Gunnerism VI: Looking on the Bright Side at Arsenal

After the game, my friend said to me: "What’s happened, has happened. Stop crying about it (like Gallas did at the end of the game)."

Easier said than done. I punched him in the face.

Referees usually get more abuse than they deserve, and I usually am not one to blame the referees. But given the circumstances, I simply cannot help it.

Now pick on me all you want, but I felt that Mr. Mike Dean was loitering around too close to the ball when we were on the attacking third. Could it be that he was intentionally trying to break Arsenal’s flow of play?

Hoping to get any kind of incriminating evidence against Mr. Dean, I “googled” his name and guess what Wikipedia told me? He had been indefinitely suspended from refereeing for his involvement with a betting syndicate!

All right, all right. He was only lending his name to a horse racing syndicate, but it still is a big deal, even more so if you’re a Gooner.

That may not be a fair judge of his refereeing abilities, but he also did not call Nafti out for tugging Adebayor’s shirt. And if you note where he was standing—right there—he could not possibly have missed it. And if he did miss it, well, then that is just poor refereeing on his part anyway. 

To be fair, I am willing to accept his decision to award the penalty against Clichy as an honest mistake.

Now that all the bad blood is out of the way, let us see what we can look forward to.

This game might as well have been Theo’s breakout game. His brace should give him a decent boost of confidence, which we can use a bit of. For the second goal, he used his pace beautifully and topped it off with a cool finish.

One can only hope he performs on a more consistent level, and if he uses today’s performance as a springboard to build up on his skills, he should come good. And given today’s performance, there is no reason why he shouldn’t.

And now, it is finally time to introduce Mr. Wenger’s “new signing”: Robin van Persie. And if my sources are to be believed, he should feature next week against Aston Villa, if not Milan.

After being injured for who knows how long, RVP’s return could not have come at a more opportune time. Eduardo is out, Bendtner still has a long way to go, Adebayor seems to be suffering a slight dip in form, and Walcott is learning the tricks of the trade out wide.

I believe that he will be the deciding factor in the coming weeks. His trickery, skill, and ability to link up with Fabregas and Hleb should be enough to keep the Red Devils at bay.

And if you’re a Gooner, don’t worry. What’s happened, has happened.

We have reached a new low; Gallas’s reaction said it all. If anything, today’s events will further fuel our motivation for the final push.

I can see them bouncing back from this eventful day as champions, and lifting the trophy, for Eduardo.