ANALYSING THE ANALYSES OF OUR CHELSEA GAME by Uche
It has always been said that when posterity records a historical event, the conclusions drawn from that event depend on who wrote what. It never ceases to amaze me how the media and some of our own fans end up with a completely subjective and negative view of a good performance put in by our Arsenal players.
I watched our Chelsea game yesterday from start to finish and in the game I watched, Arsenal did everything but score a goal. We dominated the game and wanted the win – while Chelsea wanted a point. We played the League leaders off the park, and made their best player, Eden Hazard, disappear for ninety minutes. In fact, when the final whistle was blown, Chelsea players were jumping with joy. Their captain John Terry jumped the most, to the point that I started wondering if they had just won the title at the Emirates. In other words, the almighty Chelsea were so scared of us that a point gained was viewed as triumphant. So why then would I read the papers and see headlines like ‘Arsenal Cannot Win Title With Giroud in Attack’, ‘Cesc Fabregas Shines on Arsenal Return’, ‘Arsenal Needed to Ask Different Questions of the Chelsea Defense’, ‘Ten Years Without a Title is Boring’, amongst many others. Am I missing something here? Was it QPR that we played against? Did we lose the game? Did we play against ten men? Were we dominated on our own home ground? Why is a draw against the best and most defensive team in the league being spun as a loss? Okay I get it….almost. The media doesn’t like us – and they sure like their talking points.
When the world hates on you out of habit, you can almost understand that. But when your own fans begin to ‘trash talk’ your own club, when you are performing well and above expectations, you have to be pissed off – and that is exactly how I feel. I was on this forum yesterday reading the article that reviewed the Chelsea game and while the review was balanced as I expected, I could not believe how negative and despondent some of our own fan’s responses were.
Again, could it be our thwarted sense of entitlement that has us feeling we SHOULD have won the game? SHOULD? Have you guys ever analyzed the different players in these two clubs? Let me draw your attention to a few things you may have missed. This Chelsea team cost a lot more than ours to assemble. Going by how much they spend on players, they should be the ones wincing in pain for not thrashing us. Aaron Ramsey who played on the right wing yesterday cost 5 million pounds. His opposite number in Chelsea (Willian) cost 25 million pounds. Francis Coquelin, our new midfield hero is a youth player that cost us around half a million pounds. Nemanja Matic cost Chelsea 25 million pounds.
Santi Carzola cost us 11 million pounds and Ramirez cost Chelsea 23 million pounds. Should I keep going? This is a total mismatch but we were so good that you wouldn’t realize it. Chelsea bought their right back Ivanovic for 9 million pounds way back in 2008. Hector Bellerin stood toe to toe with him yesterday and totally marked Eden Hazard out of the game. In fact my six year old was asking if Hazard was playing. Hector is a recently promoted youth player that cost us around half a million pounds. Given the price at which these different teams were assembled, a game against Chelsea should be your typical David versus Goliath story. But that is no longer the case. Imagine us jumping with joy at drawing with Sunderland? John Terry was ecstatic over a point! Maybe drawing with Arsenal these days is now the equivalent of winning a trophy? And to that I say thanks for the compliment.
Chelsea won the league in the first half of the season. They only need five points now to get over the finish line. Nobody can stop them getting those points. We spent the least and came the closest and for that, we should be respected and not ridiculed.
I can understand fan disappointment at not winning the game but our reactions should be measured and intelligent. Arsenal has grown in leaps and bounds within a year. Some of us may not understand what progress means, so maybe we should take them through it. Progress for Arsenal means going from losing to Manchester City 6-3 last season to beating them 2-0 this season. Progress means thrashing Liverpool 4-1 this season when only last season, they beat us 5-1. Progress means winning the FA cup after nine trophy-less years and being on course to win it yet again. Progress means having Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck and Thomas Rosicky on our bench. Progress means having no room for Lucas Podolski on our bench. Our opponents have spent hundreds of millions of pounds and are desperately hoping for a fourth place qualification. I mean, 65 million pounds for Angel Di Maria? 35 million pounds for Elaquim Mangala, a back up centre back? And we are the ones being criticized to death for not winning the League? So much for objectivity. We need to wake up and start telling the truth. We need to start writing our own historical accounts of what is happening in football today, or our haters will do it for us – and you all know what that means…..
Peace.
Uche Edochie
Lagos – Nigeria