forward purposefully, about to orchestrate another raid at the Manure defence. He chooses, however the totally wrong option, and in a moment of severe fatigue presents a tired, lazy cross field pass to where Lee Dixon should be. Giggs intercepts, and runs freely at the now out of position, exhausted defence. The momentum swung to manure, and they finished the season so inexplicably, that they must have a photograph of The Pope shagging two goats and the Choir of St Marks with an Aspidistra. A goal down in the CL Final, they were outplayed, out thought, and inept against Bayern. Beckham in central midfield looked like a “Plodder”, the sort that Sp**s pack their midfield with! Two “Wimbledon” set pieces onto Teddy Sheringham’s head in the last minute betrayed a truly disastrous team performance.
Please do not misunderstand this point. Manure deserved their Treble for sheer guts, and determination. The way that Roy Keane dragged them to the Final, when they had been 0-2, away from home in the Semi Final, was “Paddy”-like.

But they had luck. The Final would (apart from the 90th Minute) not be remembered by anyone outside of Bavaria. Manure had fortune beaming at them maniacally. In 2004, we did not. We got a nod from Lady Luck when Ashley stooped to score an 88th minute Salvation, but the FA Cup S/F Draw, the long run of Victories against our CL QF opposition had all stacked up against us.

In Conclusion
Against this background, we have amassed the same points total from 33 matches, as we did last year in Full. We have won matches that in 2003 we would have drawn, and drawn matches we would have lost. We have marched gloriously to a title that was forged in the embers of April 2003. The determination created in the draw at Bolton, and the defeat to Leeds shaped this season.

We have had to take radical action to prune the playing staff: Wenger likes evolution, but Summer 2003 was radical surgery. The surgery was applied to create room for new hope, as it was to lower the operational costs. It lowered our expectations a tad, as well, at least in the early season.

In the words of the most hated figure of British 20th Century History: “Rejoice, Rejoice”. History is fleeting, and best observed in your rear-view mirror. It is hard to view life, in context, while you are living it. But I always, as you know, turn to history for my lessons. During two long phases of my life, Arsenal won nothing. 1989 was fantastic for many reasons, but the lasting one was that we could win a Championship at all! Yes, we could, twice a generation, assemble enough talent to get to Cup Finals. Yes, for 60%, we might actually win a trophy, but we could not compete with Liverpool over a whole 10 months.
Yet, here we were, at least for a short period, competing with the best.

Wenger has changed all that. We need to retain a title as our next big target, but we also need to remember how to savour our victories. To enjoy the thrill of being the best team in the country, consistently, for an entire season. This is like ’91. We enjoyed Anfield because it turned the League Season into an instantaneous explosion of Cup Joy. It was far more difficult to enjoy two years later when the same team beat all-comers, and went through a season with only one defeat. Cups are enjoyable feasts, to be enjoyed in the short, overwhelming glare of the media. League Titles are part of the fabric of the game, the everyday meals that constitute the wholesome diet.

Enjoy this. Don’t let it be commonplace. Don’t feel disappointed that we did not win three. Take stock of a fantastic season, relish every last moment, and let it keep you going in the future. Talents like we have on our playing staff now, only come along very rarely. Treat this season as one of the very best, by any club, any time, since 1888!


Your words have calmed my mind for a thousand years.
Well Done :)
 

visitor99

Active Member
Phil said:
LUCK

We bounced Chelsea for significant portions of the CL QF. We had our chances. It was not to be. We needed to kill them off after Reyes Goal, but ceded territory, and possession. Momentum is an important factor. We lost ours in the run up to Villa Park. In 1999, Manure got a stroke of luck (or 3). Down to 10 men, they conceded a penalty to the mastery of the Razor dribble. Killer Bergkamp missed. Extra-Time, we pummelled them. Put them back on the ropes and kept them there. What happened next was totally out of character. The world always sees a furry chested, limp Welshman, twirling his shirt, after roasting the best defence in Europe on his own. I see the impossible: The best Midfielder in Europe, striding forward purposefully, about to orchestrate another raid at the Manure defence. He chooses, however the totally wrong option, and in a moment of severe fatigue presents a tired, lazy cross field pass to where Lee Dixon should be. Giggs intercepts, and runs freely at the now out of position, exhausted defence. The momentum swung to manure, and they finished the season so inexplicably, that they must have a photograph of The Pope shagging two goats and the Choir of St Marks with an Aspidistra. A goal down in the CL Final, they were outplayed, out thought, and inept against Bayern. Beckham in central midfield looked like a “Plodder”, the sort that Sp**s pack their midfield with! Two “Wimbledon” set pieces onto Teddy Sheringham’s head in the last minute betrayed a truly disastrous team performance.
Please do not misunderstand this point. Manure deserved their Treble for sheer guts, and determination. The way that Roy Keane dragged them to the Final, when they had been 0-2, away from home in the Semi Final, was “Paddy”-like.

But they had luck. The Final would (apart from the 90th Minute) not be remembered by anyone outside of Bavaria. Manure had fortune beaming at them maniacally. In 2004, we did not. We got a nod from Lady Luck when Ashley stooped to score an 88th minute Salvation, but the FA Cup S/F Draw, the long run of Victories against our CL QF opposition had all stacked up against us.

You attribute to luck things that United players achieved on the field themselves. IMO that is not luck at all. A good team playing good football and achieving results is not luck. Luck is how events outside control of a team affect performance and results. Some example of events outside Arsenal's control that affected results this season include:

- RVN missing a last minute penalty at Old Trafford enabling Arsnal to hold on for a 0-0 draw;
- A referee incorrectly awarding a penalty to Arsenal for Pires' dive against Pompey, allowing Arsenal to hold on to for 1-1 draw;
- A referee correctly giving Gudjohnsen a yellow card rather than a penalty for a similar dive, preventing Chelsea taking the lead and ultimately resulted in Chelsea being reduced to 10 men;
- Cuducini fumbling the ball onto Henry's knee for Arsenal to go ahead 2-1 against Chelsea at Highbury;
- An injury record that is the envy of the league.

These are some examples of things which have gone your way which were outside your control. Luck, if you like.

I am not saying Arsenal have been successful because they have been lucky. But you have had your share the same as everyone else
 

Jinn

Established Member
Obviously, the timing of your luck has an impact on the things you achieve. For example, had we been luckier against Man Utd in the FA Cup, and had a few decisions gone our way, we might be in the final now.

Even the luck of the draw, in playing Chelsea and Man Utd so many times in the season might have had an impact. As Bergkamp said, when you play Chelsae three times in a season, and beat them, they're going to be even more fired up than normal to try and turn that around in the fourth match.

To win a treble, you need an immensely talented team; but talent alone will not get you to the silverware without a certain degree of luck. Events beyond your control need to also go your way.
 

Loylz

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
Its as good as done. Sunday will see us crowned champions at Highbury. I can feel it.
 

Biggus

Established Member
Well done Phil you've put a lot work in-Its only because we promised so much and fell short in two lousey games otherwise I'm convinced we would have swept all before us. You talk about luck.....The Duke of Wellington remarked after Waterloo that...

" It was a dammed close Thing"

:cry:
 

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