Arsenal's Triple Blow: Is All Hope over for the Gunners?

Arsene Wenger said something quite symptomatic of the nature of sport yesterday, in the wake of Arsenal's 0-2 loss to Manchester United at the FA Cup: "You could see something has gone. Not in our effort. Not in our attitude. But a bit confidence-wise."

It would sum up quite nicely the state of affairs in the aftermath of any loss, whatever sport one plays. Soccer, of course, is an especially tough example—the tough yards go towards single moments, career-defining goals that pass in seconds. A kick is a kick, and if it should land in, it's often just too bad.

The thing about soccer is that it is not a cumulative sport, like tennis or golf, where almost everything that happens on the field counts towards the score, and the likely or unlikely probability of victory. Instead, wins and losses are negotiated within a time frame, and the serried ranks of opposing midfielders. Victory is easy to define in soccer —it's the net-contacting ball that earns a point, and no amount of glorious ball possession or showy passing.

Of course, it is horrendously complicated—getting the ball through the goalposts is a simple notion, but getting it there isn't. Arsenal faces the problem of being a fine team, in that it has to face other equally, if not finer, teams. Birmingham at the Carling Cup probably wasn't quite its desert, but Barcelona at the Champions Cup, and Manchester United last night, were, and probably are more than it can handle. Losses, of course, are always devastating in some way, and Wenger's comments would reflect this sense of helplessness. As always, it is the confidence which is hardest hit.

Let it be known—Arsenal is by no means a spent force. If anything, "spent force" is probably one of the more inappropriate terms applicable to soccer; with the hope of ever-renewing talent, a club's hopes and fortunes are guaranteed of revival at some point. Indeed, Arsenal at this point has a fine team, with the world's greatest talents among its ranks. Its loss to Man U was disappointing only in that the Gunners failed to capitalise on goal chances, while the much greater blow against Birmingham had come off some elementary errors.

Errors and blips, of course, can prove costly, but are usually hardly permanent in significance. The best teams and the best team managers, such as Arsenal and Arsene Wenger exemplify, always find ways to return to their best. Arsenal may be on a low for the moment, but it would take just some readjusting and on-field moments of magic, to reignite the killer instinct.

The season may be over for Arsenal, its next title, for the moment, seeming like light-years away. There will be a next season, nonetheless, and a title, sometime, surely.