Arsenal win the FA Cup – And it ruined some Arsenal fans weekend

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I am still probably over the limit to drive anywhere. A bender that started before Noon in Islington on Saturday ended after midnight Monday morning. The White Swan on Highbury corner have made hundreds from me over the weekend.

Somewhere in between me spending a good 24 hours in a single pub over the bank holiday weekend was a football match. A glorious day. A day when the unsung hero’s stood up and were counted.

It is now 3 days since that victory (or is it 4?) so I will not analyse the game too much, that has been done hundreds of times since we won. But Saturday’s victory was sensational – with the stand out stars those who often get criticised or over looked.

Who would have thought a defence of Rob Holding, Per Mertesacker and Nacho Monreal would deal with the aggressiveness of Diego Costa and silky skills of Eden Hazard so easily.

Rob Holding is a star in the making. I do not want to go OTT with him as he needs to develop in his own time. He made a few mistakes at the weekend, one of which led to a goal, the other a good chance for Costa. But as long as he keeps his head down, working hard, he will become a future England international. £2m is the bargain of the century.

Next time him, big Per Mertesacker put in the type of performance that led him to win 100 caps for Germany. The experienced campaigner had barely played for 13 months. Chelsea would have been licking their lips at the mere mention of him starting. But he was a giant at the back, and made the game look very easy.

Then we have Nacho Monreal on the left hand side of the back 3. In the back end of the season, the left hand side of the defence was the weak point. We did not have a natural left sided centre back. With performances like the weekend, Monreal might have just made that position his.

We also dominated the middle of the park. Granit Xhaka put in the world class performance that was the norm for him in Germany. He has had an average first season in England, but over the last month or so has really grown as a player. Get a good pre-season under his belt and we have one of the best central midfielder in Europe.

Next to Xhaka is the much criticised Aaron Ramsey. He of two FA Cup winning goals. The new formation has giving him the licence to get forward, make those late runs in the box that made him such a threat a few years ago. The middle two seemed to have great balance, full of running, and dominated Kante and Matic.

We won because we were hungrier, we won because we wanted it more, we won because we were better on the day.

It really is unbelievable that some fans, rather than get on it and spend the weekend celebrating, sat online moaning all day. I have conversed with some absolute bellends over the last few days who have refused to celebrate Arsenal winning a trophy.

Imagine a world where you are an Arsenal fan and Arsenal winning the FA Cup ruins your bank holiday weekend.

These are the types of pillocks who talk about their hatred of Modern Football, and hark back to the great days of the 70s and 80s, yet disregard winning the FA Cup as we failed to finish Top 4 or make waves in the Champions League. Against modern football, but are modern football.

Give me the FA Cup over a top 4 finish any day of the week. The weekend has been brilliant. Winning the FA Cup makes it a successful season, a glorious season. If winning the FA Cup ruined your weekend, then you need to have a long hard look at yourself. Your a little bit of a sad case.

I am already buzzing for next season.

Keenos

10 reasons why Arsenal will beat Chelsea + Starting XI

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1. At 12 FA Cup wins, no team has won the worlds oldest and greatest club football competition than Arsenal. Let’s make it 13. 
2. At 6 FA Cup wins, no manager has won the worlds oldest and greatest club football competition than Arsenal

3. Arsenal are unbeaten in 7 games at Wembley

4. Since going to 3 at the back, Arsenal have won 9 of 10 games

5. Alexis Sanchez is in superb form with 5 goals in his last 4 games

6. Mesut Ozil has also refound his form, 3 assists and 1 goal in the last 4 games

7. And the Granit Xhaka / Aaron Ramsey seems finally be working

8. Only 11 times in 128 years has a team done the Double. The odds are against Chelsea.

9. Rob Holding, you know, his better than Canavarro

10. What did she wear?

Predicted line up:
Ospina
Holding Mertesacker Monreal
Bellerin Ramsey Xhaka Gibbs
Ozil Sanchez
Welbeck

Up the Arsenal!

Keenos

Can the FA Cup save our season?

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It has been a horrible season. On and off the pitch.

From finishing below Spurs to plane wars in the skies of Birmingham. Massive defeats to Bayern Munich, to that period from January to April where we won 2 games from 8, including embarrassing defeats at home to Watford, and then on our travels to WBA and Crystal Palace.

It has not been a great season for Arsenal, as we slipped out of the top 4 for the first time this century.

After Manchester United’s victory in the Europa League, we are the only side in the top 6 of the Premier League to not be in the Champions League next year.

The infighting over Arsene Wenger has grown, embarrassing actions by people in the ground, and online, from both sides of the narrative. There was a point this season where going to football was simply not enjoyable anymore.

But then we come to the last weekend of the Bank Holiday Weekend. A Sunny Afternoon.

Tomorrow we will all be getting up ,getting ready, cafe, breakfast, pub, boots for some sun tan lotion for the bald heads, more beer, then Wembley. Wembley. We are the famous Arsenal and we are going to Wembley.

No matter what has happened this season, what we as fans and a football club have been through, we have a trip to Wembley to get up for tomorrow. One last game of the season. A chance for a real trophy. A chance for some success. And a chance to save our season.

Ultimately, when it comes down to it, top 4 does not matter, finishing above your rivals does not matter, having players winning individual awards does not matter. What matters is the team winning trophies.

In 1993, who finished top 4? Who was top scorer? What team scored the most goals? Which side conceded the least? Who was PFA Young Player of the Year? You can not answer any of these. But you know who won the FA Cup.

In fact, I could probably name the side that won the FA Cup every year since 1990. Even with my drinking now giving me short term memory loss, I still remember the FA Cup winners. I could also name the league winners in those years, and could probably name 90% of League Cup winners.

You see, winning trophies at what people remember. That is a true barometer of success. Not finishing top 4. Not finishing above your rivals.

Take Liverpool and Manchester United this season. The media (and Liverpool fans) have pretended that Liverpool have had a great season this year. One outlet described Liverpool has getting tremendous points haul this season – it was just one more point that Arsenal.

Jurgen Klopp has been celebrated as a genius. Taking Liverpool back into the Champions League for the 2nd time in 8 years. But ultimately, Liverpool won nothing. There 5th consecutive year without a trophy. A single League Cup in 11 years of football.

Meanwhile over in Manchester, they have had a crisis season. An awful season. Jose Mourinho has been exposed as a fraud. As inferior to Jurgen Klopp. Yet Manchester United have won 2 trophies this season – the Europa League and League Cup.

2016/17 will not be remember by Liverpool fans, it is just another season of failure. Meanwhile Manchester United, despite finishing 6th and below their Scouse cousins, will remember another successful trip to Wembley, and another European trophy and great trip to Sweden.

Add in the FA Cup, Manchester United, a club on the slide, have won 3 trophies in a 12 month period (I do not include the Community Shield with that). Liverpool, a club on the up, have won nothing.

Arsenal have a similar scenario with their little sisters up the road, Tottenham Hotspur.

Over the last 4 years, Spurs have made gigantic strides forward. Over that time, Arsenal have lunged from crisis to crisis, slipped down the table. Whilst Spurs have put the pressure on in the last two title races, Arsenal have been nowhere to be seen,

Yet despite the two clubs relative differences in performances over the last 4 years, Arsenal have won 2 FA Cups in that time. Spurs are now 9 years into a trophy drought. 2 league cups in 26 years. Not much is written about their lack of real success. Finishing above Arsenal, putting the pressure on and a new stadium has papered over the massive cracks at the under achieving club.

So back to Arsenal. We have a chance to win the FA Cup on Saturday. A chance for a major honour. A chance to lift silverware. A chance to make it 3 FA Cups in 4 years – and a record 13th. And Arsene Wenger, for all the criticism he has rightly deserved, not just this year but over the last 10 years, has a chance to become the most successful FA Cup winning manager of all time. Not bad for a man who some claim “doesn’t take the completion seriously.”

Would winning the FA Cup make 2016/17 a successful season. YES. But Arsene Wenger should still leave.

Keenos