Just in case that hasn't sunk in yet I'll repeat it. We're going to Wembley.
Last nights victory against Ipswich has given us our first shot at some silverware this season and with our potential opponents being Birmingham or West Ham then you have to believe that our long, very public trophy drought is very close to an end.
The guy who stood out last night was our favourite Russian Andrei Arshavin, but not always for the right reasons. Arshavin has become somewhat of a target for many fans who find themselves constantly moaning about how lazy he is, how poor his passing has become, how he has the work rate of a retired sloth or sum it all up by simply pulling a ridiculously scrunched up face and pointlessly screaming "For f**k sake, why are you so s**t".
Now I'm going to put my neck on the line here and try to defend the little meerkat. I am not denying that Arshavin annoys and frustrates the hell out of me, because he does but even if we only go on the evidence of last nights game, people that rush to slate him should stop and re-watch the game. AA23 finished the game with two assists to his name and personally I couldn't fault his work rate, he chased for everything all game until he was eventually substituted. His passing was a bit off admittedly but having set up two goals in a 3-0 win we can surely forgive him.
If we look beyond last night Arshavin has 9 assists in the league this year, only Nani and Brunt have more (11 and 10 respectively) on top of that he has 4 goals and this is only in the league and lets remember that due to a drop in confidence or form, whichever the case may be he hasn't played a lot of football in the last month.
The message is simple, let Wenger deal with Arshavin and get off his back when he does play, he is a world class player and belongs with Arsenal football club, if he were to be forced out of the club by shallow, ignorant 'fans'.
I was going to complain a little bit about Bendtner but after his touch and finish for our first goal I'll leave him be for now.
Another big thing we have learnt from the win is Arsene Wenger's policy for the League Cup has officially completely changed. Le Prof obviously has been told from the higher powers that a trophy - any trophy - is a must this season. Over the last few years even in a game as big as the League Cup semi final we would have seen a group of reserves and youngsters take the field you only have to look at our final season at Highbury when we faced Wigan and suffered a late goal to knock us out of the competition. The importance of picking up the trophy on February 27th is so much more than ending our drought. If we are to go on to lose, confidence will plummet, it will be another trophy that has slipped from our grasp since that penalty shoot out in the FA Cup final against Man Utd in 2005 and I am severally worried about the effect it would have on the squad for the rest of the year especially as we will go into the game as such heavy favourites. However, if we win it, our young squad can start to get an addiction for winning, winning breeds winners and it could really be a springboard to a fantastic period in the clubs history.
Forgive me, I'm getting ahead from myself. The squad need to forget about last night's achievement now and concentrate on the games between now and Wembley, lets not forget we play in three different competitions before then. We start with the FA Cup on Saturday, there are twelve points to fight for in the league and there's a little game against some foreigners called Barcelona so although we are there, the players need to forget about Wembley for now and to use the old cliché take each game as it comes.
I'd like to finish today with a message to Andy Gray after his sacking from sky for his sexist comments............ "Haha, TWAT!!"............. That is all. One really bad thing to come from all of this though is that Jamie Redknapp may be in line for a promotion and we'll be seeing even more of his pointless annoying mug on our TV's.
Till next time,
Goonerfish.
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