Up Yours Barcelona

I can imagine Barcelona's dressing room before their players left for the World Cup. Pep Guardiola must have entered and said to his players, "Well done boys and thank you for all your hard work this season. But like every year, the president has homework for all you guys this summer! Now I know you will be busy with the World Cup this summer, but it will not take too much of your time, and will save the club an incredible amount of money. This year, your task is to destabilize your Spanish team-mate Cesc Fabregas! Most of you already know how to do it, but for those who are new, Carlos Puyol will explain how to do it! It's simple!"

And the Barca players have done their jobs beautifully, haven't they? But it's not about the Barcelona players alone. Barcelona Football Club, as a whole, is running probably the biggest disinformation campaign in the whole world right now. "Cesc belongs to Barcelona F.C." is the biggest load of garbage I have heard for a long time. The interview Puyol gave after Wenger basically told Barcelona to go to hell shows how despicable Barcelona are. Here's the interview, and my thoughts.


"I wonder how intelligent it is keeping a player who doesn't want to be there."

It is very intelligent, Carlos Puyol, believe me. He is a great player, is under contract for 5 more years and is very important to us. If your club is as desperate as it seems, it will pay the market price - your already huge debts may swell further, but who cares? And losing Fabregas to that laughable, derisory offer of 29 million would be less intelligent than keeping him unhappy at Arsenal.


"After seven years of great service, I thought Arsenal could have granted him his dream move."

The most annoying and unintelligent of all comments. So let's get this straight once and for all. Cesc hasn't 'served' Arsenal for 7 years. Arsenal has served him for 7 years. Arsenal got him when he was 16, and was not sure about his own ability to break into the Barcelona team. Fabregas came to Arsenal because he was sure that Wenger would make him the player he is today - as good a player as anybody at Barcelona could make him. He would not have come if he did not trust Wenger. And Arsenal, with one of the best (if not THE best) academies in the world, nurtured him and helped him be an exceptional player.

'Barcelona DNA' is absolute hogwash. Does anybody really believe he got more from Barcelona from the age of 10-16 than he got from Arsenal after that? Yes, he came with a good technique, but majority of kids from the continent do. Do they all become great players? They don't, unless a very very good academy is there to nurture them. And how does age even matter? Was he even one-tenth as good as he is now when he came to Arsenal? No. Arsenal has made Fabregas. Just like Arsenal made Vieira, Henry and many more.


"Cesc has given everything to Arsenal to try to win a trophy but they haven't matched his expectations"

Cesc has only started to repay Arsenal. He is quite a few years away from completely doing so. A player in Fabregas' position can hardly have higher 'expectations' from a club like Arsenal. The club has given him everything, so let's not even talk of 'expectations'. Also, does Fabregas not share responsibility for the team's performance? He appeared in only 27 out of 38 league games last season (many of the appearances were as a substitute). And Arsenal was fighting for the title till the last 4 games. Had he been available to start more games than he did, we could have won the league. We can consider his 'expectations' when he fulfils ours, at least partly.

"I won't say he is in a prison, as we know how privileged we are as football players.
"But after how clear Cesc made it that he wanted to be in Barcelona, I thought they would have granted him that."

At least the first line makes some sense, but Puyol is back to his half-witted talk in the next line. If Fabregas was so keen on moving, he should not have signed a long term contract. Arsenal showed great commitment to him by making him the club's highest earner and offering him such a long term contract. The contract means that even if Fabregas suffers an injury that leaves him useless for the rest of the contract period, Arsenal still pay him those 80,000 pounds every single week. That is a big commitment, when made for as many as 5-6 years.

Fabregas knew what he was doing when he signed the contract, so there is no use weeping like a baby to Spanish fans and creating a soap opera. He should stop acting like a little girl with statements such as 'I wish to see you (Barca fans) more often *sob**sob*sob*'. And if he does not realise how much Arsenal has done for him so far, and still wishes to go, we can grant him that, provided Barcelona pay the right price. Barcelona cannot expect to get Fabregas cheap with their dirty, abject, absolutely loathsome tap-up campaign.


"We all thought a deal would be done this summer. But Arsenal have refused to talk and we are going to have to wait another year to get Cesc home."

I hope Barcelona has to wait more, even if it means Cesc not playing his best football at Arsenal. Arsenal is under no financial pressure to sell.

How I wish Ramsey wasn't injured. Ramsey was as classy as Fabregas and was very close to being a great player, till that hatchet man broke his leg. Maybe it would have taken him another year to actually be as influential, but he was almost there. Now we can only hope for Ramsey's recovery. But thanks to Wenger and his network of scouts and coaches, we have an assembly line of amazingly creative players. So there is a good chance we can make very good use of that one year if we get it.


"He is far too classy a guy to say it but the truth is he doesn't want to be at Arsenal this season. His heart is already in Barcelona, even though we must wait another year for his body to be here"

I thought he was classy too, but apparently not. He has had to come back to Arsenal after Wenger refused to even consider the sale, but we all know he wanted to go. And he has gone around declaring his wish to play for Barcelona to his Spanish teammates, who obviously are doing the talking on his behalf. He has been influenced, as expected with more than half the Barca team playing for Spain. And jokers like Pepe Reina have been only too happy to be a part of this nonsense. But how much can you influence a person who himself doesn't wish to go? Fabregas was already at the edge, in my opinion, and Barcelona pushed him off it. One cannot absolve Fabregas from this affair at all.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Fabregas and I know he loves Arsenal. But I am really aggrieved because of two reasons. First, because he is turning his back on the club that made him into what he is, at a time when he is close to fulfilling what the club worked hard for. Despite all the speculation for the last few years, I never thought he would do that, because I always believed he knew how indebted he was to Arsenal.

And second, because he has acted in the manner that he has. If Arsenal really really mattered that much to him, he would have stayed. If not that, he at least would have kept his mouth shut all this time. He would not have gone around talking about Barcelona with his Spanish teammates. And he at least would have refrained from his weepy speeches talking of his Catalan roots, acting like a victim here.

Instead, he has gone ahead and done all that, and keeps sending out mixed signals all the time - I am captain of Arsenal but Barcelona is my home; I love Arsenal, but I love Barca too - it's tiring. He knows his going would be a big blow to Arsenal and what they have stood for for so long. He could have at least chosen to give Arsenal a few of his peak years. Yet it seems that he has started to believe that every year he stays at Arsenal, he is doing a favour to the club.

"We know he is arriving next season. Barcelona have a whole year to sort the deal out.

More Barca talk - arrogant and disrespectful.

"He is professional enough still to have a great season and also because he has a lot of respect for the Arsenal fans.
"But anybody who tries to convince themselves he wanted to stay at Arsenal is wrong."

I agree. Arsenal have to accept he wants to go, but that needn't mean letting him go cheap.

I feel that keeping an unhappy player is not entirely wise, but a line has to be drawn somewhere. If a club like Barcelona work all year to create an unhappy situation in a player's mind, and then come to the table with a disgraceful offer of 29 million knowing that they have succeeded in destabilizing the player, there is no way a club like Arsenal should bend. It would be inexcusable if Arsenal allowed this to happen and I, as a fan, would be extremely hurt if it did happen.

I must mention one thing here. The way Arsenal have responded to Barcelona's pettiness makes me proud to be a Gooner. Arsenal have been dignified, even when dealing with contemptible behaviour. And Arsenal have shown great strength and resolve. They have been so strong that Barcelona have been made to look helpless.

This situation has made me look more optimistically than I did when the first indication of Fabregas' desire to leave came. I still think that if Fabreas does leave anytime soon, it will be a big blow to Arsenal's youth policy (real youth policy, unlike that of some clubs who only claim to have one). But Arsenal have a choice, and Arsenal alone will decide Fabregas' future. They can choose to not let him go at any cost.

Even if he does go this year, we must remember that the focus on youth has helped Arsenal go through tough times incredibly well. Competing with the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United at a fraction of their budgets was no mean feat, and it was made possible by our philosophy of youth. It helped us when it was needed the most. So even if it takes a moral blow now, we know it helped us survive. We now have an infrastructure of youth that is ahead of its times, and extremely difficult to set up. With better times approaching, our policy can be suitably tweaked, in a way that will make us more competent without deviating significantly from our core.

Essentially, though we are in a difficult situation with respect to Fabregas, we hold all the aces here. Arsenal will decide when, if at all, to let him go, and at what price. And Arsenal can recover from such a situation better than most people can imagine. As has been the case for years, the academy will take care of the club. In Nasri, Ramsey and Wilshere, we have three potential replacements. Most clubs will be lucky to have one Fabregas. Even if we lose one, we may create three. That is how Arsenal Football Club has been under Wenger. And that is how it will continue to be.

A Tribute to Vicente del Bosque

When I look back at some of the greatest football teams ever made, I think of two teams - two fantastic teams that played and won in an incredible way, pleasing and thrilling every fan, every 'neutral', and  intriguing even those who hated them. These were the teams that have educated me most about football. They also taught me that football is more than a game, it is a philosophy and that that is how it must be. These two teams completely shaped the way I look at football and sculpted my beliefs on how a football club should be in its spirit. They showed me why football is 'the beautiful game'.

One of those two teams, of course is my beloved Arsenal's Invincibles of 2003-2004. But this article is not about them.

On the eve of Spain's World Cup final against Netherlands, I wish to talk about the other team, and pay tribute to the man who constructed the team and orchestrated the incredibly sublime football that the team played. The team was the Real Madrid team of 1999-2003, and that man is Vicente Del Bosque, who will tonight try to win the biggest trophy that any nation can win in sport.

In his tenure as the Real Madrid manager from 1999 to 2003, the club won two la Liga titles and two Champions League titles, and many other titles such as the Intercontinental cup and Supercup.

Of course, more important than this was the way the team played football. It was football that was unpretentious and majestic in equal measure. Geniuses like Zidane and Figo were a part of the team, but you would rarely see those extravagant pieces of skill that most observers find praiseworthy. The moments of genius were of course there, but they were more subtle. One would see a pass from Zidane that seemed to glide perfectly to its destination, not requiring the receiver to do anything but just make contact with the ball to score. One would see Figo carry out a dummy that left space wide open for Raul. One would see Zidane glide away with the ball, with 4-5 defenders hovering around him trying to get through what seemed like an impermeable bubble around him. One would see the team dizzying opponents with short passes on the ground. The brilliance of Real Madrid at that time was that their game seemed simple and effortless - and this was down to Del Bosque.

There were unbelievably talented players like Raul, Morientes, Figo and Zidane in the team. But, a defensive midfielder in his playing days, Del Bosque was the man who understood the importance of Claude Makalele. He understood that Makalele was required to provide the rhythm for all of Zidane and Figo's beautifully created symphony. When asked (after his Real Madrid stint came to an end) which of the foreign players he liked, he said "It may be a surprise but it has to be Claude Makelele. He ran and worked for Zidane, Michel Salgado and Roberto Carlos, and always did it with a smile. Yet they let him go to Chelsea... but perhaps I don't know the inside story."

With all the lovely football that his teams played, not many noticed Del Bosque's love for organisation. "In some ways it is easy to be the coach of Real Madrid," Del Bosque remarked, "It's an old truth: it's hard to build a great team without the players. But without a little organisation, you can fail very quickly even if you have the players."

However, after devoting almost his entire footballing life, as a player and manager at different levels, to Real Madrid, he was sacked by Real Madrid in 2003. This was 24 hours after he had won the la Liga for the second time. Many of us read the news in disbelief. I remember asking my friends if Real Madrid has lost it completely. We all saw it as the end of an era. But in a typical statement of bravado, Real Madrid claimed that the coach was "traditional" and they "believed in making changes in good times".

"Del Bosque is a traditional coach and we feel we need another kind of person," said the club president Perez. "We feel the team would be more potent with a more tactical coach. We want someone with a high technical ability but a slightly lower profile." "The fans love Del Bosque", he went on, "but they also appreciate me and what I have done for the club. We are willing to take this risk rather than follow a more conservative policy."


What followed is history. It is a testament to Vicente Del Bosque's genius that Real Madrid only won their next la Liga in 2007, and changed 7 coaches in the 4 year period after his departure.

7 years on, watching Del Bosque guide a talented Spanish side to the World Cup final, I am reminded of what a great influence he, through his Real Madrid team, had on all of us who love football. We will always be indebted to him for that.

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Reporter: One of your former players, Zinedine Zidane, was voted FIFA's World Player of the Year last week and Ronaldo was No 3. Did they deserve it?

Del Bosque: I don't like these individual prizes. To try to explain why Roberto Carlos, Raul, Zidane or Ronaldo deserve such an award is nonsense. How can you compare the different contribution of each player? They all share the greatest quality: they have given Real Madrid back its status as the greatest club in the world.

Just One More Season, Cesc...

I believe one must be careful analysing transfer related comments by players, because they are never an accurate indicator of what a player wants to do in the future. What a player says is heavily influenced by the occasion of when he says it, by media wanting to colour it in a certain way and his general mood at the time of saying it. Also, a player is a human being after all, and he can change his mind pretty quickly. Therefore, I don't usually make conclusions from comments that appear in the newspapers. However, this time, I couldn't resist it, because the comments were from our very own Cesc Fabregas.

After some of Cesc's comments in Barcelona, the press got enough fodder for gossip, which they coupled with their notoriously poor reasoning abilities to conclude that Cesc is on his way out. What was it that Fabregas said, which prompted headlines such as "Cesc ready to join Barcelona"? Here's what he said -

"If I ever leave Arsenal it will be to play for Barcelona. I am 23 years old and I have a long career in front of me. I've never hidden the fact that playing for Barcelona is a dream that I would like to fulfill.

You see your team-mates succeeding here [in Barcelona] and it is exciting because you have worked alongside them for so long. I think I would like to go to Barcelona, whether or not they want me is another thing. I don't know when it will happen. I am happy at Arsenal and I am not in a rush to leave. Before I leave for the World Cup I want my future sorted out because it benefits nobody if I go into the tournament with something else on my mind."

A bit more perspective here. As with all other quotes, these quotes came after Cesc was prompted by journalists. So he never said "If I ever leave Arsenal it will be to play for Barcelona" on his own volition. He was asked whether Barcelona will be the team he plays for if he ever left Arsenal, to which he replied "Yes, definitely".

Anyway, the reason for discussing Cesc's desire to stay at Arsenal is that this time, unlike in the previous years, I am skeptical about to whether he will stay. Although I have pointed out that the press, as usual, has twisted some statements from Fabregas to create an impression that a transfer is imminent, I am less confident of him staying this year than I was last year. I fear the worst. The italicized text above are the reasons I believe he will stay, and the underlined portion is what makes me uncomfortable.

He clearly says that if ever he leaves Arsenal, he will only go to Barcelona. That shows he loves the club, and that the affection he has matters more to him than trophies. He is saying clearly that he will only leave from one club he loves to another one he loves. It also shows that his chances of leaving, in case Barcelona do not chase him, are remote. He will not leave for any other club in the world.

That said, Barcelona seem interested, and Cesc has said he wants to sort out his future before the World Cup. He is contracted at Arsenal till 2014, so why would he want to "sort out" his future now? It shows that there is some uncertainty there. And that is what worries me.

It  worries me because this transfer will be a massive setback for everything that the current Arsenal stands for. It will be a transfer that inflicts a killer blow on Arsene Wenger's vision for the club. 

The vision is of a young, intelligently assembled group of youngsters growing together, maturing together to form a great institution of total football. The vision is admirable, but it rests on one fundamental necessity  - that a player, when developed and ready to lead the team to the next level, is kept at the club to achieve what he has been trained for. Once that requirement is taken care of, it is only a matter of time before the model yields results for a club as good at developing players as Arsenal are. However, if this crucial condition is not met, the model fails. 'Fails' is not to say that the club does not achieve good results, but it is to say that the ultimate goal of creating that dream team is not achieved.

The previous transfers of the likes of Thierry Henry and Vieira were difficult to accept, but Cesc's transfer, if it goes through, will be infinitely more grievous for the club. Wenger will find another gem, and Arsenal will be competitive again, but the transfer will be a big blow to everything that Arsenal and Wenger have stood for in the last 5 years. It will be a defeat of a brave ideology. Arsenal may not be the same again. They will have to change their philosophy. It will be a win for the likes of Mourinho, who recently said - "Arsenal won it in an incredible way and after that they thought they could win in a different way. They cannot win it in a different way. Either they go back to where they were or they don’t do it."

I hope Cesc stays back and proves Arsenal can do it in a different way. Just one more season, Cesc, and you'll want to stay back. Just one more season...

The Nucleus Is There

Not too much to say about the game against Manchester City. The game, to say the least, was extremely boring. The surprising lack of ambition displayed by the visitors, coupled with the lethargic approach of Arsenal ensured that we had a game devoid of any life. Even the introduction of Adebayor, who throughout bore sort of a moronic grin on his face, failed to add any spark to the game.

The only thing that the game managed do was to mathematically establish that we are now out of the title race. With two games to go, it is also more or less certain that we will finish third. It is a definite improvement over the last season, but still disappointing considering we were very close to winning something this year.

However, despite the disappointment, most Arsenal fans I know agree that Wenger has been working under great constraints. A very low budget has made it difficult to have a balanced squad.

And yet, there are also people (mainly in the press) who think Wenger is some kind of a myopic, obstinate idiot who refuses to buy only because he has faith in his youngsters. Do you think a manager of Wenger's caliber is not aware of whether a player is good enough? Do you think Wenger is not aware that his goalkeepers are poor? Do you think Wenger is not aware of how badly Silvestre has played?

Why do you think Wenger didn't invest in a backup to Vermaelen and Gallas, till he signed Campbell in January? Because he does not understand that injuries can happen and a backup is needed? Of course not! He didn't have enough money. As simple as that. One needs to understand that when a 10 million pound worth player is signed, for say 60,000 pounds a week salary, about 12 million pounds are spent on his salary alone, over the 4 years of his contract. There you go - so a player may cost 'only' 10 million, but you have got to balance the player salaries too. With Manchester United and Chelsea consistently purchasing players around the 25-30 million mark, we must understand how far behind Arsenal has been financially, and what a great job Wenger has done.


Great managers win trophies, but how many managers have succeeded in creating a world class stadium without letting the quality of his sides drop considerably? Most would say that the Invincibles were Wenger's greatest achievement, but I think the Ashburton Grove comes very close to being his biggest contribution to Arsenal. The scale of Wenger's accomplishment is not appreciated. The stadium, with capacity more than 60,000 people, has virtually ensured a bright future for us. An increase in 20,000 seats is a straight 50% rise in revenues, all else being equal. For added perspective, please note that Tottenham and Liverpool have been planning a stadium for years, without success.


One of the gripes of many fans is that Wenger has persisted with players like Denilson and Silvestre. Wenger does give more time to players to show whether they are good enough to play for Arsenal. But I think most people wrongly attribute his obstinacy as the primary reason for it. Some part of it may be his stubbornness, but I believe the financial condition, more than anything else, has caused him to be patient with players. If you had Vermaelen, Djourou, Song and Gallas out injured, and had no money to buy another defender, would you not have Silvestre play? Or would you rather play with 3 at the back? I think Wenger has created enough great players to trust him with building a team.


Anyhow, now the financial situation is said to be improving at the club. Of course, we are not in the league of Manchester United and Chelsea with respect to buying expensive players, but (apparently) the finances are still better than they have been for the past five years at Arsenal. This will be a true test of whether Wenger can make signings when needed, and whether he can throw out the non-performers.

This does not mean that Wenger can go ahead and buy a Berbatov for 30 million or Villa for 40 million. He will always buy good players a lot cheaper than other managers do; but now, at least he will be able to get the right player when the squad requires one. He will be able to sideline the non performers. He will not need to depend on Denilson to perform, because he can get in someone better. That in itself will be a luxury for him.

Fans must realise that Wenger's shrewdness in the transfer market and his ability to groom players has provided this Arsenal team a strong nucleus. Fabregas, Vermaelen, Arshavin and Van Persie are 4 players who can get into any side in the world. Song has been fantastic and at the rate that he is improving, he may become one of the finest midfielders in the world next year. In Sagna and Clichy we have 2 very good full-backs. We have a very good side in place, with players who have grown together; Wenger has managed to create this over a lean period. The hope now is that Wenger will have enough funds to finally make those 1-2 signings which will make us world beaters. It is an interesting summer coming up.

Arsenal Throw in the Towel

Although defeat to Tottenham midweek did seem to kill off our title ambitions, I could see a ray of hope when Chelsea were beaten at White Hart Lane. Even Manchester United, despite beating Manchester City on Saturday, showed glimpses of why none of the top clubs can hold an uncontested claim to the title this year. I therefore thought we were again going to rise from the dead and this indeed would be a vintage season.

I think it was my nature as a fan that made me hope in the face of obvious reality. Otherwise, why would I harbour such hopes with half our first team out injured? Anyway, hope I did, and by the end of the first hour, the 2 goals we scored further strengthened my belief. I was already calculating where, in addition to Liverpool, Chelsea would drop points.

What followed was catastrophic. After the first Wigan goal, where the Arsenal midfield was caught napping, Flappy-hands-ki made a trademark howler. N'Zogbia completed the nightmare with a fine strike.

Were were never good value for the 2-0 lead. We were not passing well, and we were not making use of whatever possession we had. We were not even working hard to close Wigan down. But we did go up 2-0, and a team of Arsenal's standard should have held on to the lead. It is embarrassing to see your side give up a two goal cushion, especially against a side slowly being dragged into the relegation mud-fight. I still cannot believe it happened. The 2 goals should have spurred us on, but instead, we played worse after we took the lead.

The title is beyond our reach now, and it is exhausting to go through all the same emotions again - seeing Wenger's exasperated face, talking to disappointed and angry fellow-fans, and hearing all the speculation about Fabregas that refuses to die down. Then there is the English media, which again has gone over the top criticising Wenger. This is the same press that had predicted Arsenal would be the victims of Manchester City's new found prosperity. This is the same press that said Alexandre Song was Arsene Wenger's worst ever signing and that Vermaelen was too short for the English game. There, of course, is no dearth of xenophobiacs spouting venom at Wenger. Some morons even ask if Wenger is the right man for the job.

Not that all the criticism directed at Arsenal is misguided. The lack of a world class keeper is something that even Arsenal fans have been complaining about, and there is a lot of merit in the complaint. I am sure even Wenger, who has worked with David Seaman and Jens Lehmann, is aware of the fact. Whether it is lack of funds that has kept Arsenal from buying a good keeper, or it is something else, we will never know. What is clear, though, is that Arsenal need a new keeper.

What the critics fail to notice, however, is that Arsenal did have some tough luck. Van Persie was in the peak of form when he got injured. Injuries happen, but he was ruled out for almost the whole season. Such injuries are not common. Also, van Persie is one of a kind. He is a striker and a provider in equal measure. His movement used to create havoc in opponent defences. Losing him for so long was a huge blow. Take Rooney or Drogba out for a season and see if they can cope. Manchester United struggled for 2 weeks without Rooney.

We faced a lot of other injuries too. We were very much in the title race before we visited Spurs, and against them, we were without 5 key players and with van Persie on the bench. A familiar response is "every team has injuries". Every team does, but usually the injuries are rolling in nature. A team usually has maximum 2-3 players of the first 11 out. How many teams have played multiple games without 5-6 of their key players? Vermaelen, Gallas, Fabregas, Song, Arshavin and Van Persie form the core of the Arsenal team. This cannot be disputed. They are the essence of Arsenal.

This is not to blame injuries entirely for our loss. Clearly, a team with title aspirations must invest in big squads, as Chelsea and Manchester United have shown over the past 5 years, and this year. Arsenal have failed to do so, for whatever the real reasons are. But what annoys me is that people do not acknowledge the handicap that a unique situation with huge debts and injuries has created at Arsenal. Wenger is working against all odds.
 
I guess we just have to console ourselves in the knowledge that we were so, so close this time. Wenger had performed miracles as usual, with the signing of Vermaelen, with the improvement of Song and with the 4-3-3 that just re-emphasised that we are the best football playing team in the league. We were looking like a title winning side with our first 11 playing. Last year, our first 11 was not good enough. This year its the backup squad that has been found lacking. There is definite improvement.

We are at a stage where our disappointment threatens to ruin all the work done in the season. We must quickly get over it and ensure we win the game against Man City, and go on to win all the remaining games. We must ensure that we at least finish third, and as close as possible to United and Chelsea. That will help ease at least some of the pain.

Dreams End at White Hart Lane

**** Many many thanks to Sumit Gangwani, who has penned this article in my absence****

Couldn't have asked for a bigger game to ascertain our title credentials midweek. This game, where we have traditionally held the upper edge, was never likely to be easy. The Gunners were haunted by injuries to key personnel - our main defender, our best midfielders and one of our star strikers (or a 'forward', as you can call Arshavin in our system of play). The only good news was that dear ol' Robin was back on the bench. The odds seemed against us, but c'mon, it was Spurs, right? We have not lost to the spuds for 10 years now. Surely we could win here tonight?

The match started evenly and soon Sol guided a corner kick towards the goal only to be blocked by last man on the line. I thought it was going pretty well till that 19 year old imp scored the first goal through an outstanding volley in the 9th minute of his debut. On the first view, I felt Almunia should have powered the corner harder. But on watching the replays, I feel it would not be justified to blame Almunia. That sheer lucky brilliance of Danny Rose was destined for goal. 9 out of 10 times he wouldn't score that even in an empty net. But as I said, it seemed to be destined this time.

Arsenal's spirit was evident when they didn't even wait for Spurs to complete celebrations of first goal and started the game. I was happy seeing that they still wanted to win this game. Then came the moment which I believe changed the course of  the game. We lost our best defender, our bravest soldier to injury. Vermaelen's injury was a huge blow. Le Professeur was left with no choice but to throw Silvestre on the field. With a huge challenge to surmount, we seemed mediocre throughout. We had a lot of possession, but failed to make any use of it. Not surprising from a team deviod of Fabregas, Arshavin and van Persie.

Minutes after half time, Silvestre showed why Wenger rates him below Vermaelen, Gallas, Song and even Campbell. Sometimes I feel bad about being harsh on him, but I now think he deserves all the criticism he gets. Yes, he is close to retirement and age has caught up with him. But look at Sol Campbell. He, as he once again came up with superb performance, proved that he still has lot of fighting spirit left.

We seemed to be devoid of any quality till the introduction of Robin brought a new life to the team. With his first touch, control, positioning and his shots, he provided Bendtner with a 20 minute lesson in the art of being a striker. Within a span of 10 minutes RvP was able to make 3 genuine attempts goal, forcing brilliant saves from Gomes. Wonder where we would have been had RvP been available throughout the season. I still feel a sharp pain just wondering what could have been.

As tears rolled down, Arsenal fans realised that the trophy will have to wait. Wenger has been successful bringing unknown talents to such a stage, but has no silverware to show for his amazing achievements at Arsenal. Going forward he will definitely need to make changes. I personally feel we should get rid of Silvestere, Denilson, Fabianski, Almunia and fill up the holes with quality players. We clearly lacked the depth when we had injuries. 5 senior players being absent clearly was a genuine handicap, but history will only record that we lost title at White Hart Lane.


No matter what, though, we love Arsenal we will always love the team and Wenger. In Arsene We Trust.

Key moments: Barcelona v/s Arsenal

No regrets from the game at Camp Nou. We came up against a side which is undoubtedly the best in the world, which is arguably at the peak of its form and which boasts of definitely the best player in the world. For all the pain the Champions League exit caused me, I have no complaints. Barcelona surely deserved to go through to the semifinals over two legs.

Arsenal played with a patched up squad against a Barcelona side which also had a couple of absentees. But it would be unfair to ignore the fact that we were without our main centre back (Gallas), our two most important midfield players (Fabregas and Song), and two most important 'forwards' (Van Persie and Arshavin). We do not have the squad strength that Barcelona have, therefore, getting a favourable result at Camp Nou was always going to be a mammoth task. What followed is history.

We all know about Messi and Xavi's brilliance, how well Barcelona hold the ball, and how beautifully they play in general. How hard they work trying to get possession back is exemplary. I am not going to go on about that again. But here are some of the key moments that contributed to our defeat -

1. Diaby makes a poor decision: Faced with a choice between playing a through ball to Walcott - who would have torn free for a one on one against Valdes - and making a not so important pass to Bendtner, Diaby chose the latter. Arsenal were 0-1 up at that time, and good decision-making by Diaby may have turned the match heavily in Arsenal's favour.

2. Poor defending by Silvestre and Denilson: Everybody wishes to play for this Barcelona team. Silvestre probably wanted it so much that he played a one-two with Messi. As Messi ran with the ball along the penalty area, with Denilson hopelessly following him, an attempted pass by Messi was inadvertently played back to his feet by Silvestre. Not something you get away with.

3. Messi again shows us that he has a short backlift: Silvestre played the ball back to Messi, but Vermaelen and Silvestre himself were not far away and flung themselves in the way. The way Messi took his shot was unbelievable. In a fraction of a second, not only did he hit it accurately, but he also found the requisite power to beat the surprised Almunia.

4. Arsenal fail to deal with the cross: For the second goal, a cross caused panic in the Arsenal defence and we failed to clear the ball. Messi showed great composure and quick decision making by taking a first touch that moved the ball beyond the hapless Clichy. We never had a chance once Messi got past Clichy.

5. Arsenal fail with the offside trap: An interesting statistic is that we are the team that has caught opponents offside the most number of times in the Premier League. We generally play the high line in defence. But against Barcelona, playing the high line didn't quite work out very well. Our defence was so high up that Messi took Kieta's headed pass almost from the half line, ran the entire length of the half, and scored without being challenged. We all know about Messi's pace. Playing a high line is very risky against a player who is that fast. The offside trap has to work perfectly in such a scenario. We took the risk and we paid for it.

These moments, for me, shaped the result.

Finally, all said and done, sometimes you just have to raise your hands and accept you came up against a superior opposition. Luckily for Arsenal, this moment doesn't come too often. But when it does, like this time, I choose to congratulate the winning team and hope that maybe we will get to their level soon.