Roma Preview: I’m excited. But I’d probably rather beat Fulham.
3 comments February 24th, 2009
I’m finding it hard to get motivated for this game. Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to it – but not necessarily for the right reasons.
I’m looking forward to it because it represents a distraction from our traumatic league campaign. Perhaps our best chance in the match is if the players feel similarly – one need only look at the liberated nature of our display in the 4-0 thrashing of Cardiff as evidence of the squad’s willingness to escape the difficulty they encounter in the Premier League.
I’m looking at it as a game that will entertain me this evening. But it feels more like a prestigious friendly than a chance to progress in the highest profile club competition in Europe. And I’d guess there are two principle reasons for that.
The first is that I am not confident about our chances. Our failure to break down sides with defences far less sturdy than Roma’s doesn’t bode well, whilst I am particularly wary of their Serbian striker Mirko Vucinic, who is capable of Eduardo-esque efficiency in front of goal. How we will miss the Croatian tonight. The point is, I suppose, that I’m finding it hard to get excited about the Champions League because at this stage we look a million miles off competing for it at the sharp end.
The other fact is that it isn’t our priority at the moment. Granted, we’re two games away from a quarter-final, but the nature of our league position is that each domestic game is taking on the significance of a cup final. Perhaps the reason to take interest in this game is that if our domestic form continues in the shoddy manner it has recently played out, winning this big-eared cup might just be our best(/only) shot of qualifying for it next year. Though at the moment that feels like trying to kill two great eagles with a pebble.
Arsene Wenger’s latest comments about his team’s potential have done little to raise my spirits. It’s all very well talking about how good Nasri, Fabregas, Diaby & Co might be in three of four years time, but failing to qualify for the Champions League would a) make it difficult to keep some of those players, and b) deny them all the exposure to top-level European competition they patently need.
If Arsenal win convincingly tonight, you just know I’ll be the first to claim that “Arsenal are back”, suggest Alex Song is “just misunderstood”, and that the title is not a foregone conclusion. I’m not expecting that to happen, but I still hope it will. Come on Gunners. Cheer me up.
