Finding Positives In An Autopsy
Grab that baby and stick it straight back in the bathwater
AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! FOR FUCKS SAKE!
Thanks for reading this week’s AW…have yourselves a great week…
…ok ok, I suppose I should write more, but to be fair the above just about covers it all.
Here’s a question, I wonder by how much the electricity grid surged when a million Arsenal screens were all turned off at exactly one second after that Villa goal went in? Bang, Off. Scream.
Here’s another, I wonder by how much the needle on the Spiritual Anguish Machine span out of control when a million Arsenal fans wailed out in pain and agony at exactly the same time around the world?
Football eh, it’s a fickle beast. A few day’s ago we were cruising down the highway in a Lamborghini wearing shades, zooming past every team that had ever treated us badly. Ha, Living well is the best revenge we sang to ourselves as we sipped our victory juice.
Then the Football Gods noticed our hubristic satisfaction and decided enough was enough. Time to throw a spanner in the works in the shape of an old manager, a mouthy goal keeper and a bunch of players we’d been linked with but rejected. Thanks Football Gods, very amusing indeed.
EXCEPT!
When the agony subsided and I considered not only the game itself but the various games leading up to this loss, I thought, wait a minute here, grab that baby and stick it straight back in the bathwater because things are not what they seem.
In doing my mental autopsy I tried to remember this as a Bigger Picture Game and put this loss in context. The Law Of Football says that eventually, after battling top teams every three days, after suffering a spate of injuries, and because steam ALWAYS runs out, eventually a loss will occur. There’s nothing you can do about it except perform a steely-eyed autopsy, and get back on your feet again.
So, watched in the cold light of day we might accept we our suffered from a lack of finesse in the last action, we did have a player or two who seemed to run out of steam a little (hardly surprising, games are flying at us like fists in a Bruce Lee film), and we did play a higher more aggressive line than we maybe should have in this game. Was Arteta considering the Liverpool game and thinking, OK, let’s play handbrake off then?
But, on the other hand, we actually played really well in this game. We dominated large parts of the pitch and the game, had some players who were outstanding (is Trossard a substitute or a goal in waiting? If we could bottle Trossard’s attitude and determination we’d be able to build a stadium out of silverware!). In fact, overall our attitude was faultless. This was an Arsenal team who are not used to losing and who didn’t give up at any point. And to be fair, Villa themselves played an excellent game. For the neutral this would have been an entertaining watch. Villa got their tactics and individual performance right on the day. And even so they still needed a last minute scramble to beat us.
If it hadn’t been for Buendia’s lucky swipe this was essentially a repeat of the Chelsea game, without the cheating, the whining, the ref-baiting, the violent conduct, the…well you get the picture. We were two seconds away from taking another point from a hugely difficult fixture.
So let’s keep our eyes on the prize and chalk this down to life doing what life does. There’s no big problems (beside us still waiting for the attack to gel in the way we know it eventually will) and were’ still top of the league.
Let’s hope the Brugge game in the Champions league on Wednesday can allow us to keep out TV’s on and that the needle on the Spiritual Anguish Machine stays below the redline :)
I’m pressed for time this week, so I thought I’d do something unusual and post a comment I made on The Athletic website last week. It was in response to an article about some of Arsenal’s players being positively Christian and talking about their faith. Let me know what you think :)
Here’s the post. Have a great week.
Mmmmmm. This is a sticky one.
Christianity comes in all kinds of flavours.
At one end there’s the genuinely kind and beautiful individuals who have a deep spiritual connection and philosophical outlook centered on Love, Compassion and Forgiveness and who care about their fellow humans. I’m feeling (hoping) these Arsenal guys are this flavour.
Then there’s the Republican style extreme conservative Christian Nationalists who want to enforce a narrow reading of Christian values and marginalise (and worse) non-Christians. I’m feeling (hoping) these Arsenal guys are NOT this flavour.
But it’s a sticky one because I’m a live and let live Atheist and if these guys feel they want to express their cultural roots and Christian beliefs then cool, do it, enjoy it, I’m even going to make the God is an Arsenal fan joke and sing their names in praise!
But I also see a world, right now, today, where the religious affiliations of people are used as an excuse for murder, displacement, genocide, marginalisation, and war. With the rise of extremism and right wing-nuts everywhere I’m a bit edgy about throwing religious affiliations about in the football world even if the people doing it are the first yummy Christian flavour.
I don’t know. I really like all these players. I just kinda yearn for a world where a person can be an Atheist or a Christian or a Buddhist or a Muslim or whatever and just be that without having to mention it every time you score. Especially now.
As an aside, personally I’d be far more up for pre-monotheistic religions. I like a bit of polytheism myself, a god for everything, A god of trees and soup and bad dreams and the whole lot. Then we genuinely could have a god of Arsenal and there’d be no argument, which is kinda the problem after all ;)