Top of the morning to y’all

Before the Big Fucking German’s ankle twanged, before opportunist McClean’s low drive found the right corner, before the BFG was sprawled on the pitch and stretched off  *his body could not even fit the stretcher* I had predicted that the game had just a goal in it. The game was that scrappy and it looked like a moment of quality or a moment of madness would be the difference. So anyone could imagine my utter dismay when the BFG who was supposed to deal with a routine pass crumbled on the pitch and let McClean through on goal to score what I thought was “the predicted goal”. But alas! The team had other plans. Thankfully.

As important as the three points we got from the game was, what I thought was the most important thing about last Saturday’s victory was the psychological points we won from the game. Truth be told we did not play well and neither did our opponents. The pitch could be blamed for some of that though as it was bumpy and looked like a herd of buffalos had grazed on it and that prevented us from playing our usual free flowing game and the psychology victory to the team would come from knowing that even with an average performance they can win a football match & that all they needed was their desire to do well, improve on their mistakes, believe in themselves and that every match is winnable.

There were so many positives from the Sunderland game that I know will aid the team in their top four finish this season and maybe a trophy to end this yeye drought. Sunderland are the in-form side in the league at the moment and since Martin O’Neil took over, they have lost just once in their last five games and got a victory over Man Shitty on new year's day. It says a lot about the pedigree of our opponents and their new manager. Prior to the game, Arsenal have not won in five away league games and our 7-1 thumping of Blackburn last week was our first victory in five in the league. Clearly on current form, the odds were firmly stacked against us.

After losing the BFG, the obvious choice for replacement would be to bring on Gibbs and move Vermaelen to centre back but that would deny us attacking options as we were already a goal behind and a well-rested Ramsey was called upon and he did it superbly as his first touch on the ball drew us level. Wenger smelt blood and with 10mins to go brought on our much-maligned Russian; Arshavin. Andrey did two things in the game. He put two crosses in the box one for captain VanTastic and the other for Henry and it was the later that clinched victory. That was the moment of quality that I described earlier. Arshavin is definitely a quality player and only God knows the bug that’s been eating at him in recent months.

I know the buzz has been about Henry, as that was his last league match before he returns to New York and the quality he has brought to the side. I love Henry and I'm really thrilled at the impact he has made since he joined on loan. It only shows that no matter the age, no matter the form, class is permanent and am sure all Arsenal fans will be sad to see him leave again.  

Arsene said after the game.

 You could see that they have a lot of spirit in their side. It was also on a very difficult pitch. We had a lot of the ball but we couldn't create a lot because our passing was good but it was very difficult to get into their defence.  On top of that we were 1-0 down so it was a question of a spirited performance and that is what happened in the end. I felt we were intelligent, patient and resilient.

He also had this to say about Henry:

"We must say that he is fantastic on the pitch and off the pitch, even in the dressing room,” he said. “He has given us a big boost at Sunderland and against Leeds as well, so let's hope we can continue like that. He is intelligent and he has the respect of the players. He has done it before so they listen to his advice. He just has a helpful attitude and when you have done what he has done, players listen to you.

No doubt he has added quality to the squad from the bench and the advice he must have passed to the younger players must have been invaluable but looking at the game from another angle, one would notice something that has not happened at Arsenal in a long time. Substitutes winning games. Yes the three subs won us the game and that just underlines the importance of having a quality bench as that can mark the difference between a loss and a draw. Henry has scored in his short stint more goals than Chamakh and Park put together as they have both contributed a whooping, mind blowing two goals to the Arsenal cause while Henry has three and now that Henry is leaving are we back to square one?

The champions league returns this week and we travel to AC Milan and am sure the likes of Seedorf and Nesta would remember what Fabregas and Walcott did to them the last time out. We are all hoping for a repeat performance. Y'all can get more on the champions league on Wednesday’s blog.

Finally on The AFCON 2012. I couldn’t leave without talking about that right? As much as I am happy for the Zambians I can’t but ponder what happened to Ivory Coast. They had the game. Gervinho won them a penalty in normal time and Drogba –a big player in a big game- I would have given my right hand that he would score. But NO!!! The keeper did not even have to work and our own Gervinho lost the penalty that lost the game. His body language was all wrong as he walked up to take the kick and that says a lot about the character of the player. I hope they work on him well at the Arsenal before playing for us again because moments like that can really damage a player with little character.

That’s all for today folks so till Wednesday for another lovely edition. God bless The Arsenal Iree o