Arsenal 0 – 0 CSKA: The fans could destroy this side’s confidence
145 comments November 2nd, 2006
In Arsene Wenger’s post-match interview, he summarised the game by saying, “The crowd and the team were great, the result was bad”. Two out of three, Arsene. The team put in a good performance, and the result was certainly a blow, but the fans, as far as I could tell, were far from “great”.
Arsenal fans have been spoilt. Success has made some of them an arrogant, jibe-happy bunch. As a group of fans, we are unpopular. And that is because we complain about the woes of watching the most attractive attacking team in Europe.
On any other night, Arsenal would have won last night’s match 5-0. I don’t see much point going over it all, but ridiculous misses were all over the place: Fabregas and Rosicky in particular both managed to fail to score when faced with what can only be described as open goals. I know that phrase “any other night” carries less authority when you can say we suffered a similiar fate against the likes of Man City and Everton, but it’s clear as day to anyone with a bit of sense that this team is close to genuine brilliance. As Arsene puts it:
“It was the best Champions League game we’ve played since I’ve been here. Of course it is frustrating with the result. The normal score in this game is 7-0. Maybe 7-1 because they had a chance as well. The team is at a crucial moment, because this team can really explode and be sensational – if we deal well with what we are facing, because there is so much potential in the team. So, keep the belief, and get our frustration out of the way, and one day we’ll score four, five or six.”
Which brings me on to what might be a minority of fans, but last night appeared to be an overwhelming majority. In the pre-match programme, Thierry Henry had pleaded with the fans to stay behin the team. However, after about 15 minutes of positivity, it started: the terrible groan of “shooooot” ringing from every corner of the stadium every time a player crossed the half-way line. I say this without qualification: some of these people are morons. If you cannot see that the reason we pass the ball is to engineer the best possible shooting opportunity rather than just wellying it as soon as we can make out the goal on the horizon, then I don’t know why you’re even at a football match.
The abuse the likes of Henry and Hleb are subject too from some fans is becoming ridiculous. Frankly, it’s embarrassing. Our team is very young, and when they miss a chance, they need to be picked back up. Anyone could see Rosicky’s head drop after his miss.
It’s clear Arsene is putting a positive spin on an iffy result, but he’s also putting a positive spin on a crowd who at times let the side down. The boos at the end summed up what I found to be an incredibly uncomfortable evening, sitting amongst 60,000 people of whom a large proportion were turning on the team they “love”.
As for the game, watch the goals here.
