Winning The League
8 comments November 29th, 2004
Winning the league is the most important thing in club football.
Winning the league is the most exciting, the most fantastic thrill a fan can have.
Winning the league is absolutely crucial to an Arsenal side that have never retained this title.
And most importantly,
Winning the league is not something that happens in November.
Admittedly, Arsenal werenâ??t at their peak yesterday.
Admittedly, Liverpool were arguably deserved winners after a display that finally matched up to the massive hype I gave them back in September.
But there were positives for the Gunners: Patrick Vieira, hideous diving aside, put in probably his best 45 minutes of football this season in the second half; Kolo Toure was a colossus, getting a head, knee, or foot to anything that came close; and Ashley Cole was as valiant and vibrant as ever.
On the 12th December, Arsenal face Chelsea in a match that will go some way towards deciding the destination of the Premiership trophy.
Should Arsenal win, the gap could potentially be closed to a tantalising two points. Perhaps even more important are the psychological implications of such a victory.
So maybe the team arenâ??t performing quite to their enormous potential at the moment. That doesnâ??t mean we ought to turn on them. Letâ??s get behind them, and drive them on through this difficult period.
Perhaps the ineffective form of Bergkamp and Reyes is almost rendering us a side of ten men. But let us, the fans, lend our support with such vigour that we counter this. Let us make up that extra man.
On Wednesday, we face Manchester United in the Carling Cup.
If youâ??re despairing about the health of this football club, watch those kids at Old Trafford.
And know that this season, Arseneâ??s Arsenal wonâ??t let us down when it comes to the crunch:
Winning the league.