Today’s post is by Niall Prosser

A cast iron case for history – or continuity?

I’ve made a decision.

I’ve decided where I stand on the Wenger Question.

As you’re aware, Arsenal fans are currently split between whether Wenger stays or goes. There appears to be a shifting in the sands every time Arsenal win or lose. There are also those on either side who are certain about their position and the merits of their views.

I’ve never been certain.

I will be honest and let you know that I have been questioning Wenger – and questioning Arsenal at the moment.

I read the blogs that suggest Wenger can’t motivate players, how he can’t make decisions about signings, doesn’t have tactical awareness and his training methods are leading to the injuries we are having.  The biggest reason though to question Arsenal and therefore Wenger this year is the success of Liverpool. They have for some supposedly weakened the arguments about why Arsenal haven’t won the Premier League recently.

There are three main reasons why I have decided that I want Wenger to stay and why I think he is the best person to take us forward:

1) I’m worried – I’m worried about others next year. I’m worried about the strength of our rivals – let’s briefly analyse each of them:

Liverpool are likely to win the league. Suarez seems happy and appears likely to stay. Their chairman has suggested they are going to spend big to boost the size of the squad to mitigate some of the affects of the Champions League. But they have played a game once a week this year. They haven’t had injuries to their key players either.  Despite a Suarez-less start to the season, pretty much everything has gone right for them this so far this year and certainly since Xmas.

Chelsea will have Jose for a second year, appear to be about to sign a world class striker (Cavani or Costa). They seem to living by FFP so may sell but I believe they will be stronger next year.

Man City appear to have lined up some big moves which will strengthen them defensively. They have more stability and alongside a mooted stadium expansion, appear to be building an empire.

Then there is United. New manager. £200m (supposedly). They’re like a wounded animal at the moment. They have shown they’re willing to pay big wages as well. They need a new defence, new centre mid and more but they have the resources and history to get.

I think next year there will be 5 or 6 teams who can think they can win the title let alone get into the top four.

Arsenal therefore need to improve as well. We all know we need a great striker (and there don’t appear to be many around or available), a defensive midfielder, possibly a new right back, another pacey winger and possibly another centre back. That is a big shopping list. We don’t need another manager with different ideas or who needs time to understand the players.

We need a manager who understands Arsenal, who has a history of investing our money wisely and of finding great players. We’re shopping in a different market now and some say he needs to be more decisive, but he built this team and can make it stronger again.

2) History – the biggest problem with every argument made against Wenger is based on history; let’s quickly review some of them:

Firstly, he can’t motivate players – yet everyone who played for him (and still to this day) says great things about him. He has motivated a team to go 49 games unbeaten. He has won leagues, cups and awards. This is not the track record of someone who can’t motivate people.
His methods are said to lead to injuries – yet again, those who make these arguments also ignore the history lessons. When Arsenal did go the season unbeaten they did it with a core of players who played most of the games. They did it using Wenger’s training methods. So they clearly work. New methods and ideas are good but there is not always progress.

He is being out-thought by younger managers. I’m a believer in trying to get your opposition to change to counter your style rather then the other way around. There does though need to be an ability to switch it if it isn’t going well. Wenger has done this in the past but sometimes the players must do this as well. The City, Chelsea and Liverpool games have shown the team need some more leaders but they also showed that we were missing key players.

I do think Wenger has to learn from this year but I think history has shown he can.

Equally Wenger gets a lot of stick for not winning anything for 9 years. I believe that when the decision was made to build the stadium it meant we weakened significantly for a period but it would lead to us becoming a mega-club for the next 50 – 60 years. It was a necessary sacrifice. Compare teams with a similar sized stadium to Highbury and look how they’re struggling with the competition – especially with the oil clubs.

During this period of weakness Wenger was at his strongest.  He was loyal to us at a time he knew we were less likely to win – when we were weak – and he stuck with us. At the moment the club is in a position of strength but he personally appears a little weaker. We should show him the same loyalty he has shown us.

Now is the time to return that loyalty.

3) Alternatives – United are admirably displaying the difficulties of replacing someone who has come to define a club. They are highlighting the problems associated with flushing out alternatives –  not to mention the evident lack of those alternatives. At the time of writing it appears that their two main options are Giggs or the Dutch national coach. Everyone else has dropped out of the running (assuming they were ever actually in it) and are staying put.

Equally United didn’t plan the transition post Ferguson or prepare for life after the man. When change finally came out of the blue last summer, it meant that United missed out on players such as Thiago whilst ending up with Fellani. They changed their whole back room staff and exec team. It was all too quick and destabilising.

Meanwhile, back at AFC, the appointment of Jonker as youth team coach could be seen as the club giving the man an opportunity to learn and understand the club and who may then become the Director of Football when Wenger finally steps down, possibly in two or three years. Remember we have a CEO who was wanted by lots of businesses and clubs. Already with tangible success, he continues to develop the commercial side; he is delivering.

I think he may now start preparing Arsenal for life without Wenger – but he needs time.

So I think and agree Arsenal need to improve. Central to this is Wenger continuing to learn and enhancing the team to meet the challenges of others.

He has the knowledge and experience to do this.

He continues to be the right man for arsenal.

Niall can be found on Twitter @tuwituwo

Today’s post is by Muppet

A friend of mine in the City has brought me some worrying news:
NEW CLUB PROPOSED BY DISAFFECTED ARSENAL FANS

The Grove – Proposed new Stadium, to be financed by Bank Of Dave
A breakaway consortium, to be financed by the Bank of Dave, is proposing a new club. The spokesman confirmed:
“We are sick of Arsene Wenger and the years of austerity, failed tactics and incompetence. We propose a new club called Farsenal Plan B, with a new stadium called The Grove. The new club will have a new constitution, stipulating no injuries, a guaranteed trophy every year, and a maximum of 2 French players.”

The proposed initiative is to be financed by the Bank of Dave, a Yorkshire entrepreneur , who went on the record:
“A group of unhappy bloggers on some Arsenal sites and Twitter came to my shop in Burnley and had a business proposal, to turn Farsenal Plan B into the number 1 club in the world. They were attracted by my low rate of interest. “

Money does grow on trees
The spokesmen confirmed that Bank of Dave wanted assurances that Farsenal Plan B would win the league every year:
“We are convinced there are numerous managers who could do a far better job than Arsene Wenger. We are busy looking for them. We know they are out there somewhere.”
INJURIES – NO PROBLEM
The spokeman also confirmed that injuries that have the plagued the current Arsenal squad, will no longer occur:
“My mate who is married to a doctor, assures me that the wrong pills are being prescribed. But that’s not the real problem, we are not buying the right players. They have the wrong DNA. “

Proposed DNA profile of new players – sadly lacking in current crop
Players are currently sought after via Bob, who is a mate down the pub. He told the spokesman that he would scout some kids in the local area, and come back with some news. Another scout has been offered a free holiday to Brazil, in order to bring some prospects back. He hasn’t been seen since, but we are sure he will have some good news for the new consortium.
In the meantime, negotiations are ongoing with Ronaldo, Messi, Schweinsteiger, Lahm and others.
NEW CLUB MOTTO
The club’s spokesman confirmed that there will be a new motto, reflecting a much needed change in attitude:
“Who dares wins”
The spokesman stressed the need for a change of emphasis at Farsenal Plan B:
“Who dares wins is a new idea and a new motto for a fresh brand of football. We will be looking for a director of football and a manager who is not scared to spend. The mistakes of the past must not be repeated. We had the opportunity to spend the £100 million war chest in the last window, where Spurs proved there were literally thousands of players available, and we totally wasted it. To cover for injured players we propose a new squad size of 50. Never again will injured players ruin our season.”
An outline sketch of a new club motif is underway:

Proposed new club motif

NEW IDEAS
Some more innovative ideas are that of soliciting the team via crowdsourcing. The spokesman was enthusiastic about the merits of Twitter:
“We believe in the idea that the collective wisdom of Farsenal Plan B fans can add a great deal to the process of team selection and transfer negotiations and procurement of players. We propose that fan suggestions for players and evaluations are taken seriously and fed into the club’s management process. We believe that the model of player evaluations is too manager centric, and for that reason is fallible. “

Planned technological innovation- listen to those “in the know”
“Arsenal missed the boat on many players who have since gone on to world super stardom. The names stick in the throat – Melo, Scott Parker, Affellay, Defoe. If the club had been more tech savvy, these names would have been heard loud and clear from a very influential fan base. Farsenal Plan B will now take advantage.“
DETAILED FINANCIAL ANALYSIS NOT REQUIRED
The spokeman was bullish that world domination could be achieved by what he called “Weeding out the dross” from the squad:
“Too much money has been spent on the likes of Chamakh and Gervinho. 50k a week for players who offered little. We propose that we attract better players at £30k a week. This model is proven at other clubs and will secure our new future. I drew this inspiration from Costcutters. There are hundreds of players available for £30k a week. “

Hackney marshes – hundreds of players available for £30k a week
A NEW DAWN, A NEW FUTURE
PREMIER LEAGUE 2014-2015

1. FARSENAL PLAN B 90 points
4. ARSENAL 60 points
PREMIER LEAGUE 2015-2016.

1.FARSENAL PLAN B 90 points
5. ARSENAL 60 points

PREMIER LEAGUE 2016-2017

1. FARSENAL PLAN B 90 points
6. ARSENAL 60 points
Premier League Predictions for next 3 years.
The spokesman confirmed that Farsenal Plan B will win the league in the next 3 years:
“We believe that 3 straight league wins would be a modest return on our investment. By hiring a manager with tactical nous, and employing the wisdom of the fan base, we will go from strength to strength.”.

Muppet can be engaged as your rogue media spokesperson via Twitter @MuppetGooner

So farewell then David Moyes. You were the chosen one – but now they’ve chosen another one. Or are about to, and it will be interesting to see which way the wind blows. The problem United have of course is that there aren’t many managers available with proven experience of managing a top, top club – and unless someone has a track record of doing so, then any appointment will be a gamble. I thought they had probably got it right with Moyes, but the players decided differently, and they didn’t really run a yard for him all season. Injuries didn’t help of course, but I suspect it was the Rooney situation as much as anything that did for him. Virtually frozen out last season, it looked odds-on that he would leave the club in the summer, but Moyes couldn’t sell him to a rival, and I doubt he wanted to go too far afield. So instead of twisting Moyes got stuck, and landed the club with a massive wage bill for a waning star – and, if the pre-season scarred head is anything to go by, a player that no one else in the squad much liked, despite his odd moments of brilliance.

Managing a side looks easy to the casual fan: throw enough money at buying the right players, tweak a formation here and there, employ the best and latest medical advice and then sit back to see your side move effortlessly to the top of the table. Except it doesn’t seem to work quite like that in practice, and the fact that ten Premier teams have different managers now than they had at the start of the season is testimony to the fact that it is probably a lot harder than it looks. A lot, lot harder, especially at the very top level and at the very top clubs, where expectations are so high that two defeats in a row is treated as a real crisis, three as grounds for termination. Professional sportsmen are an interesting breed, and they need a lot of managing. They tend to be fiercely competitive and have massive egos, which is an interesting combination. Very often they aren’t very nice, and sometimes they lack a little in terms of educational polish. Actually, some seem to lack any education at all. In football, they are also very young, and exceptionally wealthy. Coping with a squad of 24 such men, perhaps drawn from five or six different countries (with all the attendant language issues that such eclecticism brings) is no mean task. David Moyes did that task very well indeed for a number of years at Everton, and it was clear that the players not only trusted his judgment but also tried their hardest for him. But Manchester United was one step beyond: he hadn’t been where most of the players he’d inherited had been, and it was soon clear that they didn’t really trust his ability to manage them in the way that his predecessor had. His advice and instructions would have rung hollow in the ears of the hardened pros who’d enjoyed the glory years under Sir Alex, especially as the decisions started to go against them and as he chose to side-line the evergreen Giggs. Take a moment to recall the way that Arsene Wenger made use of the established players at Arsenal when he took over, as well as putting his own unique ideas into play. It soon became clear to the watching world that it was only a matter of time before the season became irretrievable, and the only surprise writing this now is that the decision to replace him wasn’t taken at Christmas time. I suspect that there were sound financial reasons for this: scrapping a six year contract after a few months is expensive after all, so perhaps a few performance-related targets needed to be missed first. Familiar names are being bandied about, but in truth there aren’t many ready-made alternatives for a club of United’s stature. Van Gaal seems possible as he is a free agent, Mourinho might like it on his CV, but I wonder if the finances are in place for him to spend as he would like. Klopp seems happy where he is, and I can’t see Rodgers abandoning his project anytime soon. No, it would seem that there aren’t many managers who are out (or nearly out) of contract and who also have the experience of managing at the very top level, of winning League Championships and Cups, who have extensive knowledge of competing year in year out in the Champions League and who know the pressures of managing a club with a significant global identity.

Except there is one, of course, because Arsene Wenger ticks all of the boxes. An unparalleled record of man management, of scouting ability, of financial prudence, of transfer legerdemain, of success. Players past and present not only play for him but also respect him, and his record in that field speaks for itself. It is no surprise to hear that over the years so many top clubs have sought his services, and I suspect that if he were to let the Glaziers know that he was interested, they would literally do a Suarez. And so we have the most ludicrous (and I hope hypothetical) situation of all. Arsene Wenger has yet to sign a new contract for Arsenal and Manchester United are looking for a new manager – and of all the potential candidates Wenger is the most obviously qualified to take over at the Theatre of Dreams. How will that be received by The Arsenal, I wonder, to realise that arguably the greatest manager in its history is not only tantalisingly close to becoming a free agent, but also of taking over one of its closest rivals. How indeed, would that be greeted by the fan-base, when it realises that it had actively encouraged the only properly qualified man for the Manchester job to leave their very own club? Something about prophets not being understood in their hometown springs to mind, and all I can say is that if the experience of United post-Ferguson doesn’t make a few realise that actually we are really rather lucky with the man we have at the helm, then I would be very surprised.

This was brought to you from the virtual pen of @foreverheady.

Never mind the buglers, where’s the FA Cup/4th place or better?

The fans are split, that’s a given.

But they are not split between AKB’s and WOB’s.  Oh no, there are another set that sit between the two extremes.  Just like in politics, the battle is won or lost in the middle ground. The vast majority of fans are floating voters.  Within this middle ground there will be – and is – a full spectrum of ever changing feelings.

I would guess that up until Xmas the vast majority were happy and very much behind the manager.

Now? Who knows?

But it will be a whole lot less.  And the amount they have shifted their positions will also differ greatly. Some will have had enough, while others may just have some nagging doubts.

Here is the crux.

They are all Arsenal fans.

They all want what is best for them.  (Oh sorry – I meant “what is best for the club”).  They all want us to win every game, they all want to win stuff, and they all want to be happy.

There is however, a basic divide.

Have the last 9 years been a success (as I believe) or have they been a failure?  Therefore, has the manager overachieved or underachieved ?

David Dein recently said that the stadium move would have been impossible without the success Arsene had brought. Ray Parlour said that some of the loans to build the stadium were conditional on Arsene signing a 5 year deal.  Arsene has told us he agreed to stay knowing that the league title was very unlikely. Ivan has admitted that there were indeed financial restraints that they had previously denied .

So taking those things into consideration, what was in Arsene’s job description? What did the board actually ask of him?

What was best for the club?

Arsene himself had said that his priority was qualifying for the Champions League with the financial rewards that follow it.  He did that every year, and given his resources, that was an over-achievement. This isn’t my opinion, it’s a fact backed up by impartial data. The AST had an analysis done (I suspect they were disappointed with the results) which proved beyond doubt that this was the case.

People will point out that it’s not his job to make the club money, his job is to win trophies, but the reality is that his job is to achieve what his employers ask him to achieve.  That may be very different to what a fan would want him to do.

If we finish in the top 4 and win the FA cup, I expect the undecided will once again shuffle towards us.

If we don’t?

Well we know all too well what will happen.

Will the wheels of Arsenal’s fortunes finally turn together?

The next stage of the implementation by UEFA of Financial Fair Play is due to play out over the coming weeks and months – and mighty interesting it should prove, too.

It’s taken what feels like an age to come into effect but the Summer of Reckoning may finally be upon us for a number of our favourite clubs – PSG and Manchester City  being at the forefront of everyone’s affections on this front.  Whilst this ‘reckoning’ could fickle out in a damp squib of laughable fines or lengthy delay-inducing appeals, given the recent unprecedented (I think) transfer ban on Barcelona for recent transfer transgressions, I’m actually more hopeful that UEFA are of a mind to finally stamp their authority on the financially reckless and the morally lawless.

As a particularly pleasing side benefit, it should, once and for all, help the penny to finally drop in the minds of all those who have refused to understand how essential self-sustainability in the financial make-up of all clubs actually is.

Hopefully the days of Citeh-style excess will now prove to be finally behind us. And whilst the football playing field may never be perfectly level (especially for the smaller clubs) the era of Sheik/Oligarch hi-jacked clubs jumping in with a modest fanbase but over-loaded with cash, subverting all the player markets as they go, may finally be at an end. Doubtless PSG will have something to say about this – and possibly in the courts – but it is hard to envisage a successful rearguard action by them given the wider economic context the bulk of the football world has to operate in, not to mention the overall moods of governments and governing bodies almost everywhere.

That the timing of this next stage in the unfolding of FFP so neatly dovetails with the turning of the Arsenal commercial wheel should escape nobody.

World Cups aside, this will be the real story of the summer:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/10766475/Manchester-City-to-be-made-to-pay-a-high-price-for-spending-spree-under-Uefa-Financial-Fair-Play-rules.html

There may be only a few of us naive enough to have faith in FFP, to be honest, and  its effective resolution is by no means a done deal.

Despite having been politely but firmly put in my place on FFP over the years both here and on ACLF, I’ve still retained my faith in it for two main reasons.

Firstly, given the wealth of our owners and their connections – and remembering also Danny Fizman’s indication that AW had access to £100M if he wanted it – given all that and despite the very real difficulties of the last few years as symbolised by the ‘different directions’ identified by RVP, for one – then the club itself must have had a very real belief in FFP as a process which would either penalise AFC if ignored, or effectively reward it, if observed.

Secondly, the spectre of football clubs failing en masse across Europe was intolerable to a somewhat unholy trinity of European government, UEFA and the clubs themselves. Remember, it’s not just about curbing the worst excesses of the biggest clubs, but any club tempted to spend beyond its means. Small clubs desperate to retain top league status were routinely pre-spending anticipated revenue streams risking disaster in the process. How many more Leeds? How many more Rangers? Two once mighty beasts still struggling to survive as much smaller entities? Portsmouth and QPR are another pair of English clubs – smaller – but now struggling, who once enjoyed their unearned days in the sun.

One question I would like to one day ask of Ivan or Arsene relates to the timing of all this and to what extent, if any, AFC deliberately structured their balances to deliver them a massive transfer warchest comprising spendable assets at a time when all other clubs would be obliged by FFP to rein everything in?

Finally, the very fact that one of the most financially profligate – Jose, not ‘Arry, in this instance – is having to sell (indeed, has already sold) before he can buy suggests to me that to even the once mighty Chelsea, FFP may mata, after all.

That the angry, impatient and seemingly ignorant element of Arsenal’s fanbase appear to have failed to trouble themselves with a consideration of the wider financial horizons should hardly surprise us – we are football fans first and foremost, not economists. But our collective ignorance on this, alongside the failure or willingness to appreciate the devastating impact of injuries on the team is very telling.  Some are trying to blame AW for those injuries in the same breath as they blame the club for not spending more, sooner.

And it’s true, we have access to so much information and ways of sharing it, yet so little insight or wisdom to apply to it all. And if that sounds more than a little pompous I make no apology for it. Sitting through the appalling booing that gripped Wembley on Saturday at the substitution of Podolski – I’ve been repeatedly told it was aimed at Arsene, not the player, but frankly, regardless of its intended victim – I’m in little mood to continue to tolerate the excesses of the club’s own fans.

Arsene, in the eyes of many, appears to be on the brink of walking away rather than re-signing.

If true, given all of the above plus so much more, it would in many ways represent the greatest tragedy in the whole history of the club.

The fans, in my view, would very much deserve whatever it is they think they are wishing for. The ultimate irony is the legacy Arsene eventually passes on will do more to avoid an extended period of change and uncertainty of the kind currently gripping Manchester United, than many possibly realise.

And whilst Ferguson’s reputation may be judged on his history, the future will be all Arsene’s as AFC sit, deservedly and indefinitely, at the top table in world football.

The tragedy – the sadness – could come in the form of Arsene Wenger being prevented by the reaction and behaviour of the club’s own fans, from driving us to the very top of the summit himself.

It’s been a long time coming.  And as is currently the fashion on reality tv to never fail to mention – one hell of a ‘journey’.

I know I’m not alone in hoping the final leg of the trip will be undertaken with all still very much on board.

But the question for Arsene may ultimately prove to be, however – do enough of us still share that hope?

I was delighted when Arsene Wenger took the trouble to write me an email yesterday about the win over Wigan, the remaining Premier League fixtures and the battle for fourth place. He ended by saying: “We have been in this situation before and I think we have the focus, the quality, the spirit and the desire to achieve what we want.” It seemed somehow typical of him to take time out of his busy schedule to find such reassuring words for me, and it all contributed to the rosy glow that had enfolded me ever since Santi slotted that final penalty late on Saturday afternoon. However, his sentiments didn’t seem to have such a positive effect on Le Grove’s apostles, who were positively apoplectic this morning about the situation that The Arsenal find themselves in: indeed, the manager was openly mocked for his letter, and I guess the sad thing is that he always will be now by certain sections of the fan base, no matter what he achieves between now and whenever he decides it’s time to call it a day. What I did find interesting was the scorn that was poured on the Untold lot, and in particular the link made between those who support Arsene Wenger and those who hold any kind of religious faith: both positions were laughed loudly out of court as being quite ridiculous, it somehow not quite occurring that it was they themselves that had made the comparison.

But strangely their leaps of logic made me think of the following lines from Melville’s Moby Dick (and I wish I was mature enough not to find that funny).

“There, then, he sat, the sign and symbol of a man without faith, hopelessly holding up hope in the midst of despair.”

If, as I suspect, we have all felt like like that from time to time in our Arsenal journey, then how much more must the manager have felt like it in the aftermath of crushing defeats and unwanted embarrassments. But what else is there to do when all seems lost? You can’t just give up, so you might as well light your lantern and provide something for the crew to fix their gaze on in the hope that things might somehow seem better in the morning. However, right now I don’t find the Manager’s words at all empty: we are in a good position and are very far from despair – we have been here before, and if anyone doubted the spirit and desire then they should have had all doubts removed by the Wembley performance. There seems to be a common perception that 120 minutes and penalties will have left us spent, exhausted and not at all ready to take on West Ham. But the bookies don’t think that: we are 4/9 to beat them with as big as 7/2 the draw and any price you like on a real hammer blow to our Champion League credentials. And you can bet the manager and players don’t, and nor do I. I reckon that the burden of expectation pre-Wigan has been pretty intense for the team, and that has now been gloriously lifted. Expect to see us quick out of the blocks this evening, with Podolski, Rosicky and Giroud all particularly keen to stake their Cup Final claims. Jenkinson too, and Gibbs will provide fresh legs, while Kalstrom may also play, which will be interesting. I expect we won’t see quite see so much of Ramsey, Oxlade, Santi and Sanogo (my new favourite player), but they will be waiting in the wings, and I also expect that the manager will make at least one tactical decision that will surprise us all a little bit. For the first time for quite some time I am really looking forward to the game, and although I am sad that the Box Office wouldn’t let me purchase two tickets for it last week (you’re only a Red Member, Sir: more than my job’s worth to let you buy both), I shall be very much there, right in front of the TV, ready to do serious battle with anyone who says that this is a poor squad managed by a man who no longer knows what he is doing. I don’t need to believe in him: the stadium we are playing in is proof enough of his genius.

Once again this post was brought to us by @foreverheady .

“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.” Mark Twain.

In my more optimistic moments I like to think this is the crux of the matter with regard to the Arsene doubters, and there’s more than a little ageism around when it comes to some of the Twitter comments. Indeed, many of the Tweets and the Tweeters remind me of the child who is forever telling his parents how much better and cooler all of his friends’ parents are. All week I have been promised “Twitter meltdown” should The Arsenal come up short against Wigan, and have even seen pictures of nuclear explosions posted as a warning of the least that AW can expect should he fail to deliver on the Wembley stage. In fairness, that’s not such a bad metaphor: it’s clear that the nucleus of Arsenal support was split some time ago, and I can only hope that a top performance today, and then a string of good results in the League, will allow that energy to be harnessed in a positive manner.

There was a time in the Everton game last weekend when such positive hope seemed futile. As we moved the ball laboriously back and sideways we looked a far cry from the side that carried all before it through much of 2013, our defensive frailties and toothless attacks making me wonder if I would ever get my Arsenal back. It hardly seemed possible that this was the same team that had swept Napoli so imperiously aside back in October, but of course, the point is that it wasn’t the same team at all. It was a team that had been decimated by cruel fortune, and for a moment it seemed to have no answer when Sagna was cynically dispossessed deep in the Everton half before our defence conceded its second comedy own goal in little more than a week. It all seemed too much, it simply wasn’t fair, and no wonder than more than a few shoulders slumped.

But then something rather special happened as Ramsey and Oxlade entered the fray. Although both were on the injury comeback trail, and hence were never going to be risked for the full 90 minutes, they made a significant difference: the game had already gone, but they brought more than fresh legs to the side. Suddenly there was forward momentum, vision and pace. Even more importantly there was belief. Belief that this side was good enough, belief that individuals could make a difference, belief that the season wasn’t going to implode. More players are returning too: Gibbs is back, and Kos, Mesut and Jack are on the horizon. Their return could well see us back to something near our best, and remind us why this squad is on the verge of something special. Today is a big day for us all. For the manager, for the players, and for the fans. We all have a stake in it, and we have been looking forward to it ever since Santi scored that wonderful goal against Spurs at the very start of this cup run. Aaron Ramsey reminded us all last weekend that we do indeed have a reason to believe, and I for one can’t wait to see The Arsenal back at Wembley again.

So put away your doubts, and remember that we are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen.

Today’s post was brought to us by The Gnabster   @foreverheady