Yet Another Defeat for Arsenal: Two Blows To The Head

Using my proud Arab heritage, more specifically, Egyptian, I fished out this apt saying, which, in looking at it, conveys a lot of meaning in determining one's future after past misfortune:"two blows to the head hurt."

While many of you might look at the literal meaning behind the saying without really gauging the wisdom behind it, there is a real significance in using the number two. Why not just the one blow? One blow to the head is painful, and, while a headache might ensue, it is not enough to knock one for six. Sure it will lead to a lot of blurriness and disillusion, but one can stand tall again. Not after two blows. Already weakened and blurred, this repeated hard hit could vanquish anyone.

The same could be said of Arsenal's ever-faithful support, if not Arsenal Football Club itself.

Having recovered from a defeat that should never have been, largely thanks to the obligatory Old Trafford penalty, the highlight amongst many other samples of refereeing incompetence, we entered the international break full of confidence in our squad. Not worried one jot that the injustice dished out to us at Manchester United would derail our campaign or make us destined for underachievement under the wings of our rivals yet again. On the contrary, anyone who knew anything football simply knew that we were not the team who should have come out defeated that evening.

Then came Saturday, also in the city of Manchester. I knew, as you all knew, that this would be a key match in many respects. From Adebayor, who behaved disgracefully in everything he did by the way, right up to testing, both; city's and Arsenal's objectives and credentials; the former, backed by their Arab benefactors, in fighting for the title or at least breaking into the top four, and the latter, the beacon of football tradition, in holding onto their top four status and, dare we say it, fighting for the title.

Little did I know that we were about to witness an embarrassing show of amateurish football, flagging up the now old and terribly boring cliché—we have not learned from last season. Or the one before that. Or the one before that. And not even from the one before that!

Here's another of the all-time favourite post-2004 Arsenal clichés—"For all their possession and flair, Arsenal just cannot kill the game off." Oh how true that was on Saturday! Imagine telling any Joe Bloggs who hadn't watched the match at Eastlands, or who just doesn't have a clue about football, that we lost a match 4-2 and deserved to win hands-down. Funny, isn't it?

The reality is we actually controlled the match, but aside from an unlucky goal to concede on Manuel Almunia's behalf in the first half (who incidentally I am starting to believe just cannot cope with any top match), there was nothing unlucky about our miserable thrashing at the hands of the team most likely to usurp us in the Champions League positions.

I have to say this did not look the case following van Persie's marvellous opener to make it 1-1 just past the hour mark. But the rest was just a disaster. Purposeless, aimless, with a blind desire to win but without any structure, and forgetting that the other team is actually allowed to attack from time to time, I woke up to a stark reality, as I am sure you all have. We just cannot do any better, no matter how much Wenger tries to convince us, this team is simply not good enough without the investment that he so stubbornly and arrogantly refused, turning this into a long hard season, the season of his realisation of the dream as he had promised incidentally.

When we are winning things do look pretty rosy I must admit. We have two of the best playmakers in the world, a centre back pairing that is looking the part, and a striker who will surely develop into one of the world's deadliest in the next two years. However, looking at the team sheet after a defeat of such magnitude brings to light many cracks, with the frank reality that at least four or five of those individuals on show at Eastlands (with a few more left behind for good measure) are just not of Arsenal quality, no matter how hard they tried, and no matter how hard Wenger tried to spin it.

Now it's back to the drawing board, undoing all of August's good work. Having successfully negotiated our first week or so of the season, you realise that hindsight is a wonderful thing. We delivered Everton a right thrashing, six of the best, capitalising fully on a club in relative disarray due to injuries and transfer sagas and what have you, and scoring with every shot on that opening day, before meeting what is, frankly, a poor Portsmouth side and that's being kind (no offence Gazza and Omar). A perfect backdrop for a false dawn, for the next two matches in Manchester highlighted all our failures and reasons why we will not win the title. Not now, and not any time soon with Wenger's failing policy and fielding of average squad players.

All we can do now is simply support and hope, killing in our minds any expectations of becoming a winning team once again, just backing the team from week to week. Seeing where we will end up, praying in our heart of hearts that we are just about good enough to hold onto 4th from City's grasps. This is the time where, for the first time, I have to admit a revision of our expectations and knowing exactly where we stand are due.

But first we've got to clear our groggy heads and stand back up on our very unsteady feet. We must recover from that second blow to the head that really hurt, a fact, and a saying, not at all lost on the Al-Nahyan family and Khaldoon Al-Mubarak of Manchester City!