What a weekend this could turn into. Shotta said he experienced the kind of disturbance in his waters which set off a rumbling in his tail bone causing him to wonder if the stars might align in our favour in one giant, glorious three day festival of sporting joy. Could Rafa sprinkle magic onto the King Power turf and inspire a Newcastle miracle? If so would it be the bookend to a weekend which saw City squander two of their three points in hand, England overcome their Welsh bogey, Chelsea get knocked out of the cup and the longest awaited most deserved red card ever being shown to that nasty little Chelsea player with who’s name I shall not sully the clean sheets of our pristine blog.
I am not one to question the strange spirits which so moved the vitals of one of our finest fans but Shotta knows, and so do you and I, that all of these events both past and in a hopeful, longed for future will mean little if we cannot do our bit and overcome The ‘Orns in our lunchtime FA Cup quarter final. The league results could still turn out in a manner helpful to our cause but Chelsea’s exit from our cup would be like ashes in the mouth if we fail to progress to our third successive semi final.
There is a lot of talk about prioritising this competition over that. This kind of cheap chat is of course the prerogative of the fans; people like us who have nothing to lose and who’s ideas and opinions will never be tested. We can spout any old baloney and deride as clichéd and empty the talk of dealing with the next match as it comes and focussing only on that game. Surely though, Arsène Wenger is quite correct to never give up on any of the competitions in which his team has a chance of success no matter how slight that might appear to be.
Imagine the opposite. Imagine a manager throwing everything at the FA Cup and writing off the Champions League because it looks an unlikely bet or the league because his team must rely on the mistakes of others. What kind of manager would that be? Not the kind I want running the side I support. Not the kind ever likely to inspire his players to success.
If our lads think about Barcelona while on the pitch against Watford they will surely come a cropper. We can indulge in such idle luxuries because it isn’t our careers on the line. We can miss a goal because we’re composing a pithy tweet, or trying to favourite a post on Positively Arsenal, but if a player misses one because his mind isn’t fully on the job in hand, he jeopardises his place in the starting line up.
I think it is important to understand the distinction between those of us for whom football is a passionate distraction and those who actually build their careers upon it. There seems to be a trend among some supporters to imagine their club owes them something. Their argument runs along the following lines. I’ve paid so much money following this team that I have earned the right to demand this or that from the club. Phooey. Yes you heard me, phooey I say. What utter garbage.
If I went to see every gig during the Burning Hell’s upcoming tour of Britain and Continental Europe it would bankrupt me. Would that give me the right to demand their next album contain songs written in a style of my choosing? No. Of course not. The price of admission would buy me the right to watch the band. It wouldn’t buy me the right to watch them play well nor to watch them play the songs I like best. They could play two hours of Lighthouse Family covers, and as long as they hadn’t promised otherwise I would have no grounds to complain, would I?
It is no different with football. If you buy a ticket to the match and lose half a days pay and spend thirty quid on petrol getting to the game, all that ticket entitles you to is to see a football match. Not to see a good one, not to see a side composed in line with your personal fancy and certainly not to see a victory. You pay to rent a seat for a couple of hours inside a stadium where a match will take place and that is all you can actually expect for your hard earned.
Do you have the right to moan and grumble if the team was shit and the match dull? Certainly you do. You can also moan that your mum never cut the crust off your sandwiches and that it rained when you went to Bognor for that week back in the long hot summer of seventy six. You can complain about anything you want to but if you choose to do it repeatedly and noisily and publicly and to the detriment of the atmosphere in the ground you will almost certainly make it harder for the team you support to win.
If you really, really don’t like the style of play and are really and truly dissatisfied with the results achieved by the team, I’m going to let you into a secret. You don’t actually have to go to the game at all. If the Burning Hell start sounding like the Lighthouse Family I’ll stop listening to them eventually. Not straight away. I really love the band and would of course give them a chance to mend their ways but I don’t think I’d bother spoiling the gig for the musicians and those who were enjoying it just because it wasn’t my cup of tea. After all that would make me a special kind of arse wouldn’t it?
Today’s opponents have lost three of their last six and only scored one goal in those six matches. They’ve also only conceded five and so while they appear to carry little threat in attack their are not exactly porous at the back. If we come at them in the same way we did against Hull we should be fine. Should be. I don’t take any side visiting the Emirates lightly so don’t read that as over confidence. I simply believe that when we cut loose and play with freedom and élan, we are good enough to beat anybody.
Some thought we started badly in the replay on Tuesday and while it is true we played with more verve, more dash and danger once we’d scored, I thought we were simply cautious, feeling our way into the game and not taking chances. Once we had the opposition on the back foot we went in for the kill. It was a similar story against Spurs in our last league game and had the pressure born fruit before half time when they were on the ropes I’m sure we’d have seen a different outcome.
Today is a chance for the manager and the players to get us to Wembley yet again, if only for a semi final. A chance for someone to be add their name to a long list of Arsenal FA Cup stars and a chance for the supporters to get more for their money than just a seat in the stands. Fortunately the overwhelming majority understand that and I’m sure will give their all to help carry the team. If you have the great good fortune to be at the match I hope you are in good voice. After all, as Shotta said, this could end up being a very good weekend indeed.
Positively Arsenal 
time to get Theo and Danny on, take Campbell and either Alexis or Giroud off, maybe even Coquelin
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need to get Gabriel off, he is having a mare
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Giroud oh so close
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all over the place again in defense, and it ends up with an outstanding wonder strike and Waford are 2-0 up, big big response needed from Arsenal even to get a draw.
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Welbeck, Iwobi and Walcott coming on with Elneny, Campbell and Giroud off, 23 minutes left.
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COYG !COYG! COYG! COYG!
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come on Arsenal one goal and they will fall apart.
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still can do this Arsenal.Come on Emirates crowd get behind the team ffs.
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COYG!
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come on you Gunners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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should have been a penalty for push on Gabriel, but we don’t even get the corner despite ball clearly going out of the watford player
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COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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c o m e o n A r s e n a l !
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COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOYH
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we are not looking like we will score, no one having a shot for a start, did the watford second goal not teach our players anything, can’t score if you don’t shoot.
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Gibbs heads straight at the keeper,
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come on you Gunners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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chambers shot inches wide, he say it was deflected but corner not given
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COYG
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going out with a wimper, so sad to see. so much for player meetings and sorting things out.
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5 minutes left and whatever little added time marriner gives.
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Exactly what the AAA/LG/banner boys want.
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Come on ARSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEENALLLL!!!!!
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Welbeck scores, a couple of minutes left, can we do it
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come on Arsenal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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brilliant back heel pass from ozil for the assist there.
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COYG!!!!!!
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ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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fack in hell
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come on you Gunnersssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
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as expected despite all six subs and all the time wasting from Watford there is only going to be four minutes
iwobi hits the post, and welbeck puts it wide of an open goal
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COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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come on lads
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six subs means 3 minutes and yet only 4 minutes added.
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come on you Gunners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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iwobi close again
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what a waste of possession by Coquelin
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COYG!!
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so watford goalie holds the ball for 31 seconds and does not get a booking, no surprise
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shit. Shame we missed it at the end with Iwobi/Welbeck. Amazing last minutes.
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and its all over, we certainly don’t make it easy for ourselves and our players let the manager down again, sorry to say it but I do feel Wenger will be gone in the summer,
out with a wimper, awful defending, lackluster in attack, and just did not do enough, a little unlucky not to level it when Iwobi hit the post, and we had 3 or 4 decent chances to score, but our finishing let us down almost as much as our awful defending.
The AAA/WOB Banner Spanners, etc are being handed what they want by our players, just not good enough.
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FA Cup semi finalists
Watford,
Everton
Crystal Palace
Man Utd or West Ham.
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I dont mind losing, but its having to hear the meltdown insanity that will now erupt.Tough times for Wenger. Going to be a hard press conference. All the best to our club going to Barca and hope we can play Everton with some dignity.
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it was so sad to see how late it was before the team upped the tempo and put real pressure on Watford. Far to tippy tappy, passing the buck once again by our players, with them leaving it far too late to raise their game. The real sadness is that we know our players have so much more they could give and do and of course defensive mistakes killing us big time.
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Yeah sure, I agree Eddy.Of course I do mind losing(re my last post) but I refuse to let it mess up my life is what I meant.Its bad enough in the game the horrible feelings it brings on,not good to drag it around in life.
Shame that we seemed so stunned after the first goal.I expected an immediate response and it just didnt happen.And the second sent them into orbit.But they nearly did it. Gabs certainly had a bad time out there today.
Thats a tough result for those lads.And for Wenger. But fair credit to Watford they dug in and worked hard, and took their chances.Bloody Watford!
Weird old season! Probaly beat Barca now!
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At least the sun is shining up here. That has made this loss just a little easier to take but I’m still struggling. We were lucky Gabriel was not sent off.
I’m beginning to develop another coping mechanism, finding entertainment in the bleats of the WOBs. Maybe?
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Whats bizarrely ironic are the “fans” who dont even see the FAC as a trophy before the game now frothing up bile about losing. Frothy.
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It’s a shame the FA cup adventure is over. It’s been a good run, but it’s done for now. Unfortunately, I don’t think our players played to their full potential today – maybe for us a home draw is not the advantage it seems on paper. Can’t really say much more right now.
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The sun will come out tomorrow.
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The sun will come out tomorrow!
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