So the consensus was that we had to win
every remaining game to have a shot at the title. Yesterday we drew. So is that
the title gone? Hmmm, if was a long shot anyway, now, in all honesty, it would
have to take something pretty remarkable.
And yet when you look above at the title of
this blog post, that’s still an impressive recent record. Even with the ‘D’
ruining the party.
19 points from a possible 21.
It’s only because we’re such outsiders and
we needed pretty much maximum points that yesterday’s draw seems such a catastrophe.
In any other circumstances that would be a decent point, and we were unlucky not to get
three really.
Birmingham haven’t lost at home since September- that's six months!
M*nch*st*r *n*t*d couldn’t win there,
Chelski couldn’t win there, hardly anyone has been able to win there this
season. So really we shouldn’t be so disheartened. But still there are two big
reasons why everything seems a little gloomy right now;
Our precarious position in the title race that
didn’t really allow for dropped points, plus, of course, the nature of the draw
– being on the receiving end of a last minute equaliser. As we well know, it’s
glorious when you score so late, but it’s totally sickening when you concede so
late.
The game itself was, as expected, a tough
battle. But overall we coped well, and seemed to have done enough to win.
It must be said, the Birmingham fans didn’t cover themselves in glory with chants in
support of Martin Taylor, but would you expect anything else from that
detestable bunch? I certainly didn’t.
The first half wasn’t much to write home
about for either team. Diaby probably had the best chance of the lot at the
near post.
More notable was the number of persistent
fouls taking place unpunished. And yet Clichy and Song found themselves booked for pretty much
their first offences, and innocuous challenges at that.
It almost seems to be an unconscious acceptance by referees now
that the opposition are allowed to niggle away at us to ‘interrupt our play’.
As if it’s a legit tactic that is allowed to be employed. But when Arsenal
commits a foul it’s almost seen as if we're taking retribution, responding petulantly, and the refs are all too quick
to card us. It’s not right, but it just keeps on happening.
And what of that challenge on Fabregas? The Birmingham player won the ball. So it’s a fair challenge,
right? The fact he won the ball gives him licence to do whatever he wants afterwards
does it? Why can’t some blind bastards look beyond the moment contact was made
with the ball? It’s not fuckin’ hard to carry on watching before jumping to
defend the tackle.
The Birmingham player quite clearly wrapped his legs around
Fabregas and pulled him to ground, albeit after winning the ball. It’s still
dangerous play, it’s still a foul, and it looks to have done our captain some
substantial damage. He really struggled after that and I was surprised to see
him stay on the pitch – a testament to his dedication and commitment to this
team. He rarely featured for the remainder of the game though.
So after a scrappy first half on a pitch
that didn’t lend itself to our typical style of play, we did start to improve
in the second half, applying much more pressure on Birmingham.
Nasri and Arshavin came on for Theo and
Rosicky and those changes made a massive difference. We looked much more
dangerous and our just reward came on 81 minutes when Nasri cut inside from
the right wing, found some space, and fired a beautiful low drive into the
bottom corner. Brilliant. All we had to do now was hang on.
And we seemed to be doing that well enough. Birmingham rarely troubled us. We even had chances to put the
game to bed, and the misses are even more frustrating now we know how the game
panned out.
Bendtner played the ball in to Arshavin in a
great position, 7 yards out. The Russian had the chance to shoot or return the
ball to Bendtner who would have surely slotted home. As it was, Arshavin did
neither. Well okay, he opted to shoot, which given his own position was
entirely understandable – only he completely scuffed his shot and missed.
Now, in the last few games that is far from
the first great opportunity he has fluffed. For someone of his talent he should
be doing much better, it has to be said. Whether it’s missing open goals, or
missing the ball altogether, something doesn’t quite seem right with him in his
head at the moment. We know he is far far better than recent performances
suggest. So sort it out please Arshavin, quick smart.
Nasri had
the next chance to get the second and finish the game off, receiving a wonderful
pass from Cesc, his only significant contribution to the half as far as I can
remember. Anyway, Nasri tried to cut the ball back for Arshavin instead of
going alone with only the keeper to beat, and his attempted pass was cut out.
Horribly frustrating, and even more so when you consider what happened next…
A fairly
routine ball was played into our box. Sagna tried to clear but the ball struck
Kevin Phillips. The rebound was heading for goal and Almunia parried the ball
high into the air – only it looped over him and into the goal.
Now, is
it just me or did Almunia take an
absolute age to turn around and scramble back? I don’t know what the hell he
was waiting for.
I saw him
push the ball up high and I expected him to just then turn around, jump up and
catch the ball. Yet he seemed to freeze for a considerable amount of time, let
the ball sail over his head, then it was too late when he did decide to fumble
his way back towards the goal line. Utter heartbreak, and utterly poor from our
keeper.
It’s such
a shame as he seemed to have turned a corner recently. This could take him right
back to square one confidence-wise. Not what we need!
We have benefited
so many times from late goals this season, but this time we were on the
receiving end and it hurts so much – especially the way in which we conceded, and
even more so given what was at stake in this match.
We did
enough to win the game. We battled hard, we rode the storm, we stepped it up
when we needed to and got ourselves in front. Then we conceded a silly silly
goal to undo all the good work. Typical.
Diaby and Song should receive special
mentions I reckon. The former had a brilliant game in midfield, tackling,
creating, tearing away from people like only he can – he really was very
impressive. And so too was Song in his less familiar centre back role. He was
strong, composed, and continued to play from the back, including some forays
into midfield. This guy is a real player now, and looks as comfortable at the
back as he does midfield – a handy versatility to have.
But where does the result leave us? Well, 4 points
off the top with a much inferior goal difference given the results of the teams
we are chasing. So effectively 5 points behind with 6 games to go.
The title therefore looks unlikely, it has to be said.
But it’s still possible. And as long as it’s still possible we have to give it
our all.
When we found ourselves back in this title race, and winning all our games was set as the benchmark, I actually
thought we may get away with one slip up. But if it was to happen, I was hoping
to save that slip up for Sp*rs or Citeh. As it is, we had the slip up
yesterday. So we’ve used our lifeline, if you like.
So now we really do need maximum points from the
remaining games. Even that might not be enough, but we’ve got to sure as hell
try.
It’s M*n *td V Chelski next Saturday, so this time
next week we could be back to just 2 points behind the league leaders, with 5
games to go. And if that is the case you have to still believe.
What is important is that we keep the pressure on the
top two, keep breathing down their necks. Because as the season draws to an
end, each game will become increasingly more pressurised for them, and it’s in
those situations that teams can drop points.
Our record over the last 7 games is WWWWWWD. I’ll say it again but the
‘D’ for disappointment was an away draw to one of the league’s toughest
opponents at home. Since losing to Chelsea we’ve returned a massive 19 points from a possible
21. That’s bloody impressive and should be applauded. I know, it’s the way in
which we threw the game away yesterday that hurts most, but let’s remember that this team is still giving it everything they've got.
Chelsea responded in style to drawing with Blackburn. We must now do the same. Starting with… Barcelona. Yep, in case you forget - another trophy
still remains a possibility.
And early team news suggests Xavi and Iniesta will be
missing for the first leg at The Grove on Wednesday. We couldn’t… could we?
Innabit