Arsene speaks; “Failure is a big name”

So, tomorrow is the last game of the season and a last ditch chance to try to claim 3rd spot back from Manchester City who face a difficult game at Bolton.

We travel to Craven Cottage to play a Fulham team that are more than capable of taking points from us. A 3 points is a must as if Man City loose or draw we would then claim automatic qualification for Champions League which would clear up our first few weeks of the next BPL season.

Arsene has spoken in his pre-match conference about the ending to the season about the possibility of re-claiming 3rd place;

I feel there is something to play for because Man City still have a difficult game at Bolton, we know that through our own experience up there. So that means it is down to us to just try and win our game. If they win, they win. The most important thing is that we are responsible and fight for our future.

No truer words have been said, Arsene needs to put horse blinkers on our players so they don’t get distracted by teams around us as we seemed to freak when a team around us dropped points and then didn’t get the points needed to jump them. The team shouldnt be needed other teams to drop points for us to get higher, at one point all we needed to do was win our games and we would of gone into 1st place with a strong chance of winning the league, only for us to throw away ridiculous scorelines and drop points about teams we really should be beating.

LadyArse has put a brilliant table together that shows the difference in points as to this year to last; you can see that we have performed much better this year against Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, but dropped stupid points against the likes of Bolton, WBA and Newcastle. We’ve dropped 13 points this season from these 3 teams alone, and when you look that we where 0-4 up against Newcastle, it makes it even worse. It’s obvious this team has no problem rising to the challenge against big teams, but struggle to  motivate themselves for the so called ‘lesser’ teams.

Arsene spoke about the prospect of finishing 4th and his views on the Champions League play-offs as they are now called, and how we lost the title;

Fourth is playing a qualifier for the Champions League. That is not Champions League. Third is guaranteeing to be in the Champions League. But if fourth is a reality, we will have to face that. I believe in the last three months we had a mixture of disappointments and bad luck.

We can only act on what we have an influence – and that means improving our quality. But when you see again the game we played against Aston Villa, it is unbelievable – some decisions are unexplainable to me in that game. For me, we won, 100 per cent. But we have to accept it, deal with it and come back even stronger.

[Failure] is a big name. Overall I think we have been consistent. So it is more what I would call a big frustration because we were very close in all the competitions and we missed out on very little. We cannot say we are happy but as well we cannot say that it is a disaster. Overall I think that’s the closest we have been to winning the title in recent years.

What’s why it’s even more frustrating because if you look at the way we lost the games in the decisive moments it’s clear that we need to add some maturity to our team. For example the way we lost in the Carling Cup Final, against Liverpool and the way we dropped points against Bolton in the last minute.

So of course I feel the nerves played a part more than the talent in the fact we did not win the title.

Last year when Tottenham came 4th and had to qualify for Champions League, many Arsenal fans (including myself) where mocking Tottenham saying that 4th place is by no-means a respectable position to finish in to get into the Champions League, now we are facing the same scenario. Is 4th really good enough to be in a tournament that prides itself on Champions?

The continued emphasis on ‘maturity’ from Arsene is definitely hinting that this summer he will bring some cool heads into this team, maybe a few with Champions League experience? Someone who can play the game now just technically, but tactically aswell. Someone who can run the ball into the corner when necessary, has the coolness to hold the ball up and not give it away, maybe, perhaps.

It’s hard to judge our season if I’m honest. A fantastic first half, finishing with what is probably one of the biggest loss of forms the Premier League has ever seen. Arsene is right when he says we where closer this year than we have been for a long time to winning the league, that is a good thing right? We just need that extra maturity that can see us over the last month and a half. We got to the Carling Cup Final, lost out to Barcelona in the Champions League and at one point where serious contenders to win the Premier League, other teams would love for this, but because we are the Arsenal this is a failure, understandable, but it does not mean we need rid of the manager and half the team.

And for those Arsenal fans saying they wish we finished below 4th just so the board can kick out Arsene and start a fresh, sort yourself out. Fans who say they want their team to come as low as possible are by my, and many others opinions, scum. You support your team through good and bad, I’m sure you where the same fans calling Arsene the Professor when he lead the invincible’s, allegiance is very thin for you.