Hip Hip Hurray for the birthday club and a bit about the game « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
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By Walter Broeckx
So here we are at the end of period. A period of 125 year. And ready to have another 125 years to look forward too. Well I don’t think I will be there but when we arrive at that moment in time, I sure hope my grand grand grand children will be looking at the Arsenal and saying: You know your great great great grandfather saw that game on TV 125 years ago and at that time he was writing for the best Arsenal blog in the universe: Untold Arsenal. One can but dream on a day like this.
Our club is in a great shape financially to survive any storm that comes the football worlds way. And with the economy in these days we must take nothing for granted. Thanks to our careful acting board, our careful acting manager and his vision we don’t have to fear the disinterest or the dead like some clubs have to do who are toys of their owners and who can spend billions in the transfer market. No we will just be doing it our way. The Arsenal way. The Right way.
So on this day, 11th December, I would like to thank all those who made it possible for our club to survive those 125 years. Many clubs from that period have disappeared. Many clubs have known heights but have faded. We are still there an no matter what will happen in another 125 years we still will be there. Heaven forbid that our board ever brings our long term future in jeopardy. Oh and 11 December is a great day to celebrate a birthday. And nobody better placed then me because by accident I also reach a milestone on this date and have a nice round number behind my name. I just think it was my destiny to become a Gooner in my life.
On to the game. Playing and putting a special meaning to a game is always a bit dangerous. I remember Ajax playing a special game for Johan Cruyff when he retired on one of his retirements. They got beaten by Bayern Munich with then Gerd Muller and others like Paul Breitner having a party and defeating Ajax with 0-8. Since that day I always feel a bit strange before a special game. So I always feel more nervy about special games as it can get to the players as their normal pre-game routine is a bit different and disturbed with all the special things going on.
And I don’t like us playing against Everton. Somehow they always make life difficult for us at the Emirates. In fact over the last season we felt more comfortable at their ground and had some good wins over there but in the Emirates it has been a struggle. I remember one of the twitters when Arteta came over and was it Aaron or Jack who told in his twitter that he was happy because he hated playing against Everton because Arteta was a very difficult player to play against.
Well with or without Arteta it was once again a difficult game. And this was mostly down to our bad finishing. We played not sharp enough and it was visible that our both full backs were not (yet) used to playing there. The overlapping runs we see from our left and right back could be counted on the fingers of one hand in the first half. On the other hand it made sure that Everton could not hit us at the counter. Like Cruyff once said: every coin has a good side and a bad side.
The killer ball lacked a bit today or was played too late or not sharp enough and so we ran offside far too many times. But one should give credit to Everton for not rolling over. They made life difficult and well that is what Everton pay them for. We had enough chances to score but or we missed or we faced a really decent goalkeeper. I must say that Howard is one of the most reliable goalkeepers in the EPL for many years now. But not being in front at half time was not a reliable image of how the game had been going. But if you don’t score you cannot be in front. That is an old but still valid law in football.
The second half started with a scare. Walcott tripping himself and going through his ankle but he could carry on and was our most dangerous man in the first 20 minutes of that half. Everton tried to go forward a bit more but they didn’t create much. But I saw a few gaps opening up and Everton tried to take advantage.
Time to act was the thought of Wenger and when Rosicky and Arshavin were preparing themselves to come on it finally happened. Song with a magnificent chip over the top of the defence and Van Persie with an even more magnificent finish. A very special goal for a very special match. The curve of both pass and shot was absolutely world class. Just like and typical Arsenal.
We then killed off the game in a very mature way. We wanted to win and as 1-0 was enough against a very hard and stubborn defending team we just went for killing the time. And we surely have improved on doing this since last season. It was a bit nervous at times but I never felt that we would panic or do stupid things.
The only worry I had was if the man in the middle would come up with something ridiculous. Well don’t know yet if he tried but he certainly didn’t succeed.
So we won with what is worldwide known as an Arsenal-score with that oh so typical 1-0 score line. A well fitting tribute and honour for the history of our club. And even though we have gone further and the 1-0 period is a long time ago I don’t feel ashamed of it, in fact I feel very proud of it because name me one club that has a winning score line named after it?
Another example of what a special club we support. Thanks for the 125 years of memory, Arsenal.
Up and forward to another 125 years ! Long may Arsenal live, hurray, hurray, hurray!