Arsenal Fans Look Forward to Past with Adams and 1-0 win

The past is becoming more and more important at the Emirates Theme Park, we already have four statues, Chapman, Adams, Henry, and Chamakh, (ok I lied about the fourth) on the podium which is looking more and more like Madame Tussauds by the week. Indeed one of the statues got to meet its doppelganger, who contrary to rumours is not boycotting the club at all.

He strode onto the pitch wearing a Beano style Arsenal scarf, One Tony Adams, and oooh, oooh noises greeted him. He bowed to all four sides of the stadium, QPR fans sat stony faced, apart from two sporting types who clapped, but not too wildly. It was as emotional as a Korean Leaders funeral, it suddenly made me wonder where Park was, he wasn’t on the bench, and no he couldn’t be could he? No he couldn’t he is from the South after all.

It reads Forward on the team shirts, but the crowd and Gazides, under the cover of Arsenalfication in his case,  are now looking forward to the past. That’s how it seemed at the Stadium, big cheers for Adams, then the crowd sang Thierry Henry, not one current player’s name was sang until well into the game and that was Van Persie, who perhaps is one of the very few that still has links to Adams and Henry. The only new song was one for Mertesacker which is the worst I have ever heard, and fortunately died a death. The crowd are more enthusiastic about players of the past, and have more songs for them than any of the present squad bar RvP.

Record Hung Heavy?

The cheers for the current players didn’t really start until RvP scored his 35^th premier league goal in a calendar year, beating Henry’s record, who generously applauded his protégé from his box. He Scores When He Wants sang the crowd. Good song, but not really true is it? Perhaps he didn’t score last week because he knew Chelsea would lose this week, and it would help the board’s Shock Doctrine (For article on Arsenal and Shock Doctrine see here) along.

However the record had become a millstone around his neck, he took one shot when clearly there were three other players in the box in a far better position. He also seemed to snatch at chances, but Arshavin’s pass was a beauty, watch that pass in slomo, it was perfect, an act of geometry, even Gervinho couldn’t have missed (Not sure about that. Ed). When the little Russian went off he got a very generous round of applause from the crowd, he had a tidy game, and was the only midfielder to break the deadlock. If I see another Song/Ramsey misplaced back heel I shall demand a refund.

Spot the difference

                                                                                        Adams                                                                                Statue

Back to the Past      

This was the 4^th match in a row, at home, that Arsenal have scored only one goal, it’s beginning to feel like the old days under Graham with one nil to the Arsenal, which the crowd with its commitment to the past duly obliged and sang.  Indeed the crowd were whistling for the ref to end the game, as the team played for a corner again and again, it’s come to this no more oles, but pleading with ref to blow his whistle. I must say Arteta is very good at corner pin play, a maestro, winning two, or was it three corners in a row.  Arsenal managed only seven shots on target, but nine off target. That was because some very good chances were wasted, with Walcott and Gervinho both missing sitters.

I tried out a new song, Gervinho he misses when he wants, but no one would join in, which was probably for the best. At least Kaba Diwara used to hit the woodwork.

QPR were combatative and made it very difficult for Arsenal, fortunately with only 3 shots on target not as combative as Blackburn had made it for Man U. Indeed the biggest cheer of the day had been for Blackburn’s winning goal. Not a very nice birthday present for a 70 year old, I was gutted for him. But what Man U do, or don’t do, isn’t our main concern, it was Chelsea that concerned the crowd.

In the past the crowd were glued to their transistor radios for news of key results, but we have gone back to the future and are now glued to our smart phones. Problem is that smart phones can’t get enough bandwidth at the stadium, so in my block we depended on the one bloke who could get a signal. Hope rose at Villa leading  2-1, though some found it hard to believe, fearing it was a joke, and then cheers broke out as Villa went 3-1 up. It was like the old days again with Chelsea collapsing to a Villa attack that wasn’t toothless, as we all gathered around the radio. What an amazing coincidence that their manger is called Villas Bogus.

The crowd went home happy, a one nil win was so much better than a 1-1 draw and it had taken the club back to 4^th, which will now seem like a trophy, and who knows we could win  a cup, very much like the last days of GG. Everyone was cheerful, but that was more about what had happened elsewhere, than the scrappy match we had just witnessed. The Premiership had one of those days where the whole was greater than the sum of the parts, it had gone crazy, and a mediocre performance had now become a great and important result.  A day of excitement and poor defending for the other top four clubs, but Arsenal had the only clean sheet.. Perhaps one-nil to the Arsenal is the way forward. It was such a good day that I watched MOTD, not for our tedious game, but to gloat over Aston Villas Bogus, Harry’s,  and Alex Ferocity’s ’s misfortunes.

 And now the past is coming to our aid in the shape of Thierry Henry. Who said there was nothing to look forward to, so far two of the statues have come to life and visited the ground, one will even sign. Wenger better watch out that the third one doesn’t come to life, now there was a man who knew how to win back to back leagues.

On the way home to the station we checked out Song’s Sushi bar, but he was missing, a bit like many of his passes today.

Thanks to all Arsenal Times readers for making this blog  the most succesfull Premier League Club in 2011 on the Sportsnetwork. All the best for 2012.
Happy New Year